Dear Colleagues,

Attached is a memo and copies of reports from the Coalition regarding the
election of judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia
(ICTY). While many excellent candidates were elected and reelected, the
process of nominations and elections as it now exists is a travesty. The
present process cannot assure that the mandates for qualifications, and
gender, regional and legal system representation that are in the ICC
Statute will be honored in the election process for the ICC. The present
process is woefully untransparent.

As with many UN elections the current process is reportedly dominated by
rampant and uncontrolled "election horsetrading." Governments enter into
"deals" where if a government votes for one country's candidate for ICTY,
then they agree to vote for the others' candidates for some other office
(other international judicial appointments, ICJ, Law of Sea Tribunal,
International Law Commission, Security Council, many, many election
positions).

It is very probable, for example, that vote trading occurred between the
ICTY election and the election of members to the International Law
Commissin (ILC) and for the 27 special case judges to be chosen in June has
already occurred. NGOs, national parliamentarians, media and others do not
even know what candidates have been submitted for the ILC or the 27
judgeships! If this continues unchanged, by the time the ICC judges are
elected, many prior agreements for election may have occurred well before
the election and before civil society has any change to influence the process.

As you will see in the attached report on the election, Judge Mumba, the
only woman candidate of 26 nominees, did not get elected until the 7th
ballot. She was not helped by the fact (reportedly) that Zambia made no
efforts to promote her election. Indeed, it is very possible that it was
the Women's Caucus public outcry reported in UN news accounts that helped
prevent a complete disaster for Judge Mumba.

The current process has many tremendous disadvantages for small nations.
But, I was approached by several candidates from larger Western governments
expressing great disgust with what they had had to go through in their
campaigns for the ICTY.

The Coalition will work with its members, sympathetic governments,
sucessful and unsuccessful candidates and other experts in the coming
months to propose ways to prevent or minimize a repeat of this procedure in
the election of the June judges and especially the ICC judges in 2002 or 2003.

But, the attached reports are important and revealing and I encourage all
to read them.

Bill Pace
Convenor CICC

Wednesday March 14 11:36 PM ET

One Woman, 13 Men Elected to UN War Crimes Court
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Thirteen men and one woman were elected on
Wednesday as judges for the U.N. war crimes court for the former
Yugoslavia, following protests over the lack of female candidates and
questions about jurists' qualifications.
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba, of Zambia, was the sole woman chosen by
the 189-member U.N. General Assembly but only after the seventh ballot and
following the withdrawal of three other candidates from sub-Sahara Africa.
Eight of the 14 judges elected are current members of the court.
Mumba delivered a landmark verdict last month against three Bosnian Serbs,
thereby establishing rape and sexual enslavement as a crime against
humanity.
Diplomats said the outcome of the vote based less on the qualities of a
jurist than on how much lobbying each nation undertook for its candidate.
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), the
Women's Caucus for Gender Justice, a private group, said it was
''appalling'' that Mumba was the lone woman among the 25 candidates
nominated by their respective countries to vie for the tribunal's 14
positions.
Women's groups for years have stressed the importance of female prosecutors
and judges for the court, especially since American Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
resigned as president of the tribunal in November 1999.
Elected on Wednesday from the United States was Theodor Meron, an
international law expert at New York University. Secretary of State Colin
Powell (news - web sites) earlier withdrew the Clinton administration's
nomination of David Scheffer, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war
crimes.
Controversies did not end there. Shortly before the vote Mexico told the
assembly that the tribunal violated the U.N. Charter and Russia called for
its abolition, saying it was anti-Serb and that such courts should be left
to the new Balkan states.
In addition, deputy prosecutor of the court Graham Blewitt last week said
none of the new candidates nominated by their respective countries were
experienced criminal trial judges.
He told the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London it
would be a disaster to have court's chambers dominated by academics or
civil court judges.
The tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, based at The Hague (news - web
sites), was created by the U.N. Security Council in 1993 to try individuals
responsible for atrocities during the Balkan wars.
The four-year terms of its original 11 judges expired in November 1997,
when another election was held. In 1998 the U.N. General Assembly chose
three more jurists for a new, third trial chamber. The terms of all 14
judges expire in November.
An absolute majority of 96 was needed to elect or reelect a judge among the
assembly's 189 members in a secret ballot.
Court's French President Elected On First Ballot
Twelve jurists were chosen on the first ballot including Claude Jorda of
France, the current president of the court, who received 113 votes. Others
were Fausto Pocar of Italy (130); David Hunt of Australia (122), Patrick
Robinson of Jamaica (120); Meron of the United States (119); Carmel Agius
of Malta (118); Wolfgang Schomburg of Germany (118); Liu Daqun of China
(116); Richard May of Britain (115); Alphonsus Martinus Maria Orie of the
Netherlands (114); Ogon Kwon of South Korea (109); and Mohammed
Shahabuddeen of Guyana (105).
An Egyptian jurist Mohammed el Abassi Elhahdi was elected on the fourth
ballot with 105 votes and Mumba then filled the 14th slot after seven
ballots and eight hours of voting.
The tribunal was established to try those responsible for a lengthy list of
crimes, including massacres, rapes, expulsions and bombing of civilians in
Bosnia and Croatia following the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia.
Russian delegate Vladimir Tarabrin said the tribunal was anti-Serb,
operated under sealed indictment and used NATO (news - web sites) forces to
capture suspects, sometimes resulting in the loss of lives. Instead, the
newly independent countries in the Balkans should be permitted to conduct
their own trials, he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copyright 2001 M2 Communications Ltd.

