More stringent qualification and selection process would ensure independence from political influence
NEW YORK (TrustLaw)—The International Bar Association on Thursday called for greater transparency and quality in judicial appointments to international courts and tribunals and less political influence in the selection process for such appointments.
The IBA’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) issued its call in a resolution and background paper that lay out the basic values that the IBA believes should guide the eligibility and selection process, including “independence, impartiality, integrity and competence, as well as fundamental eligibility requirements for judicial practice.”
Asked why the IBA took this action on the eve of International Human Rights Day on December 10, IBA executive director Mark Ellis told TrustLaw: “It’s now because we have witnessed, over the last number of years, a situation where international courts have struggled to ensure that judges are qualified, that they are selected in a very transparent way.
“These types of issues, the qualification and the selection process are really at the heart of ensuring that international courts are seen as being independent and non-political.”
The resolution also lists specific professional and personal qualities that all candidates for international judicial office should possess. These range from demonstrated competence in the area of law relevant to the court or tribunal in question and fluency in at least one of that body’s working languages to a personal track record of independence, impartiality and propriety.
“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,” IBAHRI Co-Director Dr Phillip Tahmindjis said in the statement.
“The present system allows for people ill-suited to complex international judicial office to be appointed,” IBAHRI co-chair, Sternford Moyo, said in a statement issued by the organization. “It is important that only the best candidates for international judicial office be appointed. The international community is entitled to nothing less than that.”
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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