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ACTION
ALERT !
(April 2002)
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CONTACT YOUR FOREIGN, JUSTICE AND WOMEN'S
MINISTRIES AND DEMAND GENDER PARITY AMONG
THE ICC JUDGES AND A TRANSPARENT ELECTION PROCESS
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The Ninth Session of the
Preparatory Commission of the International Criminal Court is under way
through the end of this week,
19 April 2002
.
A critical component of the gender mainstreaming begun in the Rome Statute is
at stake in these negotiations. We have included a letter below that we hope
you will adopt or adapt and send to your Foreign Ministries as well as your
ministries of Justice and Women and your UN missions. We have also included a
website where you can obtain contact information. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO DO
THIS as the ICC is the first international institution of the 21st century and
we must ensure that women are finally represented on an equal footing.
Government delegates at this Prepcom are in the process of negotiating rules
of procedure for the nomination and election of judges, prosecutor and deputy
prosecutors. Though the ICC will not be a part of the United Nations, we know
from experience of monitoring elections for similar posts in the UN system
that the need for fair representation of women and men is not taken seriously
in the elections, which are also often highly suspect in terms of the
vote-trading that accompanies these elections. As a result, the presence of
women in the international posts has been appallingly low. Due to the nature
of these processes it has also often been difficult for NGO's to monitor the
elections and evaluate the background of candidates. An added problem is that
qualified women are very rarely informed about the opportunities of the posts
at the international level or of the process of nomination at the national
level.
Some examples:
Only one woman has ever
served as a judge on the International Court of Justice throughout its more
than 80-year history.
The 34-member International
Law Commission had no women throughout its 55-year history until late last
year at which time two women were elected.
In the ad hoc tribunals for
the former
Yugoslavia
and
Rwanda
, there have been at most 3 women serving at any one time among the 14
permanent judges. Currently, at the ICTY, there is only one woman serving as a
permanent judge.
The ICC will be the first
major international institution of the 21st century - indeed of this
millennium - developed via multilateral treaty.
The shapers of this historic
institution must continue to take bold strides in ensuring that women, who
make up half the world's population, are finally guaranteed an equitable
presence in such institutions. It is no longer acceptable to abide the
reluctance of states to nominate women or to blame the lack of appropriate
female representation on the myth that
there is a lack of qualified women. In the same way that the ICC, as an
independent and impartial mechanism, is intended to be a fairer and more
democratic judicial institution as a counter to the abusive rule of raw power
in the world, so it must also counter the effects of power disparities between
women and men through its procedures and practices.
This, along with appropriate geographical representation, is critical to
ensuring the Court's legitimacy among the peoples of the world - which, though
it seems obvious, includes women.
In the ICC context, the
Women's Caucus is advocating that "fair representation" be
understood as parity of women and men, meaning a margin of 45-55 percent
either way. We are also arguing that there is an obligation to develop
mechanisms in the election process that ensure parity in the outcome of the
elections. Additional points are contained in
the alert letter below. While a parity of women and men on the Court is an
overarching principle and a critical part of a full-fledged commitment to
non-discrimination on the basis of gender, the Statute also mandates the
presence of judges, male or female, with legal expertise on specific issues
including violence against women and children.
This moment presents an
opportunity to break from the old patterns that have prevented women from
participating on an equal footing in our international institutions. Please
take the time to forward these concerns to your relevant officials and
parliamentarians. At the same time, we urge those of you in countries that
have ratified the ICC to contact your foreign ministries to find out whether
and how the nomination process will proceed and also whether candidates have
already been identified and demand that women candidates be considered and put
forward. It is expected that the first meeting of the Assembly of States
Parties will be held in September 2002 at which time the nomination process
will open. It will then likely close some time in late October and then the
first elections of the full panel of 18 judges will be held in January 2003.
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(Letter to Ministries and Missions)
Re: ICC Election Procedures
Dear Madame/Sir,
We are writing to express our
serious concerns regarding the negotiations at the Ninth Session of the
Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court relating to the
elections of judges, prosecutor and deputy prosecutors. As you know, last
Thursday, the Rome Statute obtained the required number of ratifications for
entry into force on
1 July 2002
- a moment we are very much hoping will signal an end to impunity for crimes
committed predominately against women which have long been overlooked by the
international justice mechanisms of the past.
We are very concerned,
however, that immediately in the wake of this historic occasion, there seems
to be little real commitment at this session to carry forward the gender
mainstreaming mandates of the Rome Statute when it comes to the elections of
judges and other posts. The ICC will be the first international institution of
the 21st century, indeed of the new millennium, established by multi-lateral
treaty and is the first of its kind. It is time, finally, that women be
accorded a presence in such institutions on an equitable footing. You have a
historic opportunity to ensure that the ICC is standard-setting with respect
to a presence of women on the Court. Doing so will only increase its esteem
and prestige in the world.
In light of this, we demand
the following:
1. That "fair
representation of female and male" in article 36(8)(a) of the Rome
Statute be explicitly recognized as parity of women and men. In the context of
the ICC this would amount to at least 8 men or women on the Court. This is not
a quota - it is what is fair given that women make up half the world's
population. It amounts to a margin of 45-55 percent either way. Anything less
than this would replicate the systemic discrimination on the basis of gender
in this new institution;
2. That a mechanism be
developed and included in the rules of procedures relating to elections that
will ensure this fair representation in the outcome of the elections;
3. That the election
procedures be fully transparent and provide ample opportunity for a thorough
review of candidate's qualifications and background;
4.
That an advisory committee be established in accordance with article 36(4)(c)
which would be comprised of experts and members of civil society so as to
avoid on the possibility or appearance of bias on the part of delegates
representing their countries in the Assembly of States Parties;
5. That the advisory
committee be authorized to extend the nomination period in the event the pool
of candidates does not reflect the balances required by the Statute and rules;
6. That the advisory
committee also be authorized to nullify the nomination round and open a new
one in the event that the balances required by the Statute and rules are not
met and an extension would not facilitate such a balance;
7.
That the election procedures also ensure a presence of judges on the Court,
whether female or male, with legal expertise on violence against women and
violence against children, pursuant to article 36(8)(b) of the Rome Statute.
We expect that our delegation
to the Preparatory Commission will actively participate in the resolution of
these matters toward a satisfactory and non-discriminatory outcome in
furtherance of the aims of the Rome Statute.
Signed,
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For a listing of contact
information for UN Missions, see http://www.un.org/Overview/missions.htm.
Please forward a copy of your
letters also to
the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice.
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Background and Criteria for
Judges for the ICC
The Rome Statute sets out a
series of criteria that are to be applied to potential candidates for elected
posts for the ICC.
Article 36(3)(b) requires
that judicial nominees have experience in criminal law and procedure with
experience as a judge, prosecutor, or advocate in criminal proceedings OR
competence relevant areas of international law, such as humanitarian law and
the law of human rights.
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 and a representation of the principle legal systems of the
world.
Article 37(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."
According to article
36(4)(b), candidates must be nationals of a State Party to the Rome Statute
though they need not be nominated by their own country. Candidates must have
an excellent knowledge of or be fluent in at least one of the working
languages of the Court - English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and
Arabic.
For more information about
these and other issues or for a copy of our short guide to the nomination and
election process for Judges to the International Criminal Court, please
contact us.
Women's Caucus for Gender
Justice
P.O. Box
3541
Grand Central P.O.
New York
,
New York
10163
,
USA
tel. +1 (718) 626-2681 / fax +1(718)626-3528
email: caucus@iccwomen.org
url: www.iccwomen.org
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