M2 PRESSWIRE

March 15, 2001

LENGTH: 3004 words

HEADLINE: UN

ÝÝGeneral Assembly elects 14 judges to tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

BODY:

The General Assembly, in a day-long meeting today, elected 14 judges to
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in seven
rounds of secret balloting.
The Tribunal was established by the Security Council in 1993 to prosecute
serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the
territory of the former Yugoslavia during the conflict there in the early
1990s. The 11 original judges were elected to four-year terms in 1997.
The following year 3 judges were added for an additional Trial Chamber.
The terms of all 14 judges are due to expire on 16 November.
Twenty-five candidates were nominated by their governments. Those elected
today, who will begin their four-year terms on 17 November, are:
Carmel A. Agius (Malta, born 1945), member of the Permanent Court of
Arbitration in The Hague.
Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi (Egypt, 1936), President of the Conseil
d'Etat since July 2000 and Head of the Supreme Administrative Court.
David Hunt (Australia, 1935), judge on the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia since 16 November 1998.
Claude Jorda (France, 1938), elected President of the International
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1999, he previously served as a judge
on the Tribunal from 1994.
O-gon Kwon (Republic of Korea, 1953), Senior Judge in the Taegu High Court
in his country since 2000. From 1999 to 2000, he was Senior Judge in the
Seoul District Court.
Liu Daqun (China, 1950), member of the Tribunal's Trial Chamber II.
Richard George May (United Kingdom, 1938), the presiding judge in the
Tribunal's Appeals Chamber between 1999 and 2000, and elected to the
Tribunal in 1997.
Theodor Meron (United States), Counsellor on International Law to his
country's Department of State and a leading scholar of international
criminal law, international humanitarian law and human rights.
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia, 1948), judge of the Tribunal
since 1997, Vice-President from November 1999.
Alphonsus Martinus Maria Orie (Netherlands, 1947), a Justice of his
country's Supreme Court.
Fausto Pocar (Italy, 1939), founder of the University of Milan's
Postgraduate School of European Community Law and Economics and its
Director until 2000.
Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica), judge on the Tribunal since November
since 1998 and member of the Tribunal's Working Group on Judicial
Practices.
Wolfgang Schomburg (Germany, 1948), a judge at the Federal High Court in
Karlsruhe until 2000 and working on behalf of the Council of Europe.
Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana, 1931), judge on the Tribunal since June
1997 and its Vice-President from November of that year to November 1999.
For complete curriculae vitae of the elected judges, see document A/55/773.
The judges were elected by an absolute majority of all Member States and
non-member States maintaining permanent observer missions at United Nations
Headquarters (the Holy See and Switzerland), whether or not they voted or
were allowed to vote. The absolute majority, therefore, consisted of 96
votes.
Before the balloting today, the representative of Mexico said his
delegation would not participate in the election of judges, as, in
establishing the Tribunal, the Security Council had gone beyond its powers.
He was convinced that, once it was operational, the International Criminal
Court, the establishment of which followed the rules of international law,
would render unnecessary the creation of new special tribunals.
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See also announced it would not
participate in the voting process.
The representative of the Russian Federation said he was concerned about
the problems facing the Tribunal, particularly the anti-Serbian bias of the
prosecution and its attempts to place collective guilt on the whole nation.
His country would, nevertheless, take part in the vote, hoping that a new
core of judges would help to overcome the Tribunal's bias and to speed up
the conclusion of its work.
The Assembly's President, Harri Holkeri (Finland), informed delegates that
Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Dominica and Madagascar had
made the necessary payments to reduce their arrears below the amount
specified in Article 19 of the Charter. (Article 19 stipulates that a
Member State whose arrears in the payment of its financial contribution to
