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2014 International Criminal Court judges election

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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

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Song Sang-Hyun, then President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was one of six judges whose terms expired on 11 March 2015.

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.[1]

Judges remaining in office

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The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2015:[2]

Judge Nationality   List A or B   Regional criteria   Gender
List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male
Joyce Aluoch  Kenya X X X
Miriam Defensor Santiago  Philippines X X X
Chile Eboe-Osuji  Nigeria X X X
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi  Argentina X X X
Robert Fremr  Czech Republic X X X
Geoffrey A. Henderson  Trinidad and Tobago X X X
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia  Dominican Republic X X X
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng  Botswana X X X
Howard Morrison  United Kingdom X X X
Kuniko Ozaki  Japan X X X
Cuno Tarfusser  Italy X X X
Christine van den Wyngaert  Belgium X X X
       
9 3 3 2 1 3 3 7 5

Nomination process

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The nomination period of judges for the 2014 election lasted from 28 April to 20 July 2014.[3] It was extended once due to the lack of candidates from Asia until 3 August 2014.[4] The following persons were nominated:[5]

Candidate Nationality   List A or B   Regional criteria   Gender
List A List B African Asian E. European GRULAG WEOG Female Male
Reine Alapini-Gansou  Benin X X X
Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul  Tunisia X X X
Emmanuel Yaw Benneh  Ghana X X X
Toma Birmontienė [de]  Lithuania X X X
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant  Brazil X X X
Chung Chang-ho  Republic of Korea X X X
Zlata Đurđević  Croatia X X X
Pavel Gontšarov [et]  Estonia X X X
Piotr Hofmański  Poland X X X
Péter Kovács  Hungary X X X
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo X X X
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de]  Timor-Leste X X X
Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut  France X X X
Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa  Madagascar X X X
Bertram Schmitt  Germany X X X
Krister Hans Thelin [sv]  Sweden X X X
Mindia Ugrekhelidze  Georgia X X X
       
8 9 5 2 6 1 3 5 12

Minimum voting requirements

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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:[6]

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 Yes
List B 5 3 2 9 2 Yes
Regional criteria
African 3 3 0 5 0 Yes
Asian 3 2 1 2 1 Yes
Eastern European 3 1 2 6 2 Yes
Latin American and Caribbean 3 3 0 1 0 Yes
Western European and other 3 3 0 3 0 Yes
Gender criteria
Female 6 7 0 5 0 Yes
Male 6 5 1 12 1 Yes

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.[1]

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

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The ballot results were as follows:[7]

Candidate Nationality List A or B Region Gender 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 72 78 78 78 78 80 76 78 79 78
Chung Chang-ho  Republic of Korea List A Asia Male 73 elected
Piotr Hofmański  Poland List A Eastern Europe Male 63 66 72 87 elected
Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut  France List B Western Europe and Others Male 61 58 67 75 73 87 elected
Bertram Schmitt  Germany List A Western Europe and Others Male 67 68 69 71 71 79 elected
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua  Democratic Republic of the Congo List B Africa Male 39 42 51 54 66 65 69 71 77 84 elected
Péter Kovács  Hungary List B Eastern Europe Male 52 59 59 68 56 63 54 57 56 55 46
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de]  Timor-Leste List A Asia Female 38 19 20 24 35 34 34 29 33 31 29
Krister Hans Thelin [sv]  Sweden List A Western Europe and Others Male 44 45 44 52 43 43 35 37 37 36 28
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant  Brazil List B Latin America and Caribbean Male 34 35 27 28 34 33 22 24 22 19 14
Reine Alapini-Gansou  Benin List B Africa Female 12 16 20 23 15 13 6 4 3 3 withdrawn
Zlata Đurđević  Croatia List B Eastern Europe Female 35 35 34 38 24 26 10 withdrawn
Mindia Ugrekhelidze  Georgia List A Eastern Europe Male 23 20 25 23 15 10 3 withdrawn
Toma Birmontienė [de]  Lithuania List B Eastern Europe Female 22 20 27 25 12 withdrawn
Pavel Gontšarov [et]  Estonia List A Eastern Europe Male 26 23 27 withdrawn
Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul  Tunisia List A Africa Male 12 15 17 withdrawn
Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa  Madagascar List B Africa Female 11 8 14 withdrawn
Emmanuel Yaw Benneh  Ghana List B Africa Male 5 3 withdrawn
Candidate Nationality List A or B Region Gender 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 78 78 74 76 77 76 74 76 77 78
Péter Kovács  Hungary List B Eastern Europe Male 44 60 60 59 62 65 65 66 70 73 79
Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira [de]  Timor-Leste List A Asia Female 46 57 57 52 52 50 49 44 44 42 37
Krister Hans Thelin [sv]  Sweden List A Western Europe and Others Male 24 withdrawn
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant  Brazil 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 Yes, after 10th ballot
Asian 1 Yes, after 1st ballot
Eastern European 2 Yes, after 22nd ballot
Male 1 Yes, after 1st ballot

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

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  1. ^ a b "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.
  2. ^ "Annex II – Composition of the judges" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. p. 10. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. ^ "ICC-ASP/13/SP/06" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  4. ^ "ICC-ASP/13/SP/48" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Nominations". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Annex II – Tables of minimum voting requirements" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. p. 10. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  7. ^ "2014 - Election of six judges - Results". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2024.