Gender Report Card on the International Criminal ... - YWCA Canada

States Parties/ASP Elections 2011
including ‘a number of highly qualified female
candidates’. 366 The report noted that ‘the
gender diversity was not as great as the Search
Committee would have hoped’. 367 Information
is not available about the extent to which the
Search Committee took a proactive approach
to seek out qualified female candidates for
consideration or whether any efforts were
made to ensure information about the position
was widely disseminated through relevant
professional associations, networks, academic
institutions and States.
According to their final report, the Search
Committee drew up an interview list of eight
candidates, selected based on the information
available to the Committee at that point,
including ‘curriculum vitae, academic articles
and other commentaries on their work, press
and other reports, such references as were then
available’, and other material including publicly
available information. 368 The eight candidates
who were selected for interviews also submitted
personal statements, references, and other
relevant documentation. The Search Committee
did not make public the geographical or gender
breakdown of the eight candidates. According to
informal information, the interview list included
only two women and at least two candidates
from non-States Parties. Candidates appear to
have been predominantly from the WEOG and
Africa regions. There were no candidates from
the Asian and Eastern European regions.
The Search Committee reported that they
conducted standard format interviews with
each of the eight candidates that covered,
among other things ‘his or her familiarity with
the work of the ICC; managerial experience; the
appropriate balance between OTP management,
hands-on prosecutorial work and public
engagement; perceptions of the strengths
and weaknesses of the OTP; appreciation of
the interaction between the OTP, other ICC
organs and the ASP; language proficiency
and previous prosecutorial experience and/or
judicial experience in the handling of criminal
cases’. 369 The candidates were also asked how
they would shape prosecutorial strategies in
the short, medium and long term; about the
perceived gap in case selection; witness proofing
and disclosure; the perception that the Court is
an international criminal court for Africa; the
candidate’s most complex cases; the efficiency of
the Office of the Prosecutor; and desired qualities
in the selection of Deputy Prosecutors. 370
According to the Search Committee’s final report
no questions were asked regarding the gender
competencies of the candidates or regarding any
experience prosecuting gender-based crimes,
or that this was a criteria considered in the
selection process for the shortlist. According to
the report, the candidates were also not asked
how they would structure the office to ensure
this competency, or how they would implement
Article 42(9) of the Rome Statute, requiring the
appointment of advisers with legal expertise
on specific issues, including but not limited to
sexual and gender violence and violence against
children.
366 ASP/2011/117, para 27.
367 ASP/2011/117, para 27.
368 ASP/2011/117, para 30.
369 ASP/2011/117, para 31.
370 Agenda and Decisions adopted at the fourteenth ASP
Bureau Meeting, 14 October 2011, available at http://
www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/Bureau/ICC-ASP-2011-
Bureau-14-D-14Oct2011.pdf>, last visited on 26 October
2011.
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