Born on 2 September 1962, in Añara, Imo, Nigeria, Chile Eboe-Osuji was sworn in as a judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice on 15 April 2025, in the President’s House, Port of Spain, in a ceremony witnessed by Her Excellency, Christine Carla Kangaloo ORTT, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
He was appointed to the bench of the CCJ on 27 January 2025, while serving as a full-time academic as the Distinguished International Jurist at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at the Toronto Metropolitan University from 2021 to 2025.
Mr Justice Eboe-Osuji served the international community earlier in various positions, including as the 4th President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague (2018-2021); a judge of the ICC Appeals Chamber (2018-2021); a judge of the ICC Trial Division (2012-2018); Legal Advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva (2010-2012). Earlier in his career, he worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including as a senior prosecution (trial and appeals) counsel.
Before joining the international public service and during breaks in between, he practiced law as a barrister in Canada (his adoptive country) and Nigeria (his birth country).
In addition to his full-time faculty position at the Toronto Metropolitan University at the end of his tenure at the ICC, he has also held the following visiting professorships: the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University Law School; visiting professor of law at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA); Distinguished Visitor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law; a senior fellow at the Carr Center of the Harvard Kennedy School; and the Paul Martin Senior Professor of political science, international relations and law at the University of Windsor. He has also taught much earlier as adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa.
Mr Justice Eboe-Osuji received his academic Doctor of Laws degree (PhD) from the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands); his Master of Laws (LLM) degree from McGill University (Canada); and, his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honours) degree from the University of Calabar (Nigeria).
He was called to the bar of Nigeria in 1986, and to the Canadian bars of Ontario and British Columbia in 1992.
He has been recognised with several honours including the Goler T Butcher Medal of the American Society of International Law; a Doctor of Law degree (honoris cause) from McGill University; a Doctor of the University degree (honoris causa) from the University of Middlesex (England); the Gold Medal of the Honorary Patronage of the Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin; and, the Chief Emeka Anyaoku lifetime achievement award.
He was a member of the High-Level Legal Panel on Media Freedom, and a Senior Peace Fellow of the Public International Law and Policy Group.
He has an extensive record of scholarship, including the books End of Immunity: Holding World Leaders Accountable for Aggression, Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity (2024) (a monograph); International Law and Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts (2013)(a monograph); and Protecting Humanity (2010) (an edited book of essays).