Inside Geneva’s summer profiles: Dapo Akande

Wayamo Foundation

Inside Geneva brings you our second summer profile, with international lawyer Dapo Akande.

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“I’m one of those boring people who actually always wanted to be a lawyer. I’m not sure exactly what the motivation was when I was younger, but I think I was very argumentative as a child. And everyone used to say, ‘You should be a lawyer,’” says Akande.

As a child in Nigeria, he also took a keen interest in world affairs.

“I was brought up in Nigeria and my parents had the BBC World Service on the whole time when I was growing up. So that engendered in me a big interest in world affairs. And when I saw that there was an area of law that actually dealt with international affairs, I thought, yes, that’s the bit I’m interested in.”

Once he’d qualified, he assisted on cases at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where he saw how the court peacefully resolved disputes between United Nations member states, including one between his native Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.

“This source of real tension, which had occasionally led to flashpoints and the use of force between those two countries, was resolved on the basis of the judgment by the ICJ. I think that’s an amazing achievement and it’s made all the more amazing by the fact that we actually don’t know much about it. If there had been a war, we’d know all about it.”

Now, Akande is a candidate to be a judge on the ICJ – at a time, he believes, when international law is more important than ever.

“It’s clearly the case that, in far too many cases, international law is disregarded. I think that’s true. There are many instances where the law is not followed and you only have to turn on the news to see that. What I do know is that international law is increasingly seen as relevant, and actions today are judged more often by reference to international law than they were in the past.”

Join host Imogen Foulkes in conversation with Dapo Akande on Inside Geneva.

Find out more about the ‘Inside Geneva’ podcast and our other Swiss podcasts in English here.

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