RP loses int’l court justice bid
Somalia takes seat
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 05:31:00 11/07/2008
Filed Under: Judiciary (system of justice)
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The country has lost its bid for a seat in the International Court of Justice to Somalia, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said in an e-mailed statement to media.
"Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's bid for a seat in the ICJ came to an unsuccessful end on Thursday (Friday morning in Manila) but not after the Philippine candidate came up with a good fight that forced voting to go on for the entire day," the Mission said.
According to the Mission, those elected during the first round of balloting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council were Christopher Greenwood of the United Kingdom; Ronny Abraham of France; Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade of Brazil; and reelectionist Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh of Jordan.
Santiago lost to Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia, who won in the fourth and final round of balloting.
The Mission said the Philippines came in strong during the initial voting in the morning but had to yield the fifth and final seat in the international court to Somalia during the fourth round of balloting early in the evening.
Ambassador Hilario Davide Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said Santiago, who sought to replicate the election to the ICJ of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Cesar Bengson in 1966, emerged in the top five in the first round of balloting in the General Assembly.
However, she was not able to muster enough votes in the Security Council, thus forcing both UN organs to go into subsequent rounds of voting to determine who among the four remaining candidates would fill up the last vacant seat.
"Her candidature had aimed to achieve a representation in the Court of the form of civilization of countries in the Southeast Asian region and the mixed legal system of civil and common law, which is the sixth largest in the world."
Under ICJ rules, a candidate must obtain the absolute majority of votes in both the 15-member Security Council and the 192-member General Assembly to be declared a winner.
Second Secretary Elmer Cato, press officer of the
Philippine Mission, said that balloting was done in secret and how the
members of both the UNSC and the UNGA voted was not made public.
Voting by the UNSC and the UNGA are synchronized and separate. The UNSC votes in the Security Council Chamber, while the UNSC in the General Assembly Hall.
Majority vote for the UNSC is 8, while that for the UNGA is 97.
The UNSC is made up of the five permanent members -- China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- and of the 10 non-permanent members -- Belgium, Indonesia, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Italy, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Libya, Croatia, and Panama.
During a Senate hearing on the cancelled national broadband network contract with China's ZTE Corp. earlier this year, Santiago remarked about the Chinese “inventing corruption.” But since balloting in the UNSC is secret, China's vote was not known.
In an exchange of text messages, Cato also said the senator did not attend the proceedings as she had to leave New York for Manila earlier in the day.
Davide said that Santiago, as the lone female in the race, was able to count on the support of member-states who saw the need to ensure gender balance in the court to deprive the four African candidates of the required number of votes in the first round of balloting in the General Assembly.
"In the end, however, it was regional representation and not gender balance that determined the final outcome," said the former Supreme Court Chief Justice, who oversaw the Philippine campaign.
"Member-states felt that Africa somehow needed to be represented there at The Hague since Asia was already able to secure a seat with the reelection of Jordan in the first round," he added.
Davide, who along with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo led Filipino diplomats in the final stretch of the yearlong campaign, still called the experience a victory for the country.
"We may have not won the seat but our campaign heightened the awareness of the international community on the need for gender balance and empowerment of women in the world's major judicial organ," he said.
Davide also lauded Santiago for accepting the nomination to become the second Filipino to serve in the ICJ.
"Senator Santiago has proved herself worthy of the campaign and has heightened the respect of the international community for herself and for her country," he said.
"It was a valiant campaign and an honorable loss," Davide said, noting that for the senator Santiago to be in the top five during the first round despite the fact that she was up against a reelectionist vice president of the court and for voting to go all the way to the fourth round was an indication that she was a strong contender for the position.
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