Strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute System: the Role of States Parties

As Executive Director of the International Bar Association, Mark Ellis leads the world’s foremost organization of lawyers. Dr Ellis served as Legal Advisor to the Independent International Commission on Kosovo and was appointed by OSCE to advise on the creation of Serbia’s War Crimes Tribunal. He was actively involved with the Iraqi High Tribunal. He was appointed Chair of the UN created Advisory Panel on Matters Relating to Defence Counsel of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. Twice a Fulbright Scholar to Croatia, he earned his J.D. and B.S. degrees from Florida State University and his PhD from King’s College, London.

On 28 March 2018, Peter Lewis was elected Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a period of five years, and sworn in on 17 April 2018. Prior to joining the Court, Mr Lewis was Chief Executive of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales between 2007 and 2016. He previously served as Director of Business Development of the CPS Headquarters in London (2003 – 2006), Chief Crown Prosecutor at the CPS Nottinghamshire (1999 – 2003), Head of Casework Services at the CPS Headquarters (1996 – 1999), Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutor at the CPS East Midlands (1993 – 1995), Branch Crown Prosecutor at the CPS Kent (1991 – 1993) and Senior Crown Prosecutor of the CPS West Midlands (1986 – 1991). He was also Prosecuting Solicitor at the West Midlands County Council (1981 – 1986) and Articled Clerk of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council in West Midlands (1979 – 1981). Mr Lewis was a UK delegate to United Nations Preparatory Commission for the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the ICC in 1999-2000 and a member of the expert working group on the draft regulations of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor. Mr Lewis holds a BA of Law from the City of Birmingham Polytechnic. He was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1981 and received his Higher Courts qualification in 2001. Mr Lewis was made a companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's birthday honours list in 2012.

Dr. Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi is a career diplomat and former International Criminal Court judge and president with over thirty-year experience in international criminal law, humanitarian and human rights law. She was involved in the creation, set up and functioning of the ICC in various capacities for most of her career. She was elected as President of the ICC Assembly of States Parties for a three-year term, assuming this role in 2021. She played a leadership role in the creation and setting up of the International Criminal Court as President on the Working Group on Criminal Procedure and Vice-President of the Committee of the Whole at the Rome Conference. She was also instrumental in the negotiations of the complementary instruments of the Rome Statute as chair of the Working Group on Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the Working Group on Aggression. In addition to ICC matters, she led efforts to strengthen the rule of law through the adoption of additional norms and increased cooperation in the field of international human rights and humanitarian law, international criminal law and transitional justice. Prior to joining the ICC, Judge Fernández de Gurmendi was director general for Human Rights (2008-2009) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina. Having taught international law and international criminal law at various universities, Judge Fernández de Gurmendi’s academic experience includes professorships at the University of Buenos Aires and Palermo. She has lectured around the world and published several national and international publications related to the ICC including, amongst others, the role of the Prosecutor, criminal procedure, and the definition of victims.

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Judge Hofmański (1956) – after graduation from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in 1978 started his academic career as an assistant in the Chair of the Criminal Procedure Law at this University. After completing PhD studies in Toruń (1981), he was offered the position of adjunct at the Chair of Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Silesia in Katowice. He completed the second scientific degree (habilitation) in 1989 and was appointed Professor at the Chair of Criminal Law of the University of Białystok. Since 2000 he has been Professor of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where he runs the Chair of Criminal Procedure Law. He started his judicial career in 1994 as a judge of the Appellate Court in Białystok and then was appointed a judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court in 1996. He was involved in some projects carried out by the Council of Europe as a member of the Council of Europe's committee of experts, called the Reflection Group on Developments in International Co-operation in Criminal Matters from 2001 to 2002. He was appointed member of the Committee of Experts on Transnational Justice, which was established to continue the work of the Reflection Group, and which realised its mandate from 2004 to 2006. He is an author of more than 300 books, commentaries, articles dealt with various aspects of criminal law, criminal procedure, international cooperation in criminal matters and human rights protection.