08/12/2011

IBAHRI calls for improved procedures for judicial appointments to international courts

To coincide with international Human Rights Day (10 December), the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has today called for greater transparency and quality in international judicial appointments, and a firmer grounding of the appointment procedures in the values which should govern them.

The call is contained in an IBAHRI Resolution, which points to the political nature of many judicial appointments to international courts and tribunals. The background paper accompanying the Resolution sets out the values which ought to prevail. These include independence, impartiality, integrity and competence, as well as fundamental eligibility requirements for judicial practice.

While international courts and tribunals may have their own selection and appointment criteria, there is no agreed international standard. IBAHRI Co-Chair Sternford Moyo said: ‘The present system allows for people ill-suited to complex international judicial office to be appointed.’

IBAHRI Co-Director Dr Phillip Tahmindjis said: ‘The resolution and background paper indicate the factors relating to eligibility and qualifications which should take primacy in short-listing candidates for judicial office, and they then focus on the selection process itself. The latter is sometimes more influenced by politics than by the qualifications of the candidates.’

‘It is important that only the best candidates for international judicial office be appointed. The international community is entitled to nothing less than that,’ added Sternford Moyo.

Click here to download the IBAHRI Resolution

Click here to download the background paper

 

ENDS

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