2003 International Criminal Court judges election

Last updated August 27, 2024

An ordinary election for the first full bench of 18 judges of the International Criminal Court was held during the first resumption of the 1st session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in New York between 3 and 7 February 2003.^[1]

Background

The judges elected at this election were to take office on 11 March 2003. Six judges were to remain in office until 2006 (re-eligible), six until 2009 (not re-eligible) and another six for the whole nine-year term until 2012 (not re-eligible).

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 must belong to exactly one list.

Nomination process

Following the rules, the nomination period of judges for the 2003 election lasted from 9 September to 30 November 2002. The following persons were nominated:^[2]

Name	Nationality	List A or B	Region	Gender
René Blattmann	Bolivia	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Antonio Boggiano [ es ]	Argentina	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Marc Bossuyt	Belgium	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Maureen Harding Clark	Ireland	List A	Western European and Other States	Female
Ion Diaconu	Romania	List B	Eastern European States	Male
Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra	Mali	List A	African States	Female
Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan	Mongolia	List B	Asian States	Male
Adrian Fulford	United Kingdom	List A	Western European and Other States	Male
Ioannis Giannidis	Greece	List A	Western European and Other States	Male
Dimitar Gochev	Bulgaria	List B	Eastern European States	Male
Bunchhat Heng Vong	Cambodia	List B	Asian States	Male
Karl T. Hudson-Phillips	Trinidad and Tobago	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Claude Jorda	France	List A	Western European and Other States	Male
Ivo Josipović	Croatia	List B	Eastern European States	Male
Adolphus G. Karibi-Whyte [ Wikidata ]	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male
Hajnalka Kárpáti	Hungary	List A	Eastern European States	Female
Joseph-Médard Katuala Kaba Kashala	Democratic Republic of the Congo	List A	African States	Male
Hans-Peter Kaul	Germany	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Philippe Kirsch	Canada	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Erkki Kourula	Finland	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Akua Kuenyehia	Ghana	List B	African States	Female
Kamugumya S. K. Lugakingira	Tanzania	List A	African States	Male
Roberto MacLean Ugarteche [ es ]	Peru	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Doudou Ndir	Senegal	List A	African States	Male
Rafael Nieto Navia	Colombia	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Daniel D. N. Nsereko	Uganda	List B	African States	Male
Elizabeth Odio Benito	Costa Rica	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Female
Barbara Liliane Ott	Switzerland	List A	Western European and Other States	Female
Gheorghios M. Pikis	Cyprus	List A	Asian States	Male
Navanethem Pillay	South Africa	List B	African States	Female
Mauro Politi	Italy	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Almiro Rodrigues [ nl ]	Portugal	List A	Western European and Other States	Male
Víctor Rodríguez-Cedeño	Venezuela	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male
Mory Ousmane Sissoko	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male
Tuiloma Neroni Slade	Samoa	List A	Asian States	Male
Raymond C. Sock	Gambia	List B	African States	Male
Sang-hyun Song	South Korea	List A	Asian States	Male
Sylvia H. de Figueiredo Steiner	Brazil	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Female
Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga	Fiji	List A	Asian States	Male
Anita Ušacka	Latvia	List B	Eastern European States	Female
Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo [ es ]	Spain	List B	Western European and Other States	Male
Eleonora Zielińska [ pl ]	Poland	List A	Eastern European States	Female
Boštjan Zupančič	Slovenia	List A	Eastern European States	Male

The candidature of Kocou A. Capo-Chichi of Benin was withdrawn.

Minimum voting requirements

Minimum voting requirements governed part of the election. This was to ensure that article 36(8)(a) cited above is fulfilled. The following minimum voting requirements existed:

Regarding the List A or B requirement, there was a minimum voting requirement (not to be waived at any time) of nine judges from List A and five judges from List B.^[3]

Regarding the regional criteria, there were minimum voting requirements for three African, two Asian, two Eastern European judges, three Latin American and Caribbean judges and three judges from Western European and Other States.

Regarding the gender criteria, there was a minimum voting requirement for six female and six male judges.