the Organization equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from
it for the preceding two full years, shall have no vote in the Assembly.)
He also announced that on Friday, 16 March, at 3 p.m., the Assembly will
meet to consider the Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and
a note by the Secretary-General requesting the inclusion in the agenda of
the current session of election of judges of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda.
The representatives of Madagascar, Burundi, Cyprus, Tunisia, Sweden,
Colombia, Malaysia and Malawi also spoke.
Background
The fifty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly met this morning
to elect judges of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of
Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian
Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, known
as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
The Assembly had before it a letter from the President of the Security
Council (document A/55/771), dated 1 February, conveying to it a list of 26
nominations for the election of 14 judges. They are: Carmel A. Agius
(Malta), Richard Allen Banda (Malawi), Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi
(Egypt), Mohammed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco), David Hunt (Australia),
Claude Jorda (France), O-gon Kwon (Republic of Korea), Liu Daqun (China),
Abderraouf Mahbouli (Tunisia), Richard George May (United Kingdom), Theodor
Meron (United States), Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia), Rafael
Nieto Navia (Colombia), Leopold Ntahompagaze (Burundi), Alphonsus Martinus
Maria Orie (Netherlands), Fausto Pocar (Italy), Jonah Rahetlah
(Madagascar), Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica), Almiro Simes Rodrigues
(Portugal), Miriam Defensor Santiago (Philippines), Wolfgang Schomburg
(Germany), Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana), Demetrakis Stylianides (Cyprus),
Krister Thelin (Sweden), Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine), and Karam Chand
Vohrah (Malaysia).
The Permanent Representative of the Philippines informed the President of
the Assembly on 9 February that his Government had decided to withdraw the
candidature of Miriam Defensor Santiago.
The Assembly also had a memorandum by the Secretary-General (document
A/55/769) regarding the elections, stating that the terms of office of the
11 judges elected in 1997 is due to expire on 16 November. By its
resolution 1168 (1998), the Security Council decided to establish a third
Trial Chamber. Three additional judges were, therefore, elected in 1998 and
their terms are also due to expire on 16 November.
The memorandum further stipulates that in accordance with subparagraph 1
(d) of article 13 of the Statute of the International Tribunal, as amended
by Council resolution 1329 (2000), candidates who receive an absolute
majority of the votes of States Members of the United Nations and of the
non-Member States maintaining permanent observer missions at United Nations
Headquarters (the Holy See and Switzerland), shall be declared elected.
According to consistent practice, "absolute majority" is taken to mean a
majority of all electors, whether or not they vote or are allowed to vote.
For the purpose of the present election, 96 votes constitute an absolute
majority.
Each elector may vote in the first ballot for no more than 14 candidates.
If, in the first ballot, the number of candidates obtaining an absolute
majority is less than 14, a second ballot will be held, and balloting will
continue in the same meeting until 14 candidates have obtained an absolute
majority. In any second or subsequent ballot, each elector may vote for no
more than 14 candidates less the number of candidates who have already
obtained absolute majority.
If, in the first ballot, more than 14 candidates obtain an absolute
majority of votes, a second ballot will be held on all candidates, and
balloting will continue at the same meeting until 14 candidates obtain an
absolute majority.
The Assembly, in documents A/55/773 and Add.1, also had the curricula
vitae of the candidates.
Statements
GUSTAVO ALBIN (Mexico) said his delegation would once again not
participate in the election of judges. His country had always supported
investigating crimes against mankind and bringing to justice those
responsible, but, in establishing the Tribunal, the Security Council had
gone beyond its powers. An explicit provision giving the Council the
authority to create jurisdictional organs of that nature was nowhere to be
