COMMUNITY

 

ATLAS AND THE GQUAL CAMPAIGN CALL ON THE UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY TO REOPEN NOMINATIONS FOR JUDGES AT THE UN
INTERNATIONAL RESIDUAL MECHANISM FOR CRIMINAL
TRIBUNALS AND TO STRONGLY ENCOURAGE STATES TO NOMINATE
QUALIFIED FEMALE CANDIDATES AND VOTE TAKING GENDER
PARITY INTO ACCOUNT.

GLOBAL, 28 November 2018 – ATLAS and the GQUAL Campaign are deeply
dismayed at the United Nations General Assembly’s issuance of an all-male list of 11
candidates for the election of judges to the UN International Residual Mechanism for
Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT). The failure of States to nominate qualified female
violates their international obligation to promote women’s equal participation in
decision-making instances, including in international bodies, and undermines the
United Nations’ commitment to gender equality.

The current roster of judges at the IRMCT – with only five of the 22 existing judges
being women – is already significantly lacking in adequate gender balance. The
current nomination list further entrenches gender inequality at the highest level of the
judiciary in international law, and denies an opportunity to correct the current
situation and achieve gender parity. With exceptional women working at every level
of international law, there can be no excuse for the failure to nominate even a single
woman for these important judicial posts.

Qualified female candidates continue to be overlooked, to the detriment of the system
and processes of international justice. The lack of gender balance affects virtually all
international tribunals and monitoring mechanisms of the UN. Judges bring with them
to the bench, and to the cases over which they preside, their experience of the world.
Diversity of perspectives – which necessarily include the varying perspectives of
women – enriches the quality of judicial decisions and lends legitimacy to
international bodies.

Furthermore, the very fact of appropriate gender representation in the judiciary is an
explicit statement of an institutional commitment to gender equality. The undervaluing
of female experience at the senior levels of the legal profession has adverse
consequences for women working in international law, as well as those contemplating
a career in their field. It is essential, as we strive for gender equity, to have women
and men, from diverse backgrounds, participating equally in positions of power and
influence.

ATLAS and GQUAL would like to remind UN Members States of the values and
obligations contained in article 8 of the UN Charter, as well as article 8 of CEDAW
and other relevant human rights treaties. We call upon the UN General Assembly to
reopen the nomination process with a commitment to strongly encouraging Member
States to nominate qualified female candidates to the list of candidates for election as
judges to the IRMCT, and to vote for members taking gender parity into account.

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ATLAS (Acting Together: Law, Advice, Support) is a global community of women
working in public international law. We seek to empower, support, and connect
women working in, or embarking on, a career in public international law. More at:
www.atlaswomen.org

GQUAL Campaign is a global campaign to achieve gender parity in the composition
of international tribunals and monitoring bodies. More at: www.gqualcampaign.org