The voting requirements were as follows:

Criterion	Voting requirement ex ante	Candidates as of now	Adjusted voting requirement	Adjusted requirement equals ex ante?
Lists A or B
List A	9	22	9	Yes
List B	6	22	6	Yes
Regional criteria
African states	3	11	3	Yes
Asian states	2	6	2	Yes
Eastern European states	2	7	2	Yes
Latin American and Caribbean States	3	8	3	Yes
Western European and other States	3	12	3	Yes
Gender criteria
Female	6	10	6	Yes
Male	6	34	6	Yes

Ballots

The ballots took place in February 2003.

Name	Nationality	List A or B	Region	Gender	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	4th round	5th round	6th round	7th round	8th round	9th round	10th round	11th round
Number of States Parties voting					83	80	83	83	85	85	85	85	85	85	85
Two-thirds majority					56	54	56	56	57	57	57	57	57	57	57
Maureen Harding Clark	Ireland	List A	Western European and Other States	Female	65	elected
Fatoumata Dembélé Diarra	Mali	List A	African States	Female	65	elected
Sang-hyun Song	South Korea	List A	Asian States	Male	63	elected
Sylvia H. de Figueiredo Steiner	Brazil	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Female	61	elected
Akua Kuenyehia	Ghana	List B	African States	Female	60	elected
Elizabeth Odio Benito	Costa Rica	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Female	60	elected
Navanethem Pillay	South Africa	List B	African States	Female	56	elected
Karl T. Hudson-Phillips	Trinidad and Tobago	List A	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	53	49	56	elected
Gheorghios M. Pikis	Cyprus	List A	Asian States	Male	43	47	50	60	elected
Philippe Kirsch	Canada	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	55	46	54	57	elected
Erkki Kourula	Finland	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	51	53	54	56	elected
Adrian Fulford	United Kingdom	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	42	45	47	50	50	54	53	52	59	elected
Anita Ušacka	Latvia	List B	Eastern European States	Female	46	31	37	52	49	51	50	55	59	elected
Hans-Peter Kaul	Germany	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	43	45	48	47	54	50	50	46	57	elected
René Blattmann	Bolivia	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	30	27	30	39	48	51	51	46	48	50	49
Mauro Politi	Italy	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	46	46	49	52	54	44	41	42	49	47	47
Claude Jorda	France	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	43	43	43	46	45	44	46	43	46	45	45
Ivo Josipović	Croatia	List B	Eastern European States	Male	26	30	39	47	49	42	41	39	45	44	38
Barbara Liliane Ott	Switzerland	List A	Western European and Other States	Female	45	36	36	38	39	44	42	34	37	31	34
Tuiloma Neroni Slade	Samoa	List A	Asian States	Male	34	30	33	32	34	43	46	44	42	39	31
Adolphus G. Karibi-Whyte [ Wikidata ]	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male	30	19	21	30	27	37	37	33	36	29	30
Doudou Ndir	Senegal	List A	African States	Male	39	17	19	19	19	27	27	26	26	19	18
Bunchhat Heng Vong	Cambodia	List B	Asian States	Male	15	10	8	8	6	5	7	10	10	9	9
Antonio Boggiano [ es ]	Argentina	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	18	7	11	9	9	11	9	9	withdrawn
Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo [ es ]	Spain	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	28	24	22	35	26	21	17	withdrawn
Boštjan Zupančič	Slovenia	List A	Eastern European States	Male	27	27	27	23	10	withdrawn
Ioannis Giannidis	Greece	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	14	15	18	11	8	withdrawn
Hajnalka Kárpáti	Hungary	List A	Eastern European States	Female	35	26	24	20	8	withdrawn
Dimitar Gochev	Bulgaria	List B	Eastern European States	Male	18	18	20	21	5	withdrawn
Eleonora Zielińska [ pl ]	Poland	List A	Eastern European States	Female	36	26	24	15	5	withdrawn
Ion Diaconu	Romania	List B	Eastern European States	Male	23	23	20	15	withdrawn
Víctor Rodríguez-Cedeño	Venezuela	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	20	9	10	8	withdrawn
Almiro Rodrigues [ nl ]	Portugal	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	28	24	19	withdrawn
Rafael Nieto Navia	Colombia	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	16	7	8	withdrawn
Mory Ousmane Sissoko	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male	9	7	7	withdrawn
Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan	Mongolia	List B	Asian States	Male	27	11	6	withdrawn
Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga	Fiji	List A	Asian States	Male	14	7	6	withdrawn
Joseph-Médard Katuala Kaba Kashala	Democratic Republic of the Congo	List A	African States	Male	14	8	5	withdrawn
Roberto MacLean Ugarteche [ es ]	Peru	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	18	10	withdrawn
Marc Bossuyt	Belgium	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	20	9	withdrawn
Daniel D. N. Nsereko	Uganda	List B	African States	Male	20	9	withdrawn
Raymond C. Sock	Gambia	List B	African States	Male	9	withdrawn
Kamugumya S. K. Lugakingira	Tanzania	List A	African States	Male	8	withdrawn

