Lenah
Follow us
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
No Result
View All Result

Does gender matter at the ASP?

December 17, 2014
in Insights
0
0
Home Insights
FacebookTwitterLinkedInWhatsappEmail

“I’ve never had to do this before,” said one delegate to me – “specifically vote for a male candidate”. Because of the arcane rules for how judges are elected for the ICC, in the first couple of rounds a male candidate had to be selected.

In the end, after 22 – yes, 22 rounds of voting – all six candidates were selected. And all the new judges at the ICC are men. The last – the Hungarian judge – definitely had something that very few women judges could compete with – a moustache.

Such a clean sweep along gender lines got me thinking: does gender really matter at the ICC? We have a new prosecutor – a woman – but the registrar, the president of the court and of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) are all men.

Nearly every state mentioned sexual and gender-based crimes (SGBV) when they made their statement to the assembly. SGBV is definitely the new buzz term in international fora. You can’t afford to go against the likes of Angelina Jolie in your efforts to support prosecution of these crimes when they occur in the context of conflict.

But one organization has been consistent in its championing of this issue – the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice.

Their annual scorecard for the court has changed from a 16-page booklet to a 284-page “encyclopedia” as their head, Brigid Inder told a packed evening launch party.

What’s interesting is how they subject the ICC to the strict lens of gender justice. For instance:

  • 46% of the applicants for individuals who want to be recognized as victims were from females in 2014 – an increase of 8%.
  • In 2013 ,more than half of the “overall charges for sexual and gender-based violence sought by the OTP” were dismissed before trial. But “this year all charges have successfully progressed to the trial stage”.

They are also very pleased that the ICC is the first international court or tribunal to have a prosecution policy on sexual and gender-based crimes.

Brigid chaired a session at which Fatou Bensouda explained her real commitment to implement that policy.

Inder plays an interesting inside-outside role: she’s head of an NGO that lobbies the ICC. But she’s also the prosecutor’s special adviser on these issues.

What I wonder though is how deep the commitment of the states really is to this area. In the end they voted in six male judges to the ICC, even though after the first rounds they weren’t required to do so. How much attention will these men pay to the issues of sexual violence in conflict?

If you want to see Janet’s first blog post on the strangeness of being at the ASP, read it here. And here’s the link to her second blog post on competition.

Photos: ASP/Flickr 

Tags: Assembly of States Parties (ASP)ICC (International Criminal Court)Justice Insights
ShareTweetShareSendSend

Janet H. Anderson

Janet H. Anderson is the Project Manager at Justice Hub.

Related Posts

“The Men Who Killed Me” 2.0 project: Understanding sexual violence in conflict and empowering its survivors 
Insights

“The Men Who Killed Me” 2.0 project: Understanding sexual violence in conflict and empowering its survivors 

by Justice Hub
October 7, 2018
0
50

By Anne-Marie de Brouwer, Eefje de Volder and Milena Adamczewska Video of Conversations with survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...

Read more
Mudukuti: Too many have lost sight of the victims behind egregious crimes

Mudukuti: Too many have lost sight of the victims behind egregious crimes

September 27, 2018
58
“The dialogue on international justice needs to become more diverse and global”

“The dialogue on international justice needs to become more diverse and global”

September 27, 2018
43
Rome Statute drafter: No one at the time thought we would have a functioning ICC in only 20 years

Rome Statute drafter: No one at the time thought we would have a functioning ICC in only 20 years

September 27, 2018
45
The Venom of War in northern Uganda

The Venom of War in northern Uganda

September 16, 2018
37

Janet H. Anderson

Janet H. Anderson is the Project Manager at Justice Hub.

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform aimed at a worldwide audience of 18-35 year olds, especially in countries where people are looking for sustainable and innovative solutions to problems of justice, peace and security. Justice can feel too abstract, too often owned by experts. We make the conversations lively and accessible.

Follow Us

Quick Links

  • Featured
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

 

  HPPJ Forum Login
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
No Result
View All Result
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us

© 2018 Justice Hub

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Login

Lost password?
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.

REPUBLISHING TERMS

You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons license. You may not edit or shorten the text, you must attribute the article to Aeon and you must include the author’s name in your republication.

If you have any questions, please email nsharafa@gmail.com

License

Creative Commons License AttributionCreative Commons Attribution
Does gender matter at the ASP?