2023 International Criminal Court judges election

Six judges of the International Criminal Court were elected during the 22nd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held from 4 to 14 December 2023 in New York.[1] The judges were elected for terms of nine years and took office on 11 March 2024.

## Background

[edit]

The judges elected at this session replaced six judges who had been elected in 2014 for full nine-year terms. The newly elected judges will serve for nine years until 2033.

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.[2]

## Judges remaining in office

[edit]

The following judges were scheduled to remain in office beyond 2024:[3]

Judge | 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  |
Solomy Balungi Bossa |  Uganda | X  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X  |
Miatta Maria Samba |  Sierra Leone | X  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X  |
Tomoko Akane |  Japan | X  |  |  | X  |  |  |  | X  |
Gocha Lordkipanidze |  Georgia |  | X  |  |  | X  |  |  |  | X
Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor |  Trinidad and Tobago | X  |  |  |  |  | X  |  | X  |
María del Socorro Flores Liera |  Mexico |  | X  |  |  |  | X  |  | X  |
Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza |  Peru | X  |  |  |  |  | X  |  | X  |
Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez |  Costa Rica |  | X  |  |  |  | X  |  |  | X
Rosario Salvatore Aitala |  Italy | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X  |  | X
Joanna Korner |  United Kingdom | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X  | X  |
Kimberly Prost |  Canada | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X  | X  |
|   |   |
| 8  | 4  | 3  | 1  | 1  | 4  | 3  | 9  | 3

## Nomination process

[edit]

The nomination period of judges for the 2023 election lasted from 2 January to 26 March 2023.[1] It was extended three times (the maximal number of extensions), to 9 April,[4] to 23 April[5] and finally to 7 May,[6] because the required number of four Asian candidates had not been nominated. The final extension also did not result in this requirement being fulfilled. The following persons were nominated:[7]

Candidate | Nationality |   | List A or B |   | Regional criteria |   | Gender

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

List A  | List B  | African  | Asian  | E. European  | GRULAG  | WEOG  | Female  | Male
Haykel Ben Mahfoudh |  Tunisia |  | X  | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X
Erdenebalsuren Damdin |  Mongolia | X  |  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X
Adélaïde Dembélé |  Burkina Faso | X  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X  |
Nicolas Guillou |  France | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X  |  | X
Beti Hohler |  Slovenia | X  |  |  |  | X  |  |  | X  |
Ute Hohoff [de] |  Germany | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X  | X  |
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska |  North Macedonia | X  |  |  |  | X  |  |  | X  |
Iulia Antoanella Motoc |  Romania |  | X  |  |  | X  |  |  | X  |
Clarence Nelson |  Samoa | X  |  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X
Keebong Paek |  South Korea | X  |  |  | X  |  |  |  |  | X
Andres Parmas [et] |  Estonia | X  |  |  |  | X  |  |  |  | X
Andriamanankadrianana Rajaona |  Madagascar | X  |  | X  |  |  |  |  |  | X
Pavel Zeman [cs] |  Czech Republic | X  |  |  |  | X  |  |  |  | X
|   |   |
| 11  | 2  | 3  | 3  | 5  | 0  | 2  | 5  | 8

## Minimum voting requirements

[edit]

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:[8]

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?

|
|
|
|
|
|

Lists A or B
List A | 9 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 1 | Yes
List B | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Yes
Regional criteria
African | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Yes
Asian | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Yes
Eastern European | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | Yes
Latin American and Caribbean | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Yes
Western European and other | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Yes
Gender criteria
Female | 6 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | Yes
Male | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 3 | Yes

Regarding the List A or B requirement, one vote had to be cast for a List A candidate and one for a List B candidate.

Regarding the regional criteria, four votes had to be cast for certain regional groups: two for Asian candidates and two for Eastern European candidates.

Regarding the gender criteria, three votes had to be cast for male candidates.

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:[9]

Candidate | Nationality | 4 December 2023 | 5 December 2023 | 6 December 2023

|
|
|
|

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 | 114 | 117 | 116 | 121 | 123 | 123 | 120 | 123 | 119 | 122 | 122
Two-thirds majority | 76 | 78 | 78 | 81 | 82 | 82 | 80 | 82 | 80 | 82 | 82
Erdenebalsuren Damdin |  Mongolia | 81 | elected
Iulia Antoanella Motoc |  Romania | 71 | 78 | elected
Nicolas Guillou |  France | 65 | 70 | 67 | 71 | 79 | 84 | elected
Beti Hohler |  Slovenia | 56 | 62 | 61 | 60 | 67 | 71 | 71 | 82 | elected
Haykel Ben Mahfoudh |  Tunisia | 57 | 62 | 51 | 58 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 76 | 74 | 86 | elected
Keebong Paek |  South Korea | 75 | 65 | 69 | 79 | 77 | 81 | 75 | 77 | 75 | 81 | 83
Andres Parmas [et] |  Estonia | 57 | 59 | 51 | 53 | 53 | 55 | 50 | 52 | 46 | 55 | 39
Clarence Nelson |  Samoa | 73 | 58 | 54 | 52 | 43 | 43 | 32 | 34 | 30 | 5 | withdrawn
Andriamanankadrianana Rajaona |  Madagascar | 34 | 30 | 35 | 32 | 37 | 32 | 31 | 32 | withdrawn
Ute Hohoff [de] |  Germany | 32 | 30 | 26 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 16 | withdrawn
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska |  North Macedonia | 39 | 32 | 26 | 25 | 17 | 16 | withdrawn
Pavel Zeman [cs] |  Czech Republic | 25 | 24 | 15 | 17 | 12 | withdrawn
Adélaïde Dembélé |  Burkina Faso | 14 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 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 A | 1 | Yes, after 1st ballot
List B | 1 | Yes, after 2nd ballot
Asian | 2 | Yes, after 11th ballot
Eastern European | 2 | Yes, after 8th ballot
Male | 3 | Yes, after 10th ballot

Note that the minimum voting requirements according to region and gender were dropped after the 4th ballot and were thus no longer being imposed when a second Asian, second Eastern European and third male judge were elected in the 11th, 8th and 10th ballot, respectively.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "ICC-ASP/22/SP/01" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 19 December 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
2. ^ "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 23 July 2024.
3. ^ "Annex II – Composition of the Judges" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 19 December 2022. p. 15. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
4. ^ "ICC-ASP/22/SP/12" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
5. ^ "ICC-ASP/22/SP/29" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
6. ^ "ICC-ASP/22/SP/33" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
7. ^ "2023 Nominations - Election of six judges". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. March 23, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
8. ^ "Annex II – Tables of minimum voting requirements" (PDF). Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 19 December 2022. p. 15. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
9. ^ "2023 - Election of six judges - Results". Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. December 6, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2024.

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