International law professor Haykel Ben Mahfoudh has been elected a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the 22nd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. He is the first Tunisian and Arab to hold this position since the Court's establishment, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry said: 'This election is a recognition of the high competence of the Tunisian candidate and the result of an electoral campaign that lasted several months in Tunisia and abroad. This campaign was supervised by the ministry and its diplomatic and permanent missions abroad, with the support of a number of relevant national structures and under the supervision of the country's highest authorities," it added. The ministry noted that Ben Mahfoudh's election also "translates Tunisia's firm and original commitment to the Rome Statute and to the noble objectives and values it has set out to achieve international criminal just ice for the victims of the most serious crimes that concern the entire international community. These are the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, and preventing their recurrence." The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad congratulated Haykel Ben Mahfoudh on his election to this international post. For his part, Haykel Ben Mahfoudh expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Tunisian state institutions, which had done everything possible to ensure the success of his candidacy. Ben Mahfoudh is Professor of International Law at the Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences in Tunis (University of Carthage) and Director of the Research Centre for International and European Law and Maghreb-European Relations at the same faculty. He holds a PhD in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) from the University of Carthage. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse