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Gender Representation on the Tribunals of the United Nations Internal Justice System: A Response to Nienke Grossman

Part of: Nienke Grossman, “Achieving Sex-Representative International Court Benches”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Memooda Ebrahim-Carstens
Memooda Ebrahim-Carstens*
Affiliation:
United Nations Dispute Tribunals
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Shylock: Most learned judge, a sentence! Come prepare!

Portia: This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.”

(The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene1)

In her interesting study on “Achieving Sex Representative International Court Benches,” Nienke Grossman observes that international judgeships are often based on personal networks and social currency, or used to reward political loyalty or to advance political agendas, rather than to select the most qualified candidates. She illustrates how nomination procedures for international benches generally lack transparency, and horse-trading infects elections to the international courts. To ensure gender equity, Grossman advocates that states should take remedial steps to make nomination and selection procedures more open, transparent, and merit-based, at both the national and the international level.

Type
Symposium on Nienke Grossman, “Achieving Sex-Representative International Court Benches”
Information
AJIL Unbound , Volume 110 , 2016 , pp. 98 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2016

References

1 See Grossman, Nienke, Achieving Sex-Representative International Court Benches, 110 AJIL 82 (2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 In mid-2015 women made up 20% or less on nine of twelve international courts surveyed of varied size, subject matter jurisdiction, and global and regional membership: See id.

3 Vacancies have therefore arisen when the three-year terms had expired, when casual vacancies arose, and when the first judicial transitions as per the statutes took place.

4 UNDT Statute art. 4(1) (adopted by GA Res. 63/253 (Dec. 24, 2008) and amended by GA Res. 69/203 (Dec. 18, 2014) and GA Resolution 70/112 (Dec. 14, 2015)).

5 The Preamble to the UN Charter reaffirms the faith in “fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.” and Article 1.3 of the Charter “promotes respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as race, sex, language, or religion.”

6 UNDT Statute art. 4(2) (adopted by GA Res. 63/253 (Dec. 24, 2008) and amended by GA Res. 69/203 (Dec. 18, 2014) and Resolution A/70/112 (Dec. 14, 2015)) and UNAT Statute art. 3(2) (adopted by GA Res. 63/253 (Dec. 24, 2008) and amended by GA Res. 66/237 (Dec. 24, 2011), GA Res. 69/203 (Dec. 18, 2014), and GA Res. 70/112 (Dec. 14, 2015)).

7 See, e.g., Report of the Internal Just. Council, UN Doc. A/70/190 (Aug. 14, 2015) and Report of the Internal Just. Council, UN Doc. A/69/373 (Sep. 19, 2014)—(although two to three candidates may be recommended— GA Res. 62/228 para. 37 (B)).

8 See, e.g., Report of the Internal Just. Council, UN Doc. A/70/190 (Aug. 14, 2015).

9 Id. at para. 14.

10 Id. at para. 16:

the Council received 182 applications from 51 different countries. A total of 45 applicants were from Africa, 12 from Asia and the Pacific, 15 from Eastern Europe, 24 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 84 from Western Europe and other states. Of the applicants, 117 were male and 65 were female.

11 27th AU Summit 10-18 July 2016 Kigali Rwanda: 2016: African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women.

12 UNDT Statute art. 4(3) (adopted by GA Res. 63/253 (Dec. 24, 2008) and amended by GA Res. 69/203 (Dec. 18, 2014) and Resolution A/70/112 (Dec. 14, 2015)) and UNAT Statute art. 3(3) (adopted by GA Res. 63/253 (Dec. 24, 2008) and amended by GA Res. 66/237 (Dec. 24, 2011), GA Res. 69/203 (Dec. 18, 2014), and GA Res. 70/112 (Dec. 14, 2015)).

13 See Report of the Internal Just. Council, UN Doc. A/70/190, para. 21 (Aug. 14, 2015): the Office of Administration of Justice sends the completed examinations to each member “having eliminated all identifying elements from them so that no Council member would know the name, nationality or gender of the candidate.”

14 The Council selects the best candidates “on the basis of experience, drafting ability, and legal analysis, geographic distribution and gender for presentation to the General Assembly.” See Report of the Internal Just. Council, UN Doc. A/69/373, para. 21 (Sep. 19, 2014).

15 See Memorandum of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/70/538, para. 21 (Nov. 4, 2015).

16 See UN GAOR, 70th Sess., 57th plen. mtg. at 3, UN Doc. A/70/PV.57 (Nov. 18, 2015).