Nawaf Salam is a Lebanese judge, diplomat, and academic. He served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations for 10 years.
In 2018, he was elected as a judge at the International Court of Justice. He was elected president of this court for 3 years following the end of the term of American Judge Joan E. Donoghue. He became the second Arab to hold this position after former Algerian Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui. He comes from a well-known political family. His father is one of the founders of Middle East Airlines.