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2011 International Criminal Court judges election

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Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 10th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in New York between 12 and 21 December 2011.[1] The judges elected, Anthony Carmona of Trinidad and Tobago, Miriam Defensor Santiago of the Philippines, Chile Eboe-Osuji of Nigeria, Robert Fremr of the Czech Republic, Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia of the Dominican Republic and Howard Morrison of the United Kingdom, took office on 11 March 2012.

Background

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The judges elected at this session were to replace those six judges who were elected at the first election of ICC judges in 2003 for a full term of nine years; they were also to serve for nine years until 2021.

The election was governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Its article 36(8)(a) states that "[t]he States Parties shall, in the selection of judges, take into account the need, within the membership of the Court, for:

  • (i) The representation of the principal legal systems of the world;
  • (ii) Equitable geographical representation; and
  • (iii) A fair representation of female and male judges."

Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:

  • List A contains those judges that "[h]ave established competence in criminal law and procedure, and the necessary relevant experience, whether as judge, prosecutor, advocate or in other similar capacity, in criminal proceedings";
  • List B contains those who "[h]ave established competence in relevant areas of international law such as international humanitarian law and the law of human rights, and extensive experience in a professional legal capacity which is of relevance to the judicial work of the Court".

Each candidate had to belong to exactly one list.

Further rules of election were adopted by a resolution of the Assembly of States Parties in 2004.[2]

Judges remaining in office

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The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2012:[3]

Judge Nationality   List A or B   Regional criteria   Gender
List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male
Joyce Aluoch  Kenya X X X
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi  Argentina X X X
Hans-Peter Kaul  Germany X X X
Erkki Kourula  Finland X X X
Akua Kuenyehia  Ghana X X X
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng  Botswana X X X
Kuniko Ozaki  Japan X X X
Sang-hyun Song  South Korea X X X
Cuno Tarfusser  Italy X X X
Ekaterina Trendafilova  Bulgaria X X X
Anita Ušacka  Latvia X X X
Christine van den Wyngaert  Belgium X X X
       
6 6 3 2 2 1 4 8 4

Nomination process

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The nomination period of judges for the 2011 election lasted from 13 June to 2 September 2011[4] and was extended once until 16 September 2011 due to the lack of candidates from one regional group.[5] The following persons were nominated:[6]

Candidate Nationality   List A or B   Regional criteria   Gender
List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson  Sierra Leone X X X
Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda  Tunisia X X X
Vinod Boolell  Mauritius X X X
Modeste-Martineau Bria  Central African Republic X X X
Anthony Carmona  Trinidad and Tobago X X X
Bruno Cathala  France X X X
Eduardo Cifuentes Muñoz [es]  Colombia X X X
Władysław Czapliński  Poland X X X
Miriam Defensor Santiago  Philippines X X X
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria X X X
Robert Fremr  Czech Republic X X X
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic X X X
Gberdao Gustave Kam [nl]  Burkina Faso X X X
Javier Laynez Potisek  Mexico X X X
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo X X X
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom X X X
Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou  Niger X X X
George A. Serghides [de]  Cyprus X X X
Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega  Costa Rica X X X
       
16 3 8 2 2 5 2 2 17

The nomination period could have been extended for a maximum of six weeks (it was once), two at a time, if there had not been nominated at least twice as many candidates for each criterion as necessary.

The nomination of Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda was withdrawn before the session.

Minimum voting requirements

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Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that article 36(8)(a) cited above was fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements initially existed; they were to be adjusted once the election was underway.

Regarding the List A or B requirement, States Parties had to vote for three candidates from list A in the first round of voting. There was no minimum voting requirement for candidates from list B, as enough judges from that list remained on the bench.

Regarding the regional criteria, initially there were minimal voting requirements for two regional groups: One vote had to be cast for an Eastern European State and two for Latin American and Caribbean States. On 13 October 2011, the Bureau of the ASP notified States Parties of the application of Paragraph 20 (b) of Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6. The membership of the Maldives as the 17th Asian ICC member state triggered an increase in the corresponding minimum voting requirement. Accordingly, four votes initially had to be cast according to regional minimum voting requirements – one for an Asian State, one for an Eastern European State, and two for Latin American and Caribbean States states. There was no minimum voting requirement for judges from African and Western European and other states, as enough judges from these regional groups remained on the bench.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was no minimum voting requirement for female judges. States Parties had to vote for two male candidates in the first round of voting.

The regional and gender criteria could have been adjusted even before the election depending on the number of candidates. Paragraph 20(b) of the ASP resolution that governs the elections states that if there are fewer than twice the number of candidates required for a region, the corresponding minimum voting requirement is half the number of candidates (rounded up), except if there is only one candidate, which results in no voting requirement. Furthermore, if the number of candidates of one gender is less than ten, then the minimum voting requirement is limited to a certain number depending on the number of candidates.

The regional and gender criteria are to be dropped if they are not (jointly) possible anymore, and in any case after the fourth ballot.

