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Women on the Court Now
!
Campaign Information Sheet
In February 2003, elections will be held for the
first 18 judges and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The
Rome Statute sets out a series of criteria that are to be applied to
potential candidates for elected posts for the ICC. Resolutions of the
Assembly of States Parties set out the rules governing the nomination
and election process.
CRITERIA FOR JUDGES OF THE ICC:
- Candidates must be nationals of a State Party - Article 36(4)(b)
- Candidates should have excellent knowledge and be fluent in at least
one of the working languages of the Court (English and French) - Article
36(3)(c)
- Must be persons of 'high moral character, impartiality and integrity'
- Article 36(3)(a)
Article 36(3)(b) requires that judicial nominees
have 'established competence' in:
(a) criminal law and procedure and 'necessary
relevant experience' whether as a judge, prosecutor, or advocate in
criminal proceedings or
(b) relevant areas of international law, such as
humanitarian law and the law of human rights.
There must be at least nine candidates with
experience from List A and at least five from List B
In addition, article 36(8)(a) of the statute
requires that States Parties take into account the need for:
- a fair representation of female and male judges;
- equitable geographical representation;
- a representation of the principle legal systems of the world
Article 36 (8)(b) provides that States Parties
must also "take into Account the need to include judges with legal
expertise on specific issues including, but not limited to, violence
against women or children."
NOMINATION PROCEDURES
Rome Statute Requirements:
According to Article 36(4)(a), states may choose
one of two procedures they will use to nominate candidates:
(1) Through the procedure for nomination of
candidates for appointment to highest judicial office;
(2) Through the procedure for nomination of candidates for the
International Court of Justice
Note: The procedure for nomination to the ICJ is
often much more difficult to discern in the national system. Candidates
are chosen by the national groups of the Permanent Court of Arbitrators.
Normally four persons comprise the national group who ideally select
candidates and submit them through the relevant ministry. However, this
process is often very informal and non-transparent. To find out who the
national groups are comprised of visit: www.pca-cpa.org/PDF/Members.pdf.
States must also submit a statement detailing how
the candidate fulfills the statute's criteria.
Assembly of States Parties Rules:
The ICC Assembly of States parties adopted a set
of resolutions containing rules that will govern the nomination and
election of judges, prosecutor and deputy prosecutor. They provide the
following:
Nomination Period: The ICC Assembly of States
Parties opened the nomination period on 9 September 2002. The nomination
period will close on 30 November 2002.
The President of the ASP must inform all States
Parties of the status of nominations as of 1 November 2002 and must
specifically identify:
- whether there are fewer candidates with criminal
law experience or international law experience than what is required by
the Statute;
- whether there are fewer candidates from each region than is required
by the resolution of the ASP;
- whether there are fewer than 10 male or female candidates as required
by the resolution of the ASP
If at the end of the nomination period, there are
fewer candidates in each of these categories than what is required by
the Statute or the resolution of the Assembly, then the President of the
ASP must extend the nomination period to 8 December 2002 in order to
allow more time for additional nominations.
ELECTION OF JUDGES
The first elections of the judges will be held
from 3-7 February 2003 at UN Headquarters in New York. At this election,
all 18 judges will be elected. According to article 36(9), six of these
judges will serve a 3-year term, another six will serve a 6-year term
and the remaining six will serve a 9-year term. This will be determined
by drawing lots. Afterward, elections will be held every 3 years for six
judges at a time.
A resolution adopted by the Assembly of States
Parties sets in place a series of minimum voting requirements intended
to ensure a the statute's mandates of 'fair representation' of women and
men and equitable geographical distribution are carried out.
Accordingly, each state party must vote for at least 3 candidates for
each region unless the number of States Parties from a region is less
than 1/6 the total number of States Parties to the Rome Statute at the
time of the election.
Minimum Voting Requirement (MVR) for Gender:
During the balloting, each State Party must vote for at least six women
and at least six men provided that the number of candidates from each
sex is greater than 10. If the number of candidates from one gender is
10 or less, the Assembly adopted the following formula that will be
applied to determine what the minimum voting requirement should be:
If the number of candidates is: 9 or 10, the MVR
is six.
7 or 8, the MVR is five.
6, the MVR is four.
5, the MVR is three.
4, the MVR is two.
2 or 3, the MVR is one.
All of the minimum voting requirements - regional,
gender and area of expertise - will be applied during the first four
rounds of voting and will be adjusted after each round according to the
candidates elected and the fulfillment of the requirements. However, the
minimum voting requirements will be suspended altogether after four
rounds of voting and the elections will be open.
CRITERIA FOR ELECTION OF THE PROSECUTOR
Article 42(3) of the Rome Statute requires that
the Prosecutor must be of high moral character, be highly competent in
and have extensive practical experience in the prosecution or trial of
criminal cases and have excellent knowledge of and be fluent in at least
one of the working language of the Court.
A resolution of the Assembly of States Parties
provides that nominations should be made with the support of multiple
States Parties. The resolution also provides that the election of the
Prosecutor should be by consensus. If consensus is not possible, then
the candidate obtaining the highest number of votes and an absolute
majority will be considered elected.
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