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The seriousness with which state parties treat these representative issues was first tested with the
call for the nomination and the election of judges to the first bench of the ICC. The rules
governing the elections identify gender, region and field of expertise as minimum voting
requirements. They also specify that at least 6 men and 6 women are to be elected to the ICC
bench. When nominations closed on 30 November 2002, 10 women had been nominated out of
45 candidates. Elections for the first bench of the ICC were held between 3 and 7 February 2003.
In the event, seven women and eleven men were elected as judges in a long and drawn out
process that took five days and 33 rounds of voting. When six female judges were elected in the
first round of voting, the results were met with spontaneous applause from the floor. Many of the
female judges that have been elected to the ICC including Navanethem Pillay (South Africa),
Maureen Clark (Ireland), Elizabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica) and Anita Usacka (Latvia) have an
extensive background in women’s human rights issues. Moreover, some of the male judges such
as Adrian Fulford, the first openly homosexual judge to be appointed to the High Court in
Britain, also have a background in issues related to violence against women (ICC 2002).
Concerns about gender representation have also been evident in the efforts of the first ICC
Prosecutor, Luis Morento Ocampo, to ensure women are appointed to senior roles in the office.
In 2004, the Prosecutor nominated three women for the second post of Deputy Prosecutor to
ensure the Assembly of State Parties would elect a woman. (Schense 2004:3). Ocampo’s efforts
were backed up, if not influenced, by a strong campaign led by the WIGJ to encourage female
applications for the position. The WIGJ compiled information on the experience and skills of the
applicants and held panels for candidates to address delegates to the Assembly (Inder 2004:4).
When the Assembly met in September 2004, it elected Ms Fatou Bensouda from Gambia, who
Convention