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 held in New York between 12 and 21 December 2011. 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 were elected. Their terms were scheduled to begin on 11 March 2012. Five of them were sworn in on 9 March 2012; Defensor Santiago deferred her oath of office and resigned on 3 June 2014 without taking up her duties.

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: (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.

Judges remaining in office The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2012:

JudgeNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAC WEOG Female Male Joyce Aluoch X X X Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi X X X Hans-Peter Kaul X X X Erkki Kourula X X X Akua Kuenyehia X X X Sanji Mmasenono Monageng X X X Kuniko Ozaki X X X Sang-hyun Song X X X Cuno Tarfusser X X X Ekaterina Trendafilova X X X Anita Ušacka X X X Christine van den Wyngaert X X X      6 6 3 2 2 1 4 8 4

Nomination process 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 because only three of the required four nominations from the Latin American and Caribbean States had been received. The following persons were nominated:

CandidateNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAC WEOG Female Male Rosolu John Bankole Thompson X X X Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda X X X Vinod Boolell X X X Modeste-Martineau Bria X X X Anthony Carmona X X X Bruno Cathala X X X X X X X X X Miriam Defensor Santiago X X X Chile Eboe-Osuji X X X Robert Fremr X X X Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia X X X X X X Javier Laynez Potisek X X X Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua X X X Howard Morrison X X X Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou X X X X X X Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega X X X     16 3 8 2 2 5 2 2 17

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 initially applied.

Regarding the List A or B requirement, States Parties initially had to vote for three candidates from list A. 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, minimum voting requirements were originally announced for two regional groups: One vote had to be cast for an Eastern European candidate and two for candidates from Latin American and Caribbean States. On 21 September 2011, after the nomination period had ended, the Maldives acceded to the Rome Statute as the 17th Asia–Pacific State Party. On 13 October 2011, the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties notified the States Parties that the accession would take effect on 1 December 2011, before the election, triggering an increase in the corresponding minimum voting requirement pursuant to paragraph 20(b) of the 2004 resolution. Accordingly, four votes initially had to be cast according to regional minimum voting requirements – one for an Asia-Pacific candidate, one for an Eastern European candidate, and two for candidates from Latin American and Caribbean States. There was no minimum voting requirement for candidates 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 candidates. States Parties initially had to vote for two male candidates.

The regional and gender criteria could have been adjusted even before the election depending on the number of candidates. Paragraph 20(b) of the 2004 resolution 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. In this election, no adjustment was necessary.

The regional and gender criteria are dropped if they can no longer be (jointly) fulfilled, 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:

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

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. 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. 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." The members of the panel were: The Honourable Richard Goldstone (chair) The Honourable Patricia Wald (vice-chair) The Honourable Hans Corell Judge O-Gon Kwon Dr. Cecilia Medina Quiroga

On 26 October 2011, the Panel published a report 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 The ballot results were as follows:

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender12 December 201113 December 201114 December 201115 December 2011 1st round 2nd round 3rd round 4th round 5th round 6th round 7th round 8th round 9th round 10th round 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 List B Asian States Female elected Anthony Carmona List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male elected Robert Fremr List A Eastern European States Male elected Howard Morrison List A Western European and other States Male Chile Eboe-Osuji List A African States Male Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female Bruno Cathala List A Western European and other States Male Vinod Boolell List A African States Male Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega List B Latin American and Caribbean States Male Javier Laynez Potisek List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male withdrawn List A Latin American and Caribbean States Male withdrawn List B Eastern European States Male withdrawn Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua List A African States Male withdrawn List A Asian States Male withdrawn Modeste-Martineau Bria List A African States Male withdrawn List A African States Male withdrawn Hamani Mounkaile Nouhou List A African States Male withdrawn Rosolu John Bankole Thompson List A African States Male withdrawn

Name Nationality List A or B Region Gender 15 December 2011 16 December 2011 11th round 12th round 13th round 14th round 15th round Number of States Parties voting 109 109 105 113 102 Two-thirds majority 73 73 70 76 68 Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia List A Latin American and Caribbean States Female elected Howard Morrison List A Western European and other States Male elected Chile Eboe-Osuji List A African States Male Bruno Cathala List A Western European and other States Male withdrawn Vinod Boolell List A African States Male withdrawn Jorge Antonio Urbina Ortega 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 minimum voting requirement Corresponding number of judges elected? List A 3 Asian 1 Eastern European 1 Latin American and Caribbean 2 Male 2

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.

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