The Justice Initiative Releases New Recommendations for the Election of the ICC Prosecutor
NEW YORK—In the wake of last year’s election of a new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the third in the court’s history, the Justice Initiative, which was an active observer of the election process, has released a series of recommendations for future elections.
The most recently concluded election process, which resulted in the appointment of Karim Khan as prosecutor, included the creation of a Committee on the Election of the Prosecutor and a Panel of Experts mandated to assess individual applicants and produce a shortlist of the most qualified candidates. While these new practices marked progress over the previous two elections, the Justice Initiative believes that significant room for improvement remains. This includes greater safeguards and processes for: adequate planning and the role of the Assembly presidency; a diverse, qualified applicant pool; independent scrutiny and vetting; fair, transparent, and dynamic public engagement; and inclusive and meaningful state consultations.
Toward the end of the term of Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC’s first prosecutor, then president of the Assembly of States Parties, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, and other experts first expressed a desire to develop a more transparent and structured process for the election of the ICC prosecutor. While the second election, that of Fatou Bensouda, presented improvements, civil society organizations and states parties continued to highlight the need for a more fair and transparent selection process.
“The election of the third prosecutor will be remembered for improvements, including the establishment of an independent committee and panel of experts, and challenges, including states parties’ disagreement with the initial shortlist of candidates, delayed and polarized consultations, difficulty in achieving consensus, and lack of vetting,” said Mariana Pena, senior legal officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative. “With our new recommendations, the Justice Initiative hopes to contribute to states parties’ reflections on ways to improve the election process.”
“The selection of the ICC Prosecutor is a critical event for the Court and the Rome Statute system,” said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative and former coordinator of prosecutions and senior trial attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC. “Our recommendations stem from our observations and extensive interviews with stakeholders who took part in last year’s election process. We hope that states parties will take them into consideration when preparing for the next one, for which they can and must do better.”
