Nigeria may get first judge in ICC

Nigeria may get first judge in ICC

Nigeria may get its first Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) soon as voting began on Monday at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, for the election of six new judges for the court.

Mr Chile Eboe-Osuji, 49, who has been nominated by the Nigerian Government for the election is trying to win the seat this time around, having lost the elections in 2009.

A statement by the Nigerian government to the UN Secretariat about the candidacy of Eboe-Osuji said: “If elected, he will be the only Nigerian ever to serve as a judge in the Court.”

The ICC has 18 judges in all but there are currently six open seats and 19 candidates from different UN member-states are vying for election.

Other countries involved

Other countries standing for the elections include Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Central African Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Colombia, Poland and Philippines.

There are also candidates from Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, Congo, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Cyprus, Tunisia, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Candidates screening

However an international NGO based in New York Coalition for the ICC, CICC conducted an independent screening of all the 19 candidates and concluded that candidates from Costa Rica, Cyprus, Mexico and Tunisia are unqualified based on the Rome Statute governing the ICC.

The CICC found Nigeria’s Eboe-Osuji qualified and he has also been endorsed by both the African Union and ECOWAS for the election.

 He was nominated on the basis of List A.

Eboe-Osuji, who is enrolled both at the Nigerian and Canadian bar is currently the Legal Advisor of the UN High Commission for Human Rights and before that he was the Head of Chambers for the UN International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda.

NP/Adekusibe/Williams