, (born 1956
. ICC. Retrieved 26 May 2012.) is a Japanese lawyer who served as judge of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

and the Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber V, constituted to try the cases against four

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

n nationals. Specially-appointed professor of International Human Right Law at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

Faculty of Law (2021-).

Early life and career

Ozaki graduated from

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

in 1978 and, in 1982, was awarded an M. Phil. in International Relations at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. Afterwards, Ozaki worked in several positions for the Japanese Foreign Ministry. From 2006 to 2009, she worked for the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...

(UNODC) where she was a Director for Treaty Affairs. In addition to her role in the diplomatic service, she has worked as a professor of international law at

Tohoku University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...

and at other universities. She also has written on international criminal law and other fields of law.

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2010-2018

On 20 January 2010, Ozaki assumed her position as a judge in the Trial Division of the International Criminal Court. While she is no qualified lawyer, she had stressed her experience in lecturing in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and her time at Japan’s

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

in responses to a CICC questionnaire at the time of her

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

on 18 November 2009. She was elected for a term that lasts until 11 March 2018. Ozaki was assigned to Trial Chamber V which is to try four Kenyan nationals for crimes against humanity. She was elected Presiding Judge. Until 2016, she also served as member of Trial Chamber III for the case of

Jean-Pierre Bemba Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2 ...

, the first case in which the ICC has found a high official directly responsible for the crimes of his subordinates, as well as the first to focus primarily on crimes of sexual violence committed in war. In October 2013, Ozaki notably gave a

dissenting opinion A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. Dissenting opinions are norm ...

on the court’s majority ruling that conditionally excused

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

from attending all the sittings of his trial in The Hague, criticizing the decision of going against the provisions of the

Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

. In a September 2014 ruling, the Chamber presided by Ozaki ordered that Kenyatta should physically appear before the court, making him the first

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

to do so.

Later career

In February, 2019, Ozaki was appointed Japan's Ambassador to Estonia and accordingly requested a transfer to part-time status with the ICC. Her decision to continue hearing cases while serving ambassador was criticized as a violation of the ICC's code of ethics, which states that " dges shall not exercise any political function." On 18 April 2019 she resigned as ambassador before taking officehttps://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_02555.PDF and continued being judge in The Hague. She is a member of the

Crimes Against Humanity Initiative The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is a rule of law research and advocacy project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Started in 2008 by Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, the Initiative has as its goals the study of the need for a compre ...

Advisory Council, a project of the

Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law, established in 2000 as the Institute for Global Legal Studies, serves as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law. Background ...

Washington University School of Law Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (WashULaw) is the law school of Washington University in St. Louis, a private university in St. Louis, Missouri. WashULaw has consistently ranked among the top law schools in the country; it is c ...

in St. Louis to establish the world’s first treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozaki, Kuniko 1956 births Living people International Criminal Court judges Ambassadors of Japan to Estonia Japanese women judges Tohoku University faculty National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies faculty University of Tokyo alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Japanese judges of international courts and tribunals Japanese women diplomats Japanese women ambassadors