found in the Charter of the United Nations. He was convinced that, once it
was operational, the International Criminal Court, the establishment of
which followed the rules of international law, would render unnecessary the
creation of new special tribunals. His country would, however, continue to
pay its assessed financial contribution to the Tribunal.
Election of Judges
HARRI HOLKERI (Finland), Assembly President, said that the Holy See and
Switzerland, observer States, would participate in the election in the same
manner as Member States.
He noted that one of the 26 candidates on the list established by the
Security Council had withdrawn her candidacy.
VLADIMIR TARABRIN (Russian Federation) said the Tribunal had been set up
to operate in very specific circumstances.
Today, despite very positive developments in the Balkan region, the
Assembly was forced for the third time to elect judges and renew the
Tribunal's mandate for a further four years. A temporary body such as the
Tribunal could not be supported either politically or financially in any
way. It could not be justified.
The Russian Federation was concerned about the problems facing the
Tribunal, particularly the prosecution, he said.
Anti-Serbian bias and attempts to place collective guilt on the whole
nation went against the Tribunal's mandate.
Substantial corrections must be made and efforts to hide some facts of the
tragedy must stop.
He stressed the need to end the practice of secret memoranda between the
Tribunal and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and to publish
the secret memorandum of 1996 between NATO and the Tribunal, which
sanctioned the prosecution's manhunt that had led to the killing of
suspects and infringed on the rights of sovereign States. A new core of
judges would help to overcome the Tribunal's bias and speed up the
conclusion of its work. The Russian Federation would, therefore, take part
in the vote.
Archbishop RENATO RAFFAELE MARTINO, Observer of the Holy See, said the
Holy See had decided to abstain from casting its vote on the individual
candidates. In doing so, however, it renewed its confidence in the choices
that would be made by the international community and expressed its best
wishes to the judges who would be elected to serve the cause of justice and
peace in the world.
The Assembly then began the voting process. The results of the first round
of balloting were as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 169
Number of invalid ballots: 1
Abstentions: 0
Number of Members voting: 168
Number of votes obtained:
Carmel A. Agius (Malta) 118
Richard Allen Banda (Malawi) 48
Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi (Egypt) 94
Mohammed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 86
David Hunt (Australia) 122
Claude Jorda (France) 113
O-gon Kwon (Republic of Korea) 109
Liu Daqun (China) 116
Abderraouf Mahbouli (Tunisia) 62 Richard George May (United Kingdom) 115
Theodor Meron (United States) 119
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 72
Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia) 88
Leopold Ntahompagaze (Burundi) 12
Alphonsus Martinus Maria Orie (Netherlands) 114
Fausto Pocar (Italy) 130
Jonah Rahetlah (Madagascar) 32
Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica) 120
Almiro Simes Rodrigues (Portugal) 84
Wolfgang Schomburg (Germany) 118
Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana) 105
Demetrakis Stylianides (Cyprus) 49
Krister Thelin (Sweden) 65
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 94
Karam Chand Vohrah (Malaysia) 84
Having obtained the required majority of 96 votes, the following 12 judges
were elected: Carmel A. Agius (Malta), David Hunt (Australia), Claude Jorda
(France), O-gon Kwon (Republic of Korea), Liu Daqun (China), Richard George
May (United Kingdom), Theodor Meron (United States), Alphonsus Martinus
Maria Orie (Netherlands), Fausto Pocar (Italy), Patrick Lipton Robinson
(Jamaica), Wolfgang Schomburg (Germany), and Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana).
Second Ballot
Having elected 12 judges, the Assembly went to a second ballot to fill the
two remaining positions. The second ballot was unrestricted.
Mr. HOLKERI (Finland), Assembly President, then suspended the meeting for
15 minutes as the votes were counted.
The results were as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 169
Number of invalid ballots: 0
Abstentions: 1
Number of Members voting: 168
Number of votes obtained:
Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi (Egypt) 84
