Qualifications, election and terms
Judges are elected to the ICC by the Assembly of States Parties, the court's governing body. [4] They serve nine-year terms [4] and are not generally eligible for re-election. [5]
By the time of their election, all judges must be nationals of states parties to the Rome Statute, and no two judges may be nationals of the same state. [1] They must be "persons of high moral character, impartiality and integrity who possess the qualifications required in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices", [1] and they must "have an excellent knowledge of and be fluent in at least one of the working languages of the Court" (English and French). [1]
Judges are elected from two lists of candidates. List A comprises candidates who have "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". [1] List B comprises candidates who have "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". [1] Elections are organised so as to maintain at least nine judges from List A and at least five from List B on the court. [1] [6]
The Assembly of States Parties is required to "take into account the need for the representation of the principal legal systems of the world, equitable geographical representation and a fair representation of female and male judges. They shall take into account the need to include judges with legal expertise on specific issues, including, but not limited to, violence against women and children." [6] For this purpose, voting requirements have been established that aim to maintain at least six female judges and at least six male judges on the court, and at least two from each regional group of the United Nations. If a regional group has more than sixteen states parties, the minimum voting requirement for this regional group increases by one. Therefore, since the Statute's entry into force for the Maldives on 1 December 2011, all regional groups can claim a third judge.
Elections
The following elections have taken place: [7] [8]
- In February 2003, the Assembly of States Parties elected the first bench of eighteen judges from a total of 43 candidates. [9] After this first election, the President of the Assembly of States Parties drew lots to assign the eighteen judges to terms of three, six or nine years; [1] [10] those who served for three years were eligible for re-election in 2006. [5] The first bench of judges was sworn in at the inaugural session of the court on 11 March 2003. [11]
- The second election was held on 26 January 2006. [12] Five of the six outgoing judges were re-elected, but Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade was defeated. [13] He was succeeded by Ekaterina Trendafilova. [12]
- The first special election took place on 3 December 2007, to replace three judges who had resigned. [14] [15] The three new judges were assigned to serve the remaining portions of their predecessors' terms. [14] Pursuant to a drawing of lots, Fumiko Saiga served the remainder of Claude Jorda's term, which expired on 10 March 2009. [16] [17] The other two new judges' terms ended on 10 March 2012. [16] [17]
- The third ordinary election took place on 19–20 January 2009. [18] [19] Twenty-one individuals were nominated to fill the six vacancies. [20] Only one incumbent judge, Fumiko Saiga, was eligible for re-election; [5] she ran and was elected. [18]
- The second special election took place on 18 November 2009 to replace two judges who had died and resigned, respectively. Kuniko Ozaki of Japan and Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi were elected to serve until 2018. [21]
- The fourth ordinary election took place during the 10th Session of the Assembly of States Parties from 12 to 21 December 2011. None of the six judges to be replaced were eligible for re-election.
- The third special election took place in November 2013 to replace a judge who had resigned.
- The fifth ordinary election took place in December 2014 to replace the judges elected in 2006.
- The fourth special election took place in June 2015 to replace a judge who had resigned.
- The sixth ordinary election took place in December 2017 to replace the judges elected in 2009.
- The seventh ordinary election took place in December 2020 to replace the judges whose terms ended in 2021. Four of those judges had been elected in 2011 for full nine-year terms; the other two had been elected in the special elections in 2013 and 2015 to replace two judges elected in 2011 who had resigned.
- The eighth ordinary election took place in December 2023 to replace the judges elected in 2014.
