Two Caribbean judges appointed to United Nations Dispute Tribunal

The appointments took effect on July 10, 2019. UNDT half-time judges serve on rotation in New York, USA; Geneva, Switzerland; and Nairobi, Kenya.

Four judges were elected by secret ballot in total, Justice Rachel Sikwese of Malawi and Justice Margaret Tibulya of Uganda, were also appointed. Judges will serve on one of two entities — the other being the United Nations Appeals Tribunal — that comprise the organisation’s system of the administration of justice for employment-related disputes.  Half-time judges on the dispute tribunal are deployed up to a cumulative period of six months per year, as decided by the president based on the caseload and any judicial absences affecting the work of the tribunal.
Through resolution 62/228, adopted in 2007, the assembly decided that it will appoint judges to those tribunals based on the recommendation of the internal justice council.  As such, the judges elected were selected from a circulated list of candidates recommended by the Council.

To be eligible for appointment as a judge to the dispute tribunal, candidates must be of high moral character and impartial; possess at least 10 years of judicial experience in the field of administrative law or the equivalent within one or more national jurisdictions; and be fluent, both orally and in writing, in English or French.

A total of 325 applications were received globally, 51 of which came from Latin America and the Caribbean. 96 candidates advanced to the written assessment stage and 23 were invited to interview with the internal justice council at the Hague, Netherlands. Finally, seven candidates received the council's recommendation for consideration of an appointment by the General Assembly and 4 were appointed by the General Assembly by way of a secret ballot in an election process.

Justice Francis H.V Belle has served as a High Court Judge for over 15 years. His judicial experience spans adjudication of criminal and civil matters, including Administrative and Employment Law actions. Justice Belle served as resident judge in Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and the Commonwealth of Dominica; visiting judge in Anguilla and Montserrat with the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) 2003-present. He periodically serves as acting Court of Appeal Judge with the ECSC and acting judge of the Cayman Islands Grand Court (2015-present).

Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell currently serves as a Puisne Judge of the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago, presiding in civil matters since 2015. She has also served as a judicial officer at the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago for several years and has held office as Solicitor General in the Ministry of the Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago. She has enjoyed an extensive and varied legal practice as an attorney-at-law and judicial officer in Jamaica; presiding in criminal trials and preliminary inquiries as a Resident Magistrate, playing a pioneering role in emerging fields of securities law regulation and competition law regulation, and serving as director of legal services and enforcement at the Securities Commission.