Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held from 8 to 17 December 2014 in New York. The judges were elected for terms of nine years and took office on 11 March 2015.
Background
The judges elected at this session replaced those six judges who were elected at the second election of ICC judges in 2006 for a full term of nine years; they also served for nine years until 2024.
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 has to belong to exactly one list. A minimum of nine judges elected from list A and five judges elected from list B is to be maintained on the court.
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 2015:
JudgeNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male Joyce Aluoch X X X Miriam Defensor Santiago X X X Chile Eboe-Osuji X X X Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi X X X Robert Fremr X X X Geoffrey A. Henderson X X X Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia X X X Sanji Mmasenono Monageng X X X Howard Morrison X X X Kuniko Ozaki X X X Cuno Tarfusser X X X Christine van den Wyngaert X X X 9 3 3 2 1 3 3 7 5
Nomination process The nomination period of judges for the 2014 election lasted from 28 April to 20 July 2014. As only one of two required nominations from Asia had been received, it was extended once until 3 August 2014, resulting in a second nomination from Asia. The following persons were nominated:
CandidateNationality List A or B Regional criteria Gender List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male Reine Alapini-Gansou X X X Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul X X X Emmanuel Yaw Benneh X X X X X X Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant X X X Chung Chang-ho X X X Zlata Đurđević X X X X X X Piotr Hofmański X X X Péter Kovács X X X Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua X X X X X X Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut X X X Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa X X X Bertram Schmitt X X X X X X Mindia Ugrekhelidze X X X 8 9 5 2 6 1 3 5 12
Minimum voting requirements Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that articles 36(5) and 36(8)(a) cited above were fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements applied initially:
Criterion Number of judges required Number of judges remaining in office Ex ante voting requirement Number of candidates Adjusted voting requirement Adjusted voting requirement equals ex ante?List A or B List A 9 9 0 8 0 List B 5 3 2 9 2 Regional criteria African 3 3 0 5 0 Asian 3 2 1 2 1 Eastern European 3 1 2 6 2 Latin American and Caribbean 3 3 0 1 0 Western European and other 3 3 0 3 0 Gender criteria Female 6 7 0 5 0 Male 6 5 1 12 1
Regarding the List A or B requirement, two votes had to be cast for List B candidates.
Regarding the regional criteria, three votes had to be cast for certain regional groups: two for Eastern European candidates and one for an Asian candidate.
Regarding the gender criteria, one vote had to be cast for a male candidate.
The regional and gender requirements could have been adjusted before the election depending on the number of candidates, pursuant to paragraphs 20 (b) and (c) of the resolution that governs the elections.
The minimum voting requirements are updated after each ballot to account for the judges already elected. The regional and gender requirements are dropped either if they can no longer be (jointly) fulfilled, or if after four ballots not all seats are filled. The List A or B requirement remains active until a sufficient number of judges has been elected from each list.
Ballots The ballot results were as follows:
CandidateNationalityList A or BRegionGender 8 December 2014 9 December 2014 10 December 2014 12 December 2014 1st ballot 2nd ballot 3rd ballot 4th ballot 5th ballot 6th ballot 7th ballot 8th ballot 9th ballot 10th ballot 11th ballot Valid votes cast 104 107 116 116 116 117 119 113 117 118 117 Two-thirds majority 70 72787878 78 80 76 78 79 78 Chung Chang-ho List A Asia Male elected Piotr Hofmański List A Eastern Europe Male elected Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut List B Western Europe and Others Male elected Bertram Schmitt List A Western Europe and Others Male elected Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua List B Africa Male elected Péter Kovács List B Eastern Europe Male List A Asia Female List A Western Europe and Others Male Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant List B Latin America and Caribbean Male Reine Alapini-Gansou List B Africa Female withdrawn Zlata Đurđević List B Eastern Europe Female withdrawn Mindia Ugrekhelidze List A Eastern Europe Male withdrawn List B Eastern Europe Female withdrawn List A Eastern Europe Male withdrawn Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul List A Africa Male withdrawn Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa List B Africa Female withdrawn Emmanuel Yaw Benneh List B Africa Male withdrawn
CandidateNationalityList A or BRegionGender 15 December 2014 16 December 2014 12th ballot 13th ballot 14th ballot 15th ballot 16th ballot 17th ballot 18th ballot 19th ballot 20th ballot 21st ballot 22nd ballot Valid votes cast 114 117 117 111 114 115 114 110 114 115 116 Two-thirds majority 76 78787476 77 7674 76 7778 Péter Kovács List B Eastern Europe Male List A Asia Female List A Western Europe and Others Male withdrawn Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant List B Latin America and Caribbean Male withdrawn
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 B 2 Asian 1 Eastern European 2 Male 1
Note that the regional minimum voting requirement was dropped after the 4th ballot and was thus no longer being imposed when a second Eastern European judge was elected in the 22nd ballot.
References