UN / ICJ ELECTION

After two days and numerous rounds of voting, the General Assembly and the Security Council have so far failed to elect a fifth judge to a seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Four judges had been selected by both chambers yesterday. Susana Ruiz Cerutti of Argentina and Patrick Lipton Robinson of Jamaica are still in contention for the remaining seat. UNIFEED - UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:00:56
• Production Date: 7 November 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE - ICJ
• Subject Topical: CRIMES; CRIMINAL JUSTICE; ELECTIONS; SECURITY COUNCIL; GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• MAMS Id: 1237573

Description

STORY: UN / ICJ ELECTION
TRT: 0.56
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 7 NOVEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

7 NOVEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Med shot, delegates
4. Various shots, being collected in the General Assembly
5. Various shots, being collected in the Security Council

Storyline

After two days and numerous rounds of voting, the General Assembly and the Security Council have so far failed to elect a fifth judge to a seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Four judges had been selected by both chambers yesterday (6 Nov).

After simultaneous rounds of voting in the Assembly and the Council – which met concurrently with but independent of each other – Mohamed Bennouna of Morocco, James Richard Crawford of Australia, Joan E. Donoghue of the United States, and Kirill Gevorgian of the Russian Federation were elected to nine-year terms on the ICJ, starting on 6 February next year.

Susana Ruiz Cerutti of Argentina and Patrick Lipton Robinson of Jamaica are still in contention for the remaining seat.

The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected by an absolute majority in both the General Assembly (97 votes) and Security Council (8 votes). The timing of elections is staggered so that the General Assembly elects a third of the Court once every three years.

The terms of five judges will expire on 5 February 2015: Bernardo Sepúlveda-Amor (Mexico); Kenneth Keith (New Zealand); Mohamed Bennouna (Morocco); Leonid Skotnikov (Russian Federation); and Joan E. Donoghue (United States). Judges are eligible for re-election.

According to the Court's Statute, its judges must be chosen by coordinated actions of both the Council and the General Assembly, with the date of elections determined by the Council.

Judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not their nationality, but no two judges can be from the same country. Effort is also taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are reflected in the composition of the court.

Established in 1945, and based in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICJ – which is also known as the World Court – settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on legal questions that have been referred to it by other authorized UN organs.