UN APPEALS TRIBUNAL JUDGES
On 30 October 2025 the new bureau for 2026 was elected. For 2026, Judge Savage is the President of the Appeals Tribunal, Judge Forbang is the First Vice-President, and Judge Sheha is the Second Vice-President.
UNAT is composed of seven Judges, appointed by the General Assembly. The current composition of the Tribunal is as follows:
Judge Katharine Mary Savage, President (South Africa)
Judge Katharine Savage serves as Judge of the High Court in South Africa. Since 2012 and during her tenure, Judge Savage has also served as an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Labour Appeal Court and the Labour Court of South Africa. Prior to these positions, Judge Savage was a Director at Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys from 2008 to 2012, Partner at Haffegee Roskam Savage Attorneys between 2000 and 2008, Commissioner of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in Johannesburg between 1997 and 2000, Attorney of the Constitutional Litigation Unit at the Legal Resources Centre between 1996 and 1997, Director of the South African Legal Information Institute (SAFLIII), a non-profit organisation dedicated to free access to law. Judge Savage holds a Bachelor of Arts (1988) and a Bachelor of Laws (1991) from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Laws (1997) from the University of Notre Dame (summa cum laude) and has been enrolled for a Ph.D. in Public Law at the University of Cape Town since 2020.
Judge Leslie Formine Forbang, First Vice-President (Cameroon)
Judge Leslie Formine Forbang serves as Deputy Attorney General of the Court of Appeal, South West Region in Cameroon since 2020.Prior to this position, Judge Forbang served as State Counsel at the Court of First Instance between 2017 and 2020, State Counsel at the Court of Ambam and High Court of the Ntem Valley Division (South Region) between 2014 and 2017, State Counsel at the Court of First Instance in Muyuka (South West Region) between 2012 and 2014, Judge at the High Court of Fako Division, Buea between 2005 and 2012, Presiding Magistrate at the Court of First Instance in Tombel between 2001 and 2005, and Deputy State Prosecutor in Mbengwi between 1998 and 2001. Judge Forbang holds a Bachelor of Arts (1988) and a Post Undergraduate Diploma (1990) in English Private Law from the University of Yaound谷, a Post Graduate Diploma in Magistracy from the National School of Administration and Magistracy (1998), an LL.M in International Criminal Law from the University of Buea, and is concluding a Ph.D. in International Law at the University of Buea.
Judge Abdelmohsen Ahmed Sheha, Second Vice-President (Egypt)
Abdelmohsen Ahmed Sheha serves as Senior Judge at the Egyptian Council of State. With extensive experience in both adjudicative and consultative roles, Judge Sheha currently serves in the Consultative Department for International State Contracts and the Judicial Studies and Research Center. His areas of expertise include administrative law, public international law, investment disputes, and state contracts. Beyond his judicial duties, Judge Sheha has advised Egyptian public bodies, taught at prominent academic institutions, and actively contributed to judicial reform, training, and international legal cooperation.
A trilingual legal scholar, Judge Sheha has published extensively and is a regular speaker at academic and professional forums across Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and the ICC Institute of World Business Law, and is enrolled as an international arbitrator in both the Dubai International Arbitration Center (DIAC) and the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA). He is also an accredit judicial trainer at the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy.
Judge Sheha holds a Ph.D. in Public Law from Universit谷 de Strasbourg, along with advanced degrees in public law, management, and finance from France and Egypt. He is a former fellow of the ?cole nationale d'administration (ENA), France's national school of public administration.
Judge Richard Buteera (Uganda)
Judge Richard Buteera served as Deputy Chief Justice of Uganda from 2020 to 2025. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court from 2017 to 2020 and a Justice of the Court of Appeal from 2013 to 2017. Before appointment to the Court of Appeal, he was the Director of Public Prosecutions of Uganda for 18 years, 1995 to 2013.
Judge Buteera also served as the Chief Registrar/Permanent Secretary of the Judiciary from 1993 to 1995, the Inspector of Courts from 1991 to 1993, a Chief Magistrate from 1989 to 1991 and a Magistrate, grade one from 1981 to 1989. He started his career as an assistant lecturer at the School of Law, Makerere University in 1980.
Judge Buteera graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Dar Es Salaam. He holds a Diploma in Legal Practice. He has a Master of Laws Degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University in California, USA. Judge Buteera is currently a member of the faculty of the Uganda Judicial Training Institute and engages in the training of judicial officers. He is an active court accredited mediator in Uganda.
Judge Roberto da Silva Fragale Filho (Brazil)
Judge Roberto da Silva Fragale Filho has served as a Labor Judge since November 1993, and from February 2004 he has presided over the 1st Labor Section of S?o Jo?o de Meriti in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. For six years (2015每2021), he was the pedagogical coordinator of the Labor Judicial School, and as of February 2023 he holds a temporary appellate judgeship at the Rio de Janeiro Labor Tribunal.
Judge Fragale is also a Socio-Legal Professor at Universidade Federal Fluminense. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Montpellier I (France) and has held Visiting Professor appointments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2006), the University of Montpellier III (2009每2010), the University of Coimbra (2011), the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La D谷fense (2016每2025), and the University of Vienna (2022), as well as a residential research fellowship at the Advanced Studies Institute of Nantes (2012每2013).
Judge Fragale has also taught in Angola, Argentina, Chile, Macao, and Portugal. The author or editor of ten books, he has contributed to numerous collective works and published extensively in scientific journals and serves on the editorial board of the Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal.
