After extensive experience in academia and public service, including serving on the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam LL.M. ’91 was appointed the prime minister of Lebanon, the first time he has held political office in his home country.
Joining a new government with President Joseph Aoun, Salam won majority backing from legislators after falling short in his bid for the same role in 2022. Viewed as a reform candidate, he defeated a candidate backed by Hezbollah, seen as a sign of the weakening of the militant group that has long influenced national politics, according to an article in the New York Times. He takes a leadership position in Lebanon in the wake of a war between Israel and Hezbollah and a cease-fire brokered in November. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives and caused major economic damage in a country already struggling with widespread poverty.
“We have wasted many opportunities to build the state,” Salam said in his first address after being named prime minister, as covered by Al Jazeera. “Enough wasted opportunities.” He added that he would reach out to all groups to “rebuild the project for the new Lebanon,” according to a post on the Washington Institute for Near East Studies’ site.
Salam became a judge on the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in 2018 (during his tenure, he served with fellow Harvard Law alumni Hilary Charlesworth S.J.D. ’86 and Yuji Iwasawa LL.M. ’78). He was elected president of the body last year.
Previously, he served as Lebanon’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations and represented Lebanon in the U.N. Security Council in 2010 and 2011. He was a member of the Lebanese National Electoral Law Commission, the Lebanese National Commission of UNESCO, and the executive bureau of the Socio-Economic Council of Lebanon. In addition to stints in private law practice early in his career, he taught at American University of Beirut and Sorbonne University in Paris. Salam is author of numerous books, essays and articles, including several works in the fields of international, constitutional, electoral, and Islamic law, as well as on international organizations and international affairs. In 2019, he gave the keynote address at the Harvard International Law Journal 60th Anniversary Symposium, titled “Reflections on International Law in Changing Times.”
Born in Beirut in 1953, Salam belongs to a prominent family in Lebanon. Both his uncle and cousin served as the Lebanese prime minister. His wife, Sahar Baassiri, is a journalist who also served as Lebanon’s ambassador and permanent delegate to UNESCO.
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