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

Structures & Institutional Development Structures
This year, for the first time since 2006, the
number of African women appointed to the
List of Legal Counsel increased. The number of
African female appointees (25%) compared to
the total number of appointees from the region
more than doubled when compared to the
number of female appointees in 2010 (12%).
Despite this progress, appointees from Africa are
overwhelmingly male lawyers (75%).
Of the 403 individuals on the List of Legal
Counsel, 68 (17%) are from five out of the seven
Situations before the Court. The breakdown
is as follows: 38 from the DRC, 19 from Kenya,
six from CAR, four from Uganda, and one from
Sudan. This is the first year that a Sudanese
lawyer (male) has been appointed to the List
of Legal Counsel. Libya and Côte d’Ivoire, new
situations opened for investigation by the ICC
in 2011, do not have any appointees on the
List of Legal Counsel. From the seven Situation
countries, only the DRC made it to the ‘Top 5’ list
of overall appointees.
Of the 68 appointees from Situation countries,
nine are women (four from DRC, two from Kenya,
two from CAR and one from Uganda). This figure
represents 2% of the total List of Counsel and
13% of the appointees from Situation countries.
Under Rule 90(4) of the Rules of Procedure
and Evidence, the ICC is required to ‘take all
reasonable steps to ensure that in the selection
of common legal representatives, the distinct
interests of victims, particularly as provided in
Article 68(1), 222 are represented and that any
222 Article 68(1) obligates the Court to take ‘appropriate
measures to protect the safety, physical and psychological
well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses. …
the Court shall have regard to all relevant factors including
age, gender … and the nature of the crimes, in particular
but not limited to, where the crime involves sexual or
gender violence or violence against children'.
conflict of interest is avoided’. This therefore
requires the Court to ensure that the List of Legal
Counsel includes individuals with expertise on
sexual or gender violence. The Counsel Support
Section, in its coordination and oversight of the
List of Legal Counsel, does not systematically
consider this criterion when assessing the
eligibility of applicants to the List, and does not
actively seek information from applicants with
regard to their experience in this area.
There are 115 individuals on the List of
Assistants to Counsel, of whom 56 (48.6%) are
from WEOG, 55 (47.8%) from Africa and two
each (1.75%) from Eastern Europe and Asia. The
GRULAC region is not represented on the List
of Assistants to Counsel. Since 2007 there has
been an increase of 100 individuals to the List of
Assistants to Counsel.
Of the 115 individuals appointed to the List of
Assistants to Counsel, 56.5% are women. Female
professionals were also the majority on this list
in 2007 (64% women), the year in which figures
for this List were last made available to the
Women’s Initiatives for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice.
There are 13% more women than men on the
List of Assistants to Counsel. All regions except
Asia, which does not have any women appointed
to the List, have more women than men
appointed. The highest percentage of female
appointees on the List of Assistants is from the
WEOG region with 62.5%. Africa has the second
highest percentage of female appointees on
the List with women comprising 53% of those
appointed from the region. There are two
individuals from Eastern Europe appointed on
the List of Assistants to Counsel – one woman
and one man.
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