International Criminal Court judges election, 2011

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

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:

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

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]

Nomination process

Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2011 election lasted from 13 June to 2 September 2011 and was extended once until 16 September 2011 due to the lack of candidates from one regional group. The following persons were nominated:[3]

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson  Sierra Leone List A African States Male
Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda  Tunisia List A African States Male
Vinod Boolell  Mauritius List A African States Male
Modeste-Martineau Bria  Central African Republic List A African States Male
Anthony Carmona  Trinidad and Tobago List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male
Bruno Cathala  France List A Western European and other States Male
Eduard Cifuentes Muñoz  Colombia List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male
Władysław Czapliński  Poland List B Eastern European States Male
Miriam Defensor Santiago  Philippines List B Asian States Female
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria List A African States Male
Robert Fremr  Czech Republic List A Eastern European States Male
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female
Gberdao Gustave Kam  Burkina Faso List A African States Male
Javier Laynez Potisek  Mexico List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo List A African States Male
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom List A Western European and other States Male
Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou  Niger List A African States Male
George A. Serghides  Cyprus List A Asian States Male
Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega  Costa Rica List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male

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

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 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 early rounds of voting. The minimum requirement of judges from list B was fulfilled. This requirement was not to be waived under any circumstance.

Regarding the regional criteria, initially there were three seats reserved for regional groups: one for the Eastern European States and two for the 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 ICC-ASP/3/Res.6 regarding the conditions for obtaining an additional regional seat, in this case referring to Asia, where the membership of the Maldives as the 17th Asian ICC member state triggered a fourth seat to be reserved for an Asian judge. Thus, there were four regional seats to be reserved for which to be voted in the early rounds of voting - one Asian seat, one Eastern European seat, and 2 GRULAC seats. The minimum requirement for judges from African and Western European and other states was fulfilled.

Regarding the gender criteria, the minimum requirement for female judges was fulfilled. States Parties had to vote for two male candidates in the early rounds 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 governed the elections states that if there had been less than double the number of candidates required for each region, the minimum voting requirement would have been a (rounded-up) half of the number of candidates; except when there had been only one candidate which would have resulted in no voting requirement. Furthermore, if the number of candidates of one gender had been less than ten, then the minimum voting requirement would not have exceeded a certain number depending on the number of candidates.

The regional and gender criteria were to be dropped either if they were not (jointly) possible any more, or if after four ballots not all seats were filled (as was the case in this election).

Given the nominations (already taking into account the withdrawal of Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda which did not change the outcome, however), the voting requirements were as follows:

Criterion Voting requirement ex ante Candidates as of now Adjusted voting requirement Adjusted requirement equals ex ante?
Lists A or B
List A 3 15 3 Yes
List B 0 3 0 Yes
Regional criteria
African states 0 7 0Yes
Asian states 1 2 1Yes
Eastern European states 1 2 1Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States 2 5 2Yes
Western European and other States 0 2 0Yes
Gender criteria
Female 0 2 0 Yes
Male 2 16 2 Yes

Campaign on International Criminal Court Elections

Because of the importance of qualified and impartial judges, NGOs have taken a particular interest in the ICC judges election.[4] 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.[5] In December 2010, the Coalition established an Independent Panel on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections. The panel is 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."[6] The members of the panel are:[6]

On 26 October 2011, the Panel published a report[7] in which it assessed the candidates as follows in regard to their qualification to serve as a judge on the ICC in their respective list:

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender Qualified or not
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson  Sierra Leone List A African States Male Qualified
Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda  Tunisia List A African States Male Not qualified
Vinod Boolell  Mauritius List A African States Male Qualified
Modeste-Martineau Bria  Central African Republic List A African States Male Qualified
Anthony Carmona  Trinidad and Tobago List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male Qualified
Bruno Cathala  France List A Western European and other States Male Qualified
Eduard Cifuentes Muñoz  Colombia List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male Qualified
Władysław Czapliński  Poland List B Eastern European States Male Qualified
Miriam Defensor Santiago  Philippines List B Asian States Female Qualified
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria List A African States Male Qualified
Robert Fremr  Czech Republic List A Eastern European States Male Qualified
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female Qualified
Gberdao Gustave Kam  Burkina Faso List A African States Male Qualified
Javier Laynez Potisek  Mexico List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male Not qualified
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo List A African States Male Qualified
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom List A Western European and other States Male Qualified
Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou  Niger List A African States Male Qualified
George A. Serghides  Cyprus List A Asian States Male Not qualified
Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega  Costa Rica List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male Not qualified

Ballots

Unless otherwise indicated, results are from the ASP website.

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
Eduard Cifuentes Muñoz  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  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  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, the minimum voting requirement for the Asian seat was fulfilled. 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 the Eastern European seat was fulfilled as well as the male candidates seat. The list A minimum voting requirement dropped to one while the GRULAC seat remained at one.

As no new judges were elected during the third and fourth ballot, the minimum voting requirement for the GRULAC seat was abandoned. Only the list A minimum voting requirement (one judge) remained in place until such a judge was elected. After the election of a list A judge in the 12th ballot all minimum voting requirements were fulfilled.

References

  1. ↑ "Election of six judges – December 2011". International Criminal Court. 2011-06-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  2. ↑ "Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6". International Criminal Court. 2004-09-10. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  3. ↑ "Alphabetical listing". International Criminal Court. 2011-06-28. Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  4. ↑ Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja (2011-06-09). "The importance of monitoring ICC elections". Global Memo. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  5. ↑ "Delivering on the promise of a fair, effective and independent Court – Election of ICC and ASP Officials". Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Independent Panel on ICC Judicial Elections". Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  7. ↑ Report on International Criminal Court Judicial Nominations 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.