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 68
Almiro Simes Rodrigues (Portugal) 37
Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia) 34
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 24
Karam Chand Vohrah (Malaysia) 21
Krister Thelin (Sweden) 14
Richard Allen Banda (Malawi) 7
Demetrakis Stylianides (Cyprus) 4
Abderraouf Mahbouli (Tunisia) 3
Leopold Ntahompagaze (Burundi) 3
Jonah Rahetlah (Madagascar) 1
The PRESIDENT said that since the required majority had not been obtained,
the Assembly would undertake another unrestricted ballot.
He then suspended the meeting until 3 p.m.
When the Assembly reconvened, JEAN DELACROIX BAKONIARIVO (Madagascar)
announced that his country withdrew the candidacy of Jonah Rahetlah.
JEAN LUC NDIZEYE (Burundi) withdrew the candidacy of Leopold Ntahompagaze.
DEMETRIS HADJIARGYROU (Cyprus) announced that Demetrakis Stylianides had
decided to withdraw his name.
RADHIA ACHOURI (Tunisia) withdrew the candidacy of Abderraouf Mahbouli.
The results of the third round of balloting, for two seats, were as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 165
Number of invalid ballots: 0
Abstentions: 2
Number of Members voting: 163
Number of votes obtained:
Richard Allen Banda (Malawi) 5
Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi (Egypt) 88
Mohammed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 22
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 33
Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia) 28
Almiro Simes Rodrigues (Portugal) 51
Krister Thelin (Sweden) 14
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 64
Karam Chand Vohrah (Malaysia) 12
Since no candidate had obtained the required absolute majority of 96
votes, the Assembly proceeded to a fourth round of balloting.
PER NORSTROeM (Sweden) withdrew the candidacy of Krister Thelin.
ALFONSO VALDIVIESO (Colombia) withdrew the candidacy of Rafael Nieto Navia.
SYED HASRIN TENGKU HUSSIN (Malaysia) withdrew the candidacy of Karam Chand
Vohrah.
Mr. HOLKERI (Finland), Assembly President, then suspended the meeting for
10 minutes.
When the meeting resumed, the Assembly voted a fourth time. The results of
the fourth round of balloting was as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 163
Number of invalid ballots: 0
Abstentions: 2
Number of Members voting: 161
Number of votes obtained:
Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi (Egypt) 105
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 68
Almiro Simoes Rodrigues (Portugal) 58
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 50
Mohamed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 31
Richard Allen Banda (Malawi) 4
Mr. Elmahdi (Egypt) was thus elected, having obtained a total above the
absolute majority of 96.
Mr. HOLKERI (Finland), Assembly President, then announced there would be a
fifth round of balloting to fill the remaining vacant position.
YUSUF M. JUWAYEYI (Malawi) withdrew the candidacy of Richard Allen Banda.
The results of the fifth round of balloting, for one seat, were as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 161
Number of invalid ballots: 8
Abstentions: 2
Number of Members voting: 151
Number of votes obtained:
Mohammed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 16
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 56
Almiro Simes Rodrigues (Portugal) 29
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 50
Since none of the candidates had acquired the absolute majority of 96
votes, the Assembly proceeded to a sixth round of balloting.
A sixth round of balloting was held, with the following result:
Number of ballot papers: 156
Number of invalid ballots: 3
Absentions: 2
Number of Members voting: 151
Number of votes obtained:
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 75
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 50
Mohamed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 13
Almiro Simoes Rodrigues (Portugal) 13
NUNO BRITO (Portugal) announced that his country withdrew the candidacy of
Almiro Simoes Rodrigues.
The results of the seventh round of balloting, for one seat, were as follows:
Number of ballot papers: 153
Number of invalid ballots: 1
Abstentions: 2
Number of Members voting: 150
Number of votes obtained:
Mohammed El Habib Fassi Fihri (Morocco) 13
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia) 103
Volodymyr Vassylenko (Ukraine) 34
Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba (Zambia), having obtained the absolute
majority of 96 votes, was elected as judge of the Tribunal.
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