Current Affairs - International - Discussion

Bimal Patel assumed office as a judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany, on October 1, 2026. He was elected for a nine-year term after securing 115 votes out of 168 valid ballots during the election held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Patel succeeded Neeru Chadha, whose tenure ended on September 30, 2026. Before his appointment, he served as Vice Chancellor of Rashtriya Raksha University in Gujarat, was a member of the National Security Advisory Board and served on the United Nations International Law Commission. ITLOS is an independent judicial body that resolves disputes concerning the interpretation and application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).