[mobglob-discuss] U.S. Out Of Race For First ICC Judges

[Carole Karkhairan]

From: Rycroft & Pringle <rycroft at islandnet.com>
Subject: Justice.int-- US Out Of Race For ICC Judges

U.N. NOTEBOOK: U.S. Out Of Race For First ICC Judges 
By Barbara Crossette
UN Wire, January 22, 2003


A campaign is now under way around the United Nations
for the most unusual
election of judges ever held anywhere, and the United
States is out of the
race.

>From Feb. 3 to 7, governments will be choosing the
first panel of 18
justices for the International Criminal Court, the
first permanent tribunal
in history established to try individuals accused of
the most horrible of
offenses:  war crimes, genocide and crimes against
humanity.

If there hasn't been much news in the United States
about this watershed
election, there is a reason.  The Bush administration
has rejected the new
court because Washington has not been able to get a
blanket exception from
prosecution for Americans.  Officials as high-ranking
as U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell have been traversing the globe
asking governments
individually to promise they will never hand over a
citizen of the United
States.  Last summer, the administration announced
that it was "unsigning"
the Rome Treaty creating the court, erasing the name
of the United States
from the most important development in international
law since the war
crimes trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War
II.

In 2000, the outgoing Clinton administration,
following a pattern of
lukewarm and therefore meaningless support for
international accords -- the
nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the
Convention on the Rights of
the Child are two other examples of agreements signed
and abandoned --
signed the treaty creating the International Criminal
Court at the last
possible moment to count among the founders and remain
among the
decision-makers.  But there was neither the time nor
the intention to
submit the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification,
where it would have
been defeated in any case.

January will be a critical month for the long-term
future of the
International Criminal Court, now setting up its
operations in The Hague,
which is becoming the center for international law in
the U.N. system.  The
International Court of Justice (the World Court) is
based there, as is the
war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the
office of the chief
prosecutor for both that and the Rwanda war crimes
court based in Arusha,
Tanzania.

Supporters of the new International Criminal Court are
concerned that
governments with candidates in the field will spend
January horse-trading
for votes, as so often happens in the United Nations,
with the result being
the election of some weak candidates.  The criteria
for choosing judges are
complex, and to be elected, candidates need to win
two-thirds of votes cast
by the nearly 90 nations that have signed and ratified
the treaty and are
therefore eligible to take part in this election. 
There are 44 candidates
from as many countries in the race for the 18 seats on
the bench. 
Nominations closed last month.

The withdrawal of the United States from any
relationship with the court
has, paradoxically, made the choice of judges more
crucial, because only if
the strongest possible judicial panel emerges can
there be hope that a
future U.S. administration will be able to reverse
this negative policy and
make a case for joining.  Most friends of the United
States, including
members of the European Union and NATO, have signed
and ratified the Rome
Treaty.  Many have revised their legal systems to
bring them into alignment
with the court.

At the Coalition for the International Criminal
Court -- a group of more
than 1,000 organizations, including leading bar
associations in the United
States -- Caroline Baudot, the legal research officer,
underlined the
significance of the coming election.  "A qualified and
independent bench is
crucial if we want the court to work, and be
supported," she said.  "The
first bench must be without reproach."

To open the campaign process to as much public
scrutiny as possible, the
coalition has written to all candidates, asking them
to address questions
about their qualifications, experience, legal writings
and attitudes toward
the work of the court and the nature of its
jurisdiction.  Results of the
survey can be checked on the coalition's Web site .

The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice, a member of the
larger coalition, is
actively working to ensure that as many women as
possible be elected to the
first bench.  The regulations creating the court say
that there must be at
least six women and six men among the 18 judges.  Ten
women have been
nominated by their governments.  The best known among
them in legal circles
is South Africa's candidate, Navanethem Pillay, who is
president of the war
crimes tribunal for Rwanda.  The nine other female
candidates come from
Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia,
Mali, Poland and
Switzerland.

The new U.N. high commissioner for human rights,
Sergio Vieira de Mello,
has publicly called on nations to back women for
judgeships, in part
because of the need to preserve the great strides made
by the two ad hoc
tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda -- and the rules
of the new permanent
court -- in making abuses against women crimes of war
in conflict areas. 
"Let us not thwart some of the most important advances
on gender justice
that are embodied in the statute by failing to act in
practical ways to
implement them," he told a General Assembly committee
dealing with human
rights.

Among the male candidates are also some leading names
in the fast-evolving
field of international law.  Perhaps best known among
them are Claude Jorda
of France, a jurist who was president of the
International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and Philippe
Kirsch of Canada, an
expert on international criminal law who presided over
the series of
conferences that gave the court its final shape
following the adoption of
the Treaty of Rome in 1998.

With candidates of this caliber in the race, and
hopefully on the bench, it
will be difficult for the United States to belittle
the court in the eyes
of the world -- and easier for the court's many
supporters among U.S.
lawyers and judges to keep up the pressure on
Washington to deal with this
important tribunal.

---------------------------- 
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