Given the nominations (already taking into account the withdrawal of Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda which did not change the result, however), the initial minimum voting requirements were as follows:[7]

Criterion Number of judges required Number of judges remaining in office Voting requirement ex ante Number of candidates Adjusted voting requirement Adjusted requirement equals ex ante?
Lists A or B
List A 9 6 3 15 3 Yes
List B 5 6 0 3 0 Yes
Regional criteria
African states 3 3 0 7 0 Yes
Asian states 3 2 1 2 1 Yes
Eastern European states 3 2 1 2 1 Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States 3 1 2 5 2 Yes
Western European and other States 3 4 0 2 0 Yes
Gender criteria
Female 6 8 0 2 0 Yes
Male 6 4 2 16 2 Yes

Campaign on International Criminal Court Elections

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Because of the importance of qualified and impartial judges, NGOs have taken a particular interest in the ICC judges election.[8] The "Campaign on International Criminal Court Elections" was launched to promote the nomination and election of the most highly qualified officials through fair, merit-based, and transparent processes. This Campaign is sponsored by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, a group of NGOs. Among other things, the Coalition is strongly opposed to "vote-trading" among States Parties.[9] In December 2010, the Coalition established an Independent Panel on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections. The panel was to "issue a report containing an assessment of each judicial candidate as 'Qualified' or 'Not Qualified' after the closing of the nomination period and in advance of the December 2011 elections."[10] The members of the panel were:[10]

On 26 October 2011, the Panel published a report[11] in which it assessed the candidates in regard to their qualification to serve as a judge on the ICC in their respective list. All nominees except for Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda, Javier Laynez Potisek, George A. Serghides and Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega were assessed as qualified.

Ballots

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The ballot results were as follows:[12]

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 1st round 2nd round 3rd round 4th round 5th round 6th round 7th round 8th round 9th round 10th round
12 December 2011 13 December 2011 14 December 2011 15 December 2011
Number of States Parties voting 104 107 115 116 117 115 115 114 112 114
Two-thirds majority 70 72 77 78 78 77 77 76 75 76
Miriam Defensor Santiago  Philippines List B Asian States Female 79 elected
Anthony Carmona  Trinidad and Tobago List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male 72 elected
Robert Fremr  Czech Republic List A Eastern European States Male 62 77 elected
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom List A Western European and other States Male 51 54 62 64 67 71 69 69 70 62
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria List A African States Male 34 39 41 47 51 52 57 58 56 61
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female 44 36 38 38 40 40 41 46 57 52
Bruno Cathala  France List A Western European and other States Male 40 44 46 50 51 54 50 54 46 45
Vinod Boolell  Mauritius List A African States Male 27 29 25 30 31 26 39 37 38 40
Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega  Costa Rica List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 36 37 37 49 45 46 39 39 44 31
Javier Laynez Potisek  Mexico List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male 33 28 32 34 30 33 25 24 withdrawn
Eduardo Cifuentes Muñoz [es]  Colombia List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male 35 29 25 23 17 16 12 withdrawn
Władysław Czapliński  Poland List B Eastern European States Male 46 36 14 9 11 withdrawn
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo List A African States Male 12 10 6 withdrawn
George A. Serghides [de]  Cyprus List A Asian States Male 28 6 withdrawn
Modeste-Martineau Bria  Central African Republic List A African States Male 1 2 withdrawn
Gberdao Gustave Kam [nl]  Burkina Faso List A African States Male 10 withdrawn
Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou  Niger List A African States Male 7 withdrawn
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson  Sierra Leone List A African States Male 3 withdrawn
Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 11th round 12th round 13th round 14th round 15th round
15 December 2011 16 December 2011
Number of States Parties voting 109 109 105 113 102
Two-thirds majority 73 73 70 76 68
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female 71 77 elected
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom List A Western European and other States Male 64 66 72 elected
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria List A African States Male 62 63 59 68 102
Bruno Cathala  France List A Western European and other States Male 44 46 45 45 withdrawn
Vinod Boolell  Mauritius List A African States Male 36 34 22 withdrawn
Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega  Costa Rica List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male withdrawn

After the first ballot, minimum voting requirement for Asian States dropped to zero. The list A minimum voting requirement dropped to two, the Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) minimum voting requirement dropped to one and the male candidates minimum voting requirement dropped to one, as well. The Eastern European States minimum voting requirement remained at one.

After the second ballot, the minimum voting requirement for Eastern European States dropped to zero, as did the one for male candidates. The list A minimum voting requirement dropped to one while the GRULAC requirement remained at one.

After no new judges were elected during the third and fourth ballot, the GRULAC minimum voting requirement was abandoned. Only the list A minimum voting requirement (one judge) remained in place until such a judge was elected.

The minimum voting requirements are imposed on the ballots cast, not on the results. Thus, there is no guarantee that a corresponding number of judges is elected. However, in this election this was the case:

Criterion Initial minimal voting requirement Corresponding number of judges elected?
List A 3 Yes, after 12th ballot
Asian 1 Yes, after 1st ballot
Eastern European 1 Yes, after 2nd ballot
Latin American and Caribbean 2 Yes, after 12th ballot
Male 2 Yes, after 2nd ballot

Note that the regional minimum voting requirement was dropped after the 4th ballot and was thus no longer being imposed when a second Latin American and Caribbean judge was elected in the 12th ballot.

References

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  1. ^ "Election of six judges – December 2011". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 10 September 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Annex II – Composition of the judges" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. p. 12. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  4. ^ "ICC-ASP/10/S/04" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  5. ^ "ICC-ASP/10/S/57" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  6. ^ "ICC – Alphabetical listing". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Annex II – Tables of minimum voting requirements" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 13 October 2011. p. 9. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  8. ^ Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja (9 June 2011). "The importance of monitoring ICC elections". Global Memo. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Election of ICC and ASP Officials". Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Archived from the original on 7 March 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b "Independent Panel on ICC Judicial Elections". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  11. ^ Report on International Criminal Court Judicial Nominations 2011 Archived 10 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Final Results". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2024.