Phoebe Okowa

Phoebe Okowa is a Professor of Public International Law at Queen Mary University of London and currently holds the UCHV Fellowship in Law and Normative Thinking at Princeton University (2024-25). She is the first African woman elected to the UN’s International Law Commission since its inception in 1947. Her expertise spans state responsibility, environmental law in conflict zones, accountability for international crimes, and the interplay between international law and domestic courts.

• Education:
• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) with first-class honors, University of Nairobi (1987)
• Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL), University of Oxford (Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship)
• Doctorate in Law (DPhil), supervised by Sir Ian Brownlie
• Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) honoris causa, Stockholm University (2024)

Her research focuses on normative legal frameworks addressing colonial legacies and contemporary challenges in international law. She has advised governments, NGOs, and international tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Okowa has held visiting professorships at NYU Law School (2011, 2015) and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She co-edits the Oxford Monographs in Public International Law and serves on advisory boards of major legal journals and societies.