ICC – August Deadline for Judges’ Nominations is Approaching

States that have ratified the Rome Statute and those that will ratify it in the next weeks^[1] are eligible to nominate judges to replace the three positions on the International Criminal Court.^[2] The deadline for nomination period is on August 24, 2007.^[3] The nominations were accepted from June 1, 2007.^[4] The elections will be held in the United Nations Headquarters from November 30th to December 14th.^[5]

Less than month away before the deadline, only three candidates have been nominated.^[6] Many human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, consider it essential that the Assembly of States Parties has the considerable pool of nominees representing many states.^[7] The organizations are concerned that the states parties may have reached political deals on how to divide up the posts.^[8] This would undermine Article 36 of the Rome Statute,^[9] which was designed to ensure that such political deals would not take place in the field of international justice.

As we reported earlier, Fumiko Saiga of Japan was nominated this month even before Japan ratified the Rome Statute.^[10] Also, Ugandan lawyer, Prof. Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko, has been nominated by the government for the post of a judge of the International Criminal Court.^[11]All three resigning judges were elected on the basis of their "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."^[12] The resigning judges are Judge Maureen Harding Clark, Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Judge Claude Jorda who individually announced their resignations in the last year.^[13] There are 18 judges of the new International Criminal Court, seven of whom are currently women.^[14]

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[1] A list of States Parties to the Rome Statute can be found on the ICC website.
[2] International Criminal Court: Amnesty International calls for all states to nominate best possible candidates for three replacement judges before 24 August 2007 deadline, Public Statement, July 27, 2007.
[3] Nominations for judges of the International Criminal Court, ICC Assembly of State Parties, approved March 27, 2007.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Amnesty International Public Statement, supra note 1.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.183/9, Article 36.
[10] Japan becomes global criminal court's 105th member, Reuters via Yahoo! Asia News, July 18, 2007.
[11] Uganda: Lawyer Nominated for ICC Judge, AllAfrica Press Release, July 18, 2007.
[12] Amnesty International Public Statement, supra note 1.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.