Global Coalition Calls on States to Nominate the Most Highly-Qualified Judicial Candidates to the ICC
New York / The Hague, 21 June 2011 — The opening last week of the nomination period of candidates for upcoming elections of Judges to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a crucial opportunity for States to nominate the most highly-qualified candidates through a fair, transparent and merit-based election process, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court said today. The ICC, established by treaty in 1998 and which entered into force in 2002, is the first permanent international court capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Between 13 June and 2 September 2011, States Parties to the Rome Statute will nominate candidates to fill six judicial vacancies at the ICC. The elections, to be held in December 2011 at the tenth session of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP), represent the most significant change to the composition of the Court’s bench in recent years. The ASP is the Court’s governing body and is composed of the 115 States that are party to the Rome Statute.
The Rome Statute establishes a framework for judicial elections, including by fixing qualifications for Judges, fostering fair and competitive elections, and ensuring all major legal systems are represented through geographic representation. The Statute ensures equitable gender representation; indeed due to the current number of female judges, State Parties will need to vote for at least two male candidates. In addition, the governments must elect two judges from the Latin American and Caribbean region and one from the Eastern Europe region. The Coalition estimates that governments will nominate between 15-25 candidates for the six positions.
A State that has not yet completed its Rome Statute ratification procedures may provisionally nominate a candidate. That nomination will become effective if the state deposits its instrument of ratification to the Rome Statute by the 2 September 2011 nomination deadline.
In addition, in December 2010 the Coalition established an Independent Panel on ICC Judicial Elections to provide independent assessments of judicial candidates and to report whether each candidate fulfills the qualifications prescribed by Article 36 of the Rome Statute. The Independent Panel is composed of the Hon. Justice Richard Goldstone (Chair), the Hon. Patricia Wald (Vice-Chair), the Hon. Hans Corell, Judge O-Gon Kwon, and Dr. Cecilia Medina Quiroga.
The views of the Panel and its assessments of the judicial candidates are its own and do not reflect those of the Coalition. Like the Coalition, however, the Panel will not endorse or oppose candidates. The Panel will issue a report of its assessments after the closing of the nomination period and in advance of the December election
In December 2011, ICC States Parties will also elect a new ICC Prosecutor to succeed Luis Moreno-Ocampo, whose term ends in June 2012. The formal nomination period is open from 13 June 2011 until 2 September 2011, subject to extension. The ASP has established a Search Committee for the Prosecutor of the ICC composed of States Parties’ representatives, which is mandated to facilitate the nomination and election by consensus of the next Prosecutor.
Background: The ICC is composed of judges representing all regions and principal legal systems of the world; eleven judges are women. Current judges are: Sang-Hyun Song (Republic of Korea), Fatoumata Dembele Diarra (Mali), Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany), Elizabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica), Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana), Erkki Kourula (Finland), Anita Ušacka (Latvia), Sir Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom), Sylvia Steiner (Brazil), Ekaterina Trendafilova (Bulgaria), Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko (Uganda), Bruno Cotte (France), Joyce Aluoch (Kenya), Sanji Mmasenono Monogeng (Botswana), Christine van den Wyngaert (Belgium), Cuno Tarfusser (Italy), Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Kuniko Ozaki (Japan), and René Blattman (Bolivia). The ICC Prosecutor is Luis Moreno-Ocampo (Argentina), and the Deputy Prosecutor is Fatou Bensouda (Gambia).
There are currently six active investigations before the Court: the Central African Republic; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; Kenya; Libya; and Uganda.
The ICC has publicly issued 15 arrest warrants and nine summonses to appear.
Three trials are ongoing.
The Office of the Prosecutor has made public that it is examining at least nine situations on four continents, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Republic of Korea, Nigeria, and Palestine.
