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Letter
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Regarding Representation of Women at Ad Hoc Tribunals
12 April 2001
To: Hon. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
United Nations
Re: Representation of Women Judges at Tribunals
Last month, the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice, and
many other non-governmental organizations and individuals, expressed our grave
concern when the nomination list for judicial appointments to the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was put forward with
only one female candidate out of 25 nominees. (See attached letter and news
accounts)
While this was already cause for concern, our alarm grew
as we saw how the elections unfolded with Judge Florence Mumba of Zambia
achieving the required number of votes only in the seventh and last round of
voting. Judge Mumba, you will agree, has served at the ICTY with great wisdom,
ability and insight and in doing so has made some valuable contributions to
the growing body of international jurisprudence, including with respect to
crimes against women. It is alarming, to say the least, at how very close this
election came to placing only men as permanent judges of the ICTY for the next
four years.
More recently, the nomination list submitted by your
office and unanimously adopted by the Security Council for two posts at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was released. (Security Council
resolution 1347) Though the presence of one woman on this smaller list of
nominations might not seem as glaring a disparity, it is still an unacceptable
level of representation.
We understand the Security Council is scheduled to
decide on a list of nominees for ad litem posts at the ICTY on or around 16
April 2001. (Security Council resolution 1329) We urge you to reiterate the
need to make the identification and nomination of qualified women a priority
in these processes. Indeed, this is essential if the principle of equality of
representation of the sexes on all United Nations bodies is to have any force
and meaning. If the representation of women is still at such a low level, we
hope you will seek to defer the adoption of the nomination list until such
time as the countries involved have corrected this course of action.
We thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Vahida Nainar
Executive Director
cc: H.E. Sir Jeremy Greenstock,
United Kingdom,
President, Security Council
Security Council Member
States
Ms. Angela E.V. King,
Assistant Secretary-General
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