Judge Lingling Zhang (China)
Lingling Zhang is a senior judge from the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China. She holds a Doctorate in Law, a postdoctoral fellowship, dual master’s degrees in civil law and common law, and advanced training in international human rights law through a master’s programme. This cross-jurisdictional education enables her to adeptly integrate the advantages of both civil law and common law system, while placing human rights at the core of her judicial reasoning.
Judge Zhang has served as a judge for over 15 years, having presided over or participated in the adjudication of over 4,000 cases of various types, including more than 1,000 administrative cases, among them, several landmark rulings that left a lasting impact not only on the parties but on the developing jurisprudence in China. As a judge from the highest court of China, she has also taken the lead in drafting multiple judicial interpretations, contributing her share in the application of civil law, administrative law, civil procedure law and administrative procedure law, etc.
In addition, Judge Zhang has contributed to legislative processes from the judicial consultation perspective, including the amendment of China's Civil Procedure Law. She has published one monograph, and over 50 academic articles.
Judge Nassib G. Ziad谷, Judge (Lebanon)
Judge Nassib G. Ziad谷 is the President of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal, the President of the 鎊飪APP Appeals Tribunal and a Member of the Sanctions Panel of the Geneva-based Global Fund. He has regularly served as tribunal chair or co-arbitrator in arbitrations relating to international commerce, construction, investment and public international law.
He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution, the former Director of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, the former Deputy Secretary-General (and Acting Secretary-General) of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and the former Executive Secretary of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal. He has been designated as a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Conciliators. He is a Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Lebanese Arbitration and Mediation Center, as well as a former Court Member of the London Court of International Arbitration and a former Vice-President of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions.
He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami School of Law and at the Law Faculty of Saint-Joseph University in Lebanon and Dubai. He taught at the University of Paris I (Panth谷on-Sorbonne), the Universities of Chile and Heidelberg in Santiago, Chile and the Paris International Academy for Arbitration Law. In addition, he taught a special course at the Hague Academy of International Law. He has published extensively in the fields of international law and arbitration law. He is the Founder and General Editor of the BCDR International Arbitration Review, a former Editor-in-Chief of the ICSID Review〞Foreign Investment Law Journal, and a member of the editorial advisory committees of several law journals. He is an Associate Member of the Institut de droit international.
Judges who served on the Appeals Tribunal
Judge Rose Boyko (Canada)
(1 July 2009 - 15 January 2011)
Judge Kamaljit Singh Garewal (India)
(1 July 2009 - 30 June 2012)
1st Vice President (1 July 2011 - 30 June 2012)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2010 - 30 June 2011)
Judge Mark P. Painter (United States of America)
(1 July 2009 - 30 June 2012)
Judge Jean Courtial (France)
(1 July 2009 - 31 December 2013)
President (1 July 2010 - 30 June 2011)
1st Vice President (1 July 2009 - 30 June 2011)
In谷s Weinberg de Roca (Argentina)
(1 July 2009-June 2016)
President (1 July 2009 每 30 June 2010)
1st Vice President (1July 2013-30 June 2014; 1 July 2012-30 June 2013)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2014-30 June 2015)
Sophia Adinyira (Ghana)
(1 July 2009 每 30 June 2016)
President (1 July 2011-30 June 2012)
1st Vice President (1 July 2015-30 June 2016; 1 July 2010-30 June 2011)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2013-30 June 2014; 1 July 2009-30 June 2010)
Luis Mar赤a Sim車n (Uruguay)
(1 July 2009 每 30 June 2016)
President (1 July 2012-30 June 2013)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2011-30 June 2012)
Mary Faherty (Ireland)
(28 January 2011-30 June 2016)
President (1 July 2013-30 June 2014)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2012-30 June 2013)
Rosalyn M. Chapman (United States of America)
(July 2012 每 November 2017)
President (1 July 2015-30 June 2016)
2nd Vice President (1 July 2016-November 2017)
Judge Richard Lussick (Samoa)
(July 2012 每 June 2019)
President (July 2014 每 June 2015)
1st Vice President (July 2016 每 December 2017)
Judge Deborah Thomas-Felix (Trinidad and Tobago)
(December 2014 - June 2019)
President (July 2016 每 December 2017)
2nd Vice President (July 2015 每 June 2016)
Jean-Fran?ois Neven (Belgium)
(1 July 2019 每 10 January 2022)
Judge John Raymond Murphy (South Africa)
(1 July 2016 每 30 June 2023)
President- 1 January - 31 December 2018
1st Vice- President - 1 January - 30 June 2023
2nd Vice-President - 1 January - 31 December 2022
Judge Dimitrios Raikos (Greece)
(1 July 2016 每 30 June 2023)
President -1 January 每 31 December 2019
1st Vice-President 1 January - 31 December 2018
Judge Sabine Knierim (Germany)
(1 July 2016 每 30 June 2023)
President -1 January - 31 December 2020
1st Vice-President - 1 January 每 31 December 2019
2nd Vice-President 1 January - 31 December 2018
Judge Martha Halfeld Furtado de Mendonca Schmidt (Brazil)
(1 July 2016 每 30 June 2023)
President 每 1 January - 31 December 2021
1st Vice- President 1 January - 31 December 2020
2nd Vice-President - 1 January 每 31 December 2019
