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PRESS RELEASE - 13 March 2001
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ELECT ICTY JUDGES
ON WEDNESDAY (14 MARCH)
ONLY 1 WOMAN ON LIST OF 26 NOMINEES
NGO'S, WOMEN'S GROUPS OUTRAGED AT APPALLING LACK
OF REPRESENTATION
NEW YORK - On Wednesday, March 14, the General Assembly
will vote to elect judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). They will select from a list of 26 nominees that
includes only one woman. The sole female candidate is already a judge at the
ICTY and if re-elected would be the only woman serving at that tribunal.
NGO's and women's groups have called on
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek to reopen the nomination process due to
the appalling lack of female representation. In his capacity as
Secretary-General, Mr. Annan has the duty to remind countries of their
obligations to seek out and nominate qualified female candidates. Such
disparities are unacceptable generally, but especially in light of the
mandates the UN has placed upon itself to mainstream gender and the
obligations to ensure a presence of women in top posts in the wake of Security
Council resolution 1325 regarding Women and Peacebuilding.
NGO's have also called upon Security Council members to
call for a vote for a resolution to reopen the process and to facilitate the
nomination of qualified women. In addition, NGO's have criticized the lack of
transparency and political deal-making that accompany these selection
processes for both the ICTY and the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda.
Though women judges at both the ICTY and ICTR have
always been too few in number, they have been critical to ensuring that
widespread and horrific crimes against women were properly charged and
prosecuted. Without their presence, crimes against women would have likely
gone unaddressed as has been the case in past international tribunals.
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For more information, contact: Pam Spees or Vahida
Nainar
at 212-697-7741 or 718-626-2681
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