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.
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:
Furthermore, article 36(3)(b) and 36(5) provide for two lists:
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]
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 | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Miriam Defensor Santiago | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Chile Eboe-Osuji | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Robert Fremr | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Geoffrey A. Henderson | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Olga Venecia Herrera Carbuccia | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Howard Morrison | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Kuniko Ozaki | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Cuno Tarfusser | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Christine van den Wyngaert | X | X | X | ||||||||||
9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | |||||
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 | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Abdelkader Ben Ali Bahloul | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Emmanuel Yaw Benneh | X | X | X | ||||||||||
X | X | X | |||||||||||
Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Chung Chang-ho | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Zlata Đurđević | X | X | X | ||||||||||
X | X | X | |||||||||||
Piotr Hofmański | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Péter Kovács | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua | X | X | X | ||||||||||
X | X | X | |||||||||||
Marc Pierre Perrin de Brichambaut | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Harimahefa Ratiaraisoa | X | X | X | ||||||||||
Bertram Schmitt | X | X | X | ||||||||||
X | X | X | |||||||||||
Mindia Ugrekhelidze | X | X | X | ||||||||||
8 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 12 | |||||
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 | |
List B | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 | |
Regional criteria | ||||||
African | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
Asian | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
Eastern European | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |
Latin American and Caribbean | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
Western European and other | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
Gender criteria | ||||||
Female | 6 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
Male | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 1 | |
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.
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.
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 | |||||
List A | Asia | Male | elected | |||||||||||||
List A | Eastern Europe | Male | elected | |||||||||||||
List B | Western Europe and Others | Male | elected | |||||||||||||
List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | elected | |||||||||||||
List B | Africa | Male | elected | |||||||||||||
List B | Eastern Europe | Male | ||||||||||||||
List A | Asia | Female | ||||||||||||||
List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | ||||||||||||||
List B | Latin America and Caribbean | Male | ||||||||||||||
List B | Africa | Female | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List B | Eastern Europe | Female | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List A | Eastern Europe | Male | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List B | Eastern Europe | Female | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List A | Eastern Europe | Male | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List A | Africa | Male | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List B | Africa | Female | withdrawn | |||||||||||||
List B | Africa | Male | 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 | ||||
List B | Eastern Europe | Male | |||||||||||||
List A | Asia | Female | |||||||||||||
List A | Western Europe and Others | Male | withdrawn | ||||||||||||
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 | |
Asian | 1 | |
Eastern European | 2 | |
Male | 1 | |
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.