2015 International Criminal Court judges election

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A special election for one judge of the International Criminal Court was held during the resumption of the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which took place in The Hague from 24 to 25 June 2015. [1]

Contents

The election became necessary after one judge elected in the 2011 election was unavailable: Miriam Defensor-Santiago had resigned from the bench on 3 June 2014. [1]

Background

The judge elected at this election was chosen to complete the term, until 10 March 2021, of the judge he replaced.

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:

Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:

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

Following these rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2015 special election lasted from 18 February to 31 March 2015 and could have been extended up to three times if there had been a lack of candidates from a group for which a minimum voting requirement was in place. The following persons were nominated: [3]

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender
Ibrahim Aljazy Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan List BAsia-Pacific StatesMale
Raul Cano Pangalangan Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines List BAsia-Pacific StatesMale

The nomination dated 31 March 2015 of A.B.M. Khairul Haque of Bangladesh was withdrawn on 13 April 2015.

Minimum voting requirements

Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This is to ensure that article 36(8)(a) cited above is fulfilled. For this election, the following minimum voting requirements existed; they could have been adjusted once the election is underway.

Regarding the List A or B requirement, there was no minimum voting requirement. [1]

Regarding the regional criteria, there was a voting requirement for one judge from the Asia-Pacific States.

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

The regional criterion could have been adjusted even before the election depending on the number of candidates. Paragraph 20(b) of the ASP resolution that governs 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.

The regional criterion can be dropped if after four ballots the seat is not filled.

The voting requirements were as follows:

CriterionVoting requirement ex anteCandidates as of nowAdjusted voting requirementAdjusted requirement equals ex ante?
Lists A or B
List A000Yes
List B020Yes
Regional criteria
African states000Yes
Asian states121Yes
Eastern European states000Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States000Yes
Western European and other States000Yes
Gender criteria
Female000Yes
Male020Yes

Ballots

On 24 June 2015, Raul Cano Pangalangan of the Philippines was elected. [4]

The ballot took place on 24 June 2015. The voting totals were as follows:

NameNationalityList A or BRegionGender1st round2nd round
Number of States Parties voting8384
Two-thirds majority5656
Ibrahim Aljazy Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan List BAsia-Pacific StatesMale3025
Raul Cano Pangalangan Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines List BAsia-Pacific StatesMale5359

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The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals. The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Information on the election of a judge Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine . Assembly of States Parties. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  2. "Resolution ICC-ASP/3/Res.6" (PDF). International Criminal Court. 10 September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  3. "2015-election". International Criminal Court. 28 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute elects a judge. ICC press release. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.