It has issued the same admonition again that states should “identify, through open and transparent consultations, a consensus candidate.”. “New individuals offer an opportunity to introduce fresh ideas and perspectives to the Office of the Prosecutor and the international criminal law space itself. Regardless of who is appointed Prosecutor of the ICC, we must support them and assist the ICC in trying to fulfill its mandate. And I would not be surprised if consensus was not achievable in this election.”, The selection committee itself points out that “there is no such thing as a “perfect” candidate,” and cautions anyone to judge on curriculum vitae alone.
They could have included two more. Each of the candidates has excellent credentials and experience, which I believe, can contribute to enabling the ICC to realize its… mission. And the game is not over.
“Out of 89 applications that were completed, there were 63 male candidates to only 26 female candidates. As a freelance journalist she's been covering international justice - Rwanda, The Hague, Sierra Leone, Uganda - for several decades.
For others these new names are in fact a breath of much needed fresh air. None of the “big shots” are among them. Additionally, a prosecutor must be both an experienced diplomat and savvy politician in order to create political and diplomatic support for a court and to seek justice for the victims of an atrocity (something the UN and the ICC tend to forget).
But I do think that it is at least legitimate to raise some “surprise” at the fact that two of the four candidates seem to have virtually no international criminal law experience, either substantial or institutional,” concurs Dov Jacobs of Leiden university on Twitter. British Engineers Make Puzzling Discovery, Due to COVID-19, Congolese Traders Left Without Paying Rwandan Suppliers, Biggest Losers: The Showbiz We Knew May Never Return, Uganda Claims to have Admitted Truck Driver Arriving from Rwanda with Coronavirus, DISAPPOINTMENT: Rwanda-Uganda Border Not Opening Today, May Be Opened In 45 Days or Even Never, Gatuna Border Is Next Rendezvous For Rwanda-Uganda Summit, Uganda Frees Police Officers Accused of Illegal Deporting “Rwandan Refugees”, 2,300 People Prosecuted for Genocide Ideology in Five years – RIB, The Unprotected Life of a Rwanda Tribunal “Protected Witness”, Genocide Fugitive on $5m Bounty Died 20 Years Ago in Congo-Brazaville, Felicien Kabuga Was “Discreet… And Murmured When You Said Hello” – Neighbors, April 7, 1994: The Extermination Project Begins, substantial challenges from the United States, whose name had been apparently circulating, President Tshisekedi Has An Opportunity To Pacify His Troubled Country, Health Centers Forcing Women on Birth Control to Win Government Grades and Gifts, COVID-19: Congolese Embassy Secures Exit for its Nationals Stranded in Rwanda, Habineza’s Green Party Now Wants Cabinet Positions. The committee tasked with presenting a shortlist of candidates for the position of ICC prosecutor created a surprise on 30 June by selecting a rather unexpected quartet. The pipeline itself has to be diversified.
it’s difficult to judge a selection process that we don’t have full internal knowledge of. “Unbelievably, elected officials at the ICC haven’t had their backgrounds scrutinised like the rest of us.”, Chaikel is now working to get a fair, transparent and safe system made permanent for complaints before all candidates are selected – judges included alongside prosecutors. It’s “a surprising historic first,” she points out. Could Your Old TV Sets be Interfering with Broadband Signal? It’s “a surprising historic first,” she points out. Candidates’ applications will be examined by the Committee on the Election of the Prosecutor, established by the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties, and doing so be assisted by a Panel of Experts.
There’s the “rotation between geographical groups” school of thought – was this the turn maybe of western European and other (known as WEOG) candidates? All those selected showed “genuine interest in justice and the rule of law, the ICC and the cause of international criminal accountability – without fear or favour nor desire for personal advancement, beyond the wish to seek out new challenges,” they say.