Six new judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including Iulia Motoc from Romania, will begin their terms on March 11, 2024. They took the oath at a ceremony held on March 8 at the headquarters of the Court in The Hague (Netherlands). .

Judges Kibong Paek (South Korea), Nicolas Gillou (France), Erdenebalsuren Damdin (Mongolia), Iulia Motoc (Romania), Beti Holer (Slovenia) and Haikel Ben Mahfoud (Tunisia) were elected for a nine-year term out of twenty. – the second session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute in December 2023.

The six new judges solemnly pledged to perform their duties with honor, faith, impartiality and integrity and to respect the confidentiality of criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as the secrecy of meetings.

The International Criminal Court was established by the Rome Statute, signed in 1998 by 120 states and entered into force in 2002, responsible for dealing with crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression. It has a panel of 18 judges who are citizens of the member states of the Rome Statute.

ICC judges are selected from among individuals of high moral character, impartiality and integrity who possess the necessary qualifications in their countries for appointment to the highest judicial positions. The selection of judges takes into account the need to represent the main legal systems of the world, fair representation of men and women, and fair geographic distribution, the Court’s website says.

According to the press release, Judge Iulia Motok was elected by a majority of more than two-thirds of the representatives, and this is the first time that a Romanian has managed to gain access to this international court. In the international architecture, the position of a judge of the International Criminal Court is equated to the position of the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.

For the past ten years, Iulia Motok has been a judge of Romania at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), her term of office ended in July 2023. As an ETC judge, she participated in the settlement of 2,500 cases, of which more than 1,500 were criminal cases, 700 of which she leads. He also participated in trials of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Iulia Motoc was elected in 2021 as a member of the Institute of International Law in Geneva, being the first Romanian woman to be part of this institute since the Second World War, and the second Romanian woman in the history of the existence of this institute, after the brilliant jurist Demetru Negulescu. At the same time, in 2024, Iulia Motok will become the first Romanian professor in the last 50 years to be invited to teach at the Academy of International Law in The Hague.

From 2007 to 2013, Yulia Motok was a member of the prestigious UN Committee on Human Rights, and in 2012-2013 she held the position of vice-president of this quasi-judicial body created by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol.

From 2001 to 2004, he was the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, being the first UN Special Representative to report war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.

From 2010 to 2013, Iulia Motok was a judge of the Constitutional Court of Romania, taking part in many cases important for democracy and the rule of law.

Since 1996, Yulia Motok has been elected a member of the Subcommission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the codifying body of the UN on human rights; in 2000-2001 he was the president of this UN body.

At the same time, Yulia Motok has 28 years of experience as a university professor in the country and abroad, teaching over time at prestigious universities such as Yale University, New York University, Sorbonne, European Institute of Florence, etc. is the author of more than 80 articles, studies and books in the field of international law, human rights and European law.