The first round of balloting to elect eighteen judges to the International Criminal Court has concluded and seven nominated candidates from Ireland (Maureen Harding Clark), Mali (Fatoumata Dembele Diarra), Ghana (Akua Kuenyehia), South Africa (Navanetham Pillay), South Korea (Song Sang-hyun), Costa Rica (Elizabeth Odio Benitto) and Brazil (Slyvia Steiner) have been elected. In a historic development, six out of the seven successful candidates are highly qualified women judges.

The Women’s Caucus applauds the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute for fulfilling the minimum gender voting requirement in the first round of ballot. Reacting to the results Betty Murungi, the Chairperson of the Women’s Caucus said, “The results are indeed encouraging. However, the states parties must go beyond the minimum voting requirement and ensure gender parity.” There are four more qualified women nominees and states parties must remember that the requirement is a minimum and not a maximum. We encourage States Parties to continue the trend of voting for qualified women candidates in the successive rounds of ballots as well.

4 February 2002
New York, New York

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