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PHL CANDIDATE ELECTED INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT JUDGE

25 June 2015 - Philippine candidate Dr. Raul C. Pangalangan was elected Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the resumed 13^th Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute held yesterday in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Dr. Pangalangan obtained a total of 59 votes out of 84 valid votes to win the ICC seat over Jordan’s candidate, Dr. Ibrahim Mashoor Aljazy, after two rounds of voting.  Dr. Pangalangan and Dr. Aljazy were the two candidates for the Asia-Pacific seat vacated by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was elected ICC judge in 2011 but relinquished her seat in June 2014 for medical reasons.

After the elections, Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands Jaime Victor B. Ledda, as head of the Philippine delegation, thanked the ICC member states for the valuable support they have extended to Dr. Pangalangan. He also thanked Jordan for joining the Philippines, through its candidature, in underscoring the importance of universality, cooperation and reform in the ICC.

During the two-month campaign and the run-up to the elections, the Philippines highlighted Dr. Pangalangan’s expertise in international humanitarian law and human rights, both as a professor of law and a practicing lawyer. 

Earlier, the Report of the ICC Advisory Committee on the Nomination of Judges who interviewed the candidates, also found, among others things, that Dr. Pangalangan “had considerable knowledge and established competence in international humanitarian law and the law of human rights, areas on which he had been focusing throughout his career” and “had considerable knowledge of the Rome Statute system as he had been a member of the Philippine delegation to the Rome Conference in 1998.”

Dr. Pangalangan will serve as ICC Judge for six years, the unexpired term of the seat originally won by Senator Santiago. ICC judges serve for 9 years.