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January 2009 International Criminal Court judges election

An ordinary election for six judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the resumption of the 7th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in New York on 19 and 20 January 2009.[1]

The election was to replace six judges who had been elected for a six-year term during the initial election in 2003.

Background

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The judges elected at this election were to take office on 11 March 2009, and to remain in office until 10 March 2018.[citation needed]

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 must 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

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Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2009 election lasted from 21 July to 13 October 2008 and was extended thrice until 24 November 2008 due to the lack of candidates from some groups for which minimum voting requirements were in place. The following persons were nominated:[3]

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender
Victoire Désirée Adétoro Agbanrin-Elisha   Benin List A African States Female
Joyce Aluoch   Kenya List A African States Female
Phani Dascalopoulou-Livada   Greece List B Western European and Other States Female
Christopher John Robert Dugard   South Africa List B African States Male
Chile Eboe-Osuji   Nigeria List A African States Male
María del Carmen González Cabal   Ecuador List B Latin American and Caribbean States Female
Gberdao Gustave Kam   Burkina Faso List A African States Male
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng   Botswana List B African States Female
Aminatta Lois Runeni N'Gum   Gambia List B African States Female
Vonimbolana Rasoazanany   Madagascar List A African States Female
Fumiko Saiga   Japan List B Asian States Female
Mohamed Shahabuddeen   Guyana List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male
Angélique Sita-Akele Muila   Democratic Republic of the Congo List B African States Female
El Hadji Malick Sow   Senegal List A African States Male
Cuno Tarfusser   Italy List A Western European and Other States Male
Wilhelmina Thomassen   Netherlands List A Western European and Other States Female
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson   Sierra Leone List A African States Male
Christine van den Wyngaert   Belgium List A Western European and Other States Female
Dragomir Vokuje   Bosnia and Herzegovina List A Eastern European States Male

The candidatures of Fernando Enrique Arboleda Ripoll of Colombia and of Lombe Chibesakunda of Zambia were withdrawn.

The candidature of Onesimus Mutungi of Kenya was replaced by the candidature of Joyce Aluoch.

Chile Eboe-Osuji of Nigeria was originally listed for list B.[4]

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 is 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, there was a minimum voting requirement (not to be waived at any time) of one judge from List A and one judge from List B.[5]

Regarding the regional criteria, there was a voting requirement for one judge from the Asian States and one judge from the Latin American and Caribbean States.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was no minimum voting requirement.

The regional and gender criteria could have been (and were) 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 are less than double the number of candidates required for each region, the minimum voting requirement shall be a (rounded-up) half of the number of candidates; except when 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 shall not exceed a certain number depending on the number of candidates.

The regional and gender criteria could have been dropped either if they were not (jointly) possible any more, or if after four ballots not all seats were filled.

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 1 11 1 Yes
List B 1 8 1 Yes
Regional criteria
African states 0 11 0 Yes
Asian states 1 1 0 No
Eastern European states 0 1 0 Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States 1 2 1 Yes
Western European and other States 0 4 0 Yes
Gender criteria
Female 0 11 0 Yes
Male 0 8 0 Yes

Ballots

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The first two ballots took place on 19 January 2009. All other ballots took place on 20 January 2009.[citation needed]

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
Number of States Parties voting 108 108 108 107 108 105 108 108 100
Two-thirds majority 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 67
Mohamed Shahabuddeen   Guyana List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male 79 elected
Fumiko Saiga   Japan List B Asian States Female 72 elected
Cuno Tarfusser   Italy List A Western European and Other States Male 69 68 74 elected
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng   Botswana List B African States Female 41 50 64 75 elected
Christine van den Wyngaert   Belgium List A Western European and Other States Female 58 58 61 67 73 elected
Joyce Aluoch   Kenya List A African States Female 30 32 39 36 38 48 55 62 100
Wilhelmina Thomassen   Netherlands List A Western European and Other States Female 59 62 62 60 65 56 53 46 withdrawn
Phani Dascalopoulou-Livada   Greece List B Western European and Other States Female 48 43 31 28 14 withdrawn
Christopher John Robert Dugard   South Africa List B African States Male 30 27 25 20 14 withdrawn
María del Carmen González Cabal   Ecuador List B Latin American and Caribbean States Female 31 18 18 14 withdrawn
Chile Eboe-Osuji   Nigeria List A African States Male 24 16 12 withdrawn
Vonimbolana Rasoazanany   Madagascar List A African States Female 10 6 12 withdrawn
Gberdao Gustave Kam   Burkina Faso List A African States Male 14 9 withdrawn
Angélique Sita-Akele Muila   Democratic Republic of the Congo List B African States Female 11 4 withdrawn
El Hadji Malick Sow   Senegal List A African States Male 10 4 withdrawn
Dragomir Vokuje   Bosnia and Herzegovina List A Eastern European States Male 9 4 withdrawn
Aminatta Lois Runeni N'Gum   Gambia List B African States Female 5 3 withdrawn
Rosolu John Bankole Thompson   Sierra Leone List A African States Male 9 2 withdrawn
Victoire Désirée Adétoro Agbanrin-Elisha   Benin List A African States Female 4 withdrawn

References

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  1. ^ "Results of the third election of the judges of the International Criminal Court". International Criminal Court. 20 January 2009. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  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. ^ "Alphabetical listing". International Criminal Court. 17 January 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  4. ^ Alphabetical listing. ICC. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  5. ^ Note verbale governing the election. ICC. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
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