Name	Nationality	List A or B	Region	Gender	12th round	13th round	14th round	15th round	16th round	17th round	18th round	19th round	20th round	21st round	22nd round
Number of States Parties voting					85	84	84	84	85	85	85	85	85	85	83
Two-thirds majority					57	56	56	56	57	57	57	57	57	57	56
René Blattmann	Bolivia	List B	Latin American and Caribbean States	Male	52	57	elected
Mauro Politi	Italy	List B	Western European and Other States	Male	48	46	45	48	52	52	52	54	56	58	elected
Claude Jorda	France	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	47	47	50	48	47	47	47	49	48	49	45
Tuiloma Neroni Slade	Samoa	List A	Asian States	Male	29	27	25	22	28	28	39	39	37	42	44
Ivo Josipović	Croatia	List B	Eastern European States	Male	40	42	37	41	40	41	45	42	39	37	40
Adolphus G. Karibi-Whyte [ Wikidata ]	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male	31	29	27	24	26	24	21	20	23	20	14
Doudou Ndir	Senegal	List A	African States	Male	16	15	10	15	15	16	15	13	13	12	10
Barbara Liliane Ott	Switzerland	List A	Western European and Other States	Female	33	31	25	22	19	17	withdrawn
Bunchhat Heng Vong	Cambodia	List B	Asian States	Male	8	6	5	5	withdrawn

Name	Nationality	List A or B	Region	Gender	23rd round	24th round	25th round	26th round	27th round	28th round	29th round	30th round	31st round	32nd round	33rd round
Number of States Parties voting					85	84	85	85	85	85	84	84	83	83	80
Two-thirds majority					57	56	57	57	57	57	56	56	56	56	54
Tuiloma Neroni Slade	Samoa	List A	Asian States	Male	45	46	46	49	52	58	elected
Claude Jorda	France	List A	Western European and Other States	Male	45	44	44	44	44	41	40	46	50	53	57
Adolphus G. Karibi-Whyte [ Wikidata ]	Nigeria	List A	African States	Male	24	20	19	17	19	16	12	8	3	6	23
Ivo Josipović	Croatia	List B	Eastern European States	Male	37	35	36	40	42	38	32	30	30	24	withdrawn
Doudou Ndir	Senegal	List A	African States	Male	withdrawn

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References

↑ "Election of the judges of the International Criminal Court". International Criminal Court . Retrieved 11 December 2011.
↑ United Nations (2003). Nominations for judges of the International Criminal Court – First election Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 11 April 2022
↑ Note verbale governing the election Archived 3 June 2015 at the Library of Congress Web Archives. ICC. Retrieved 11 December 2011.

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[1] "Election of the judges of the International Criminal Court". International Criminal Court . Retrieved 11 December 2011.

[nominations2003-2] United Nations (2003). Nominations for judges of the International Criminal Court – First election Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 11 April 2022

[3] Note verbale governing the election Archived 3 June 2015 at the Library of Congress Web Archives. ICC. Retrieved 11 December 2011.

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