Profiles of Women Candidates to the ICC


Barbara Ott (Switzerland) is a Major in the Swiss Military and serves as a District Attorney for the Second Division Military Court. As an officer on the staff of Attorney General of the Swiss Army, she is responsible for dealing with war crimes. She has also led investigations  relating to the genocide in Rwanda for cases in Rwanda, Belgium, France and Switzerland. She participated as one of four judges in the trial of Fulgence Niyonteze, which was held in Lausanne, Switzerland and was the first trial outside of Africa relating to acts committed during the Rwandan genocide. In 1995, Ms. Ott served on an investigatory mission for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to help develop investigation strategies, witness protection measures and to conduct witness interviews.

Anita Usacka (Latvia) has been a judge on the Constitutional Court of Latvia since 1996. She is also currently a professor at the Department of State Law and an associate professor at the Department for Fundamental Legal Studies at the University of Latvia, where she served as head of the Department for Fundamental Legal Studies from 1989-1996. From 1994-96 she was Executive Director of the Latvian branch UNICEF. She has lectured and written extensively on human rights and public international law, child protection, rights of minorities and women's rights as well as legal issues relating to EU accession. She is a member of the International Women Judges Association and numerous other professional associations.

Eleonora Zielinska (Poland) is currently director of the Institute of Penal Law at Warsaw University where she has taught since 1970. The courses she has taught include criminal law, violence against women, legal protection of women's rights, international cooperation and jurisdiction in criminal matters. She has also served as an expert before different bodies, including Parliament, the Council of Europe and the government on criminal law, medical law, gender equality and violence against women. She co-founded and directed a legal aid clinic at Warsaw University for disadvantaged communities. She has edited several books and authored numerous articles and reports on international criminal law, gender, reproductive rights, women's human rights and HIV/AIDS.

Hajnalka Karpati (Hungary) currently serves as a judge in the Criminal Division of the Prizren District Court as part of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. Prior to this appointment, she served as a criminal judge in Budapest, Hungary. In Budapest District Criminal Court, she presided over cases involving offenses against the person, which included assault and battery, sexual offenses and theft and related offenses.