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Valuing Diversity in All Forms in International Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2018

Josephine Jarpa Dawuni
Josephine Jarpa Dawuni*
Affiliation:
Howard University.
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Extract

I would like to preface my commentary with two remarks. First, I commend ASIL, the International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group, and other co-sponsors for organizing this important roundtable on valuing women in international law. Second, I thank Nienke Grossman for inviting me to be part of this discussion to bring in the perspective of women from across the continent of Africa. This proves that Grossman's work on gender diversity recognizes intragroup diversity—that women are one, yet also different and bring different ingredients to the making of international law and international adjudication.

Type
Valuing Women in International Adjudication
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 111 , 2017 , pp. 296 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © by The American Society of International Law 2018 

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References

1 ICC elections are organized to reflect regional diversity. The African States Group (Africa Group) is one of five groups. The others are: the Asia-Pacific States Group (Asia Group), the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC), and the Eastern European Group (EEG).

2 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted July 11, 2003, at http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/women-protocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf. The Maputo Protocol spells out social, political, and cultural rights of women in Africa. It was signed in 2003 and came into effect in 2005. It has been heralded as one of the legal instruments to have received the fastest ratifications by states parties. Out of fifty-four African nation-states, fifty-one have signed the Maputo Protocol, and, of those, thirty-six have signed and ratified it. Only three states have not signed the Maputo Protocol African Commission on Human and People's Rights, Protocol on the African Charter of Human and People's Rights of Women in Africa, at http://www.achpr.org/instruments/women-protocol/ (visited June 29, 2017).

3 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, June 9, 1998, OAU Doc. OAU/LEG/EXP/AFCHPR/PROT(III), at http://www.achpr.org/instruments/court-establishment/.

4 Id. Art. 12(2).

5 Id. Art. 14(3).

6 See African Court on Human and People's Rights, Current Judges, AfricanCourt, at http://en.african-court.org/index.php/judges/current-judges (visited Jun 29, 2017) (providing current court membership including the five women justices); see also Dawuni, Josephine, African Women Judges and Gender Parity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, IntLawGrrls (Feb. 1, 2017)Google Scholar, at https://ilg2.org/2017/02/01/african-women-judges-and-gender-parity-on-the-african-court-on-human-and-peoples-rights/ (discussing the evolution of gender parity on the ACtHPR).

7 I have been asked the question several times at professional conferences and presentations whether the progress made in achieving gender parity at the ACtHPR is the result of foreign donors requesting donor-receiving governments to have gender-balanced institutions.

8 Dawuni, Josephine J., Vive la diversité! A Roadmap to Gender Parity on African Regional Courts?, Völkerrechsblog (May 15, 2017)Google Scholar, at https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/vive-la-diversite/.

9 See, e.g., Grossman, Nienke, Achieving Sex-Representative International Court Benches, 110 AJIL 82 (2016)Google Scholar; Grossman, Nienke, Sex on the Bench: Do Women Judges Matter to the Legitimacy of International Courts, 12 Chi. J. Int'l L. 647 (2012)Google Scholar.

10 International Court of Justice, All Members, Int'l Court of Justice, at http://www.icj-cij.org/en/all-members (visited June 29, 2017) (identifying all fifteen African Judges: (1) Prince Bola Adesumbo Ajibola (Nigeria), (2) Abdel Hamid Badawi (Egypt), (3) Mohammed Bedjaoui (Algeria), (4) Mohamed Bennouna (Morocco), (5) Abdullah El-Erian (Egypt), (6) Nabil Elaraby (Egypt), (7) Taslim Olawale Elias (Nigeria), (8) Isaac Forster (Senegal), (9) Louis Ignacio-Pinto (Benin), (10) Abdul G. Koroma (Sierra Leone), (11) Kéba Mbaye (Senegal), (12) Charles D. Onyeama (Nigeria), (13) Raymond Ranjeva (Madagascar), (14) Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), and (15) Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia)).

11 Amman, Diane Marie, Women, Accustomed to the International Court of Justice, IntLawGrrls (June 23, 2017)Google Scholar, at https://ilg2.org/2017/06/23/women-accustomed-to-the-international-court-of-justice/.

12 International Court of Justice, All Members, Int'l Court of Justice, at http://www.icj-cij.org/en/all-members (visited June 29, 2017) (listing 106 historical members as of June 29, 2017).

13 See East African Court of Justice, Composition, at http://eacj.org/?page_id=24 (visited June 29, 2017) (providing a list of current and historic judges on the EACJ).

14 Community Court of Justice—ECOWAS, The Past Members of the Community Court of Justice, at http://www.courtecowas.org/site2012/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=32 (visited June 29, 2017) (identifying the past judges of the court from 2001 to 2014).

15 Community Court of Justice—ECOWAS, The Judges of the Community Court of Justice, at http://www.courtecowas.org/site2012/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=260&Itemid=6 (visited June 29, 2017) (identifying seven judges, including the sole woman, Hon. Justice Maria Do Ceu Silvia Monteiro).

16 African Women Judges on International Courts: Unveiled Narratives (Josephine Dawuni & Akua Kuenyehia eds.) (forthcoming).

17 Dawuni, Josephine & Kang, Alice, Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise of Female Leaders in the Judiciary in Africa, 62 Africa Today 45 (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2783949.

18 The use of the word “woman” preceded by the plus sign is my attempt to deconstruct the word “human,” which, when one takes away the two letters “hu,” leaves the word “man.” Such gendered word constructions do not exist in most African languages. See also Josephine Dawuni, Matri-legal Feminism: An African Feminist Response to International Law, in Future of Feminist Engagement in International Law (Kate Ogg & Sue Rimmer eds.) (forthcoming).