From this COIL I expect to learn a lot about human rights, also I’m very excited because this topic seems very interesting to me and I would like to learn the most as I could. 

In my free time usually I play the piano, paint  and read. I really love hiking and enjoying time with family and friends. Most of the time I am listening to music and it varies depending of my mood. I speak French, English and a little of Italian.

I have an open mind to COIL so I don't have expectations, only share and learn about the culture and different perspectives that I think that everyone has.

Names: Natalia Vesga, Valeria Torres, Valentina Moreno, Martin Quiroga, Vasilios Xeniakis and Bailey Peabody

Fun fact: The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established in June 1945 in Chapter XIV of the United Nations Charter and began work in April 1946.

The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions. 

It is the only main organ of the United Nations which its headquarters aren´t in New York (United States). Instead, these are located at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).

Names: Daniela Mejia, Peter Glowacki, Maria Camila Paiba, Erin Gonzales, Alejandro Vanegas, Maria Jose Colpas & Brandon 

The IACHR is an international court whose main mission is to promote and protect human rights. Also, it’s an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). By working alongside nation-states located within the americas they are able to advocate for laws and institutions that strengthen these protections. 

FUN FACT(s): through their website you are given access to all pending cases, country by country. Also, you’re able to see statistics, hearings, reports among other things. Another fun fact we found is that, in the period from 1979- 2017, the country that had more Sentences by State was Peru, with 85 sentences. (The average was between 20-35 sentences) 

Names: Daniela Mejia, Peter Glowacki, María Camila Paiba, Erin Gonzales, Alejandro Vanegas, Maria José Colpas & Brandon 

The IACHR is an international court whose main mission is to promote and protect human rights. Also, it’s an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). By working alongside nation-states located within the americas they are able to advocate for laws and institutions that strengthen these protections. 

FUN FACT(s): through their website you are given access to all pending cases, country by country. Also, you’re able to see statistics, hearings, reports among other things. Another fun fact we found is that, in the period from 1979- 2017, the country that had more Sentences by State was Peru, with 85 sentences. (The average was between 20-35 sentences).

 

Men/Women: Nowadays there are 3 women, which represents a minority of the court.  However, since February 8^th, Joan E. Donoghue is the president of the court. Likewise, Judge Xue Hanqin was the Vice-President of the ICJ from 6 February 2018 to 8 February 2021. Additionally, Judge Julia Sebutinde is the first African woman who has been selected to work in court.

Diversity: Broadly speaking, we consider that there is diversity in the court given that, as previously mentioned, all the judges are from different parts of the world and throughout the history of the court they have had judges from other countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Panama, Chile, Jordan, Philippines, Egypt, Australia, Syria, etc. Additionally, there cannot be more than one national of the same State in the court.

1. Judge Piotr Hofmański: Poland (Eastern Europe)

2. Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza: Perú  (Latin American and Caribbean States)

3. Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua: Democratic Republic of the Congo (the African States)

4. Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut: France (Western European and other States)

5. Judge Bertram Schmitt: Germany (Western European and other States)

6. Judge Péter Kovács: Hungary (Eastern Europe)

7. Judge Chang-ho Chung:  Republic of Korea (the) (Asia-Pacific States)

8. Judge Tomoko Akane: Japan (Asia-Pacific States)

9. Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa: Uganda (African States)

10. Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou: Benin (African States)

11. Judge Kimberly Prost: Canada (Western European and other States)

12. Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala: Italy (Western European and other States)

13. Judge Joanna Korner: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the ) (Western European and other States)

14. Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze: Georgia (Eastern Europe)

15. Judge Socorro Flores Liera: Mexico (Latin American and Caribbean States)

16. Judge Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez: Costa Rica (Latin American and Caribbean States)

17. Judge Miatta Maria Samba: Sierra Leone (African States)

18. Judge Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor: Trinidad and Tobago (Latin American and Caribbean States)

There are 18 judges and they do not all come from the same place. They range from countries all over the world including European, African, Asian, South and Central American countries. There are 9 men and 9 women. This is definitely a diverse panel because there is global representation and there is no one national or ethnic group that dominated the court. Yeah it’s 18 judges, 9 men and 9 women. They are elected for terms of office of 9 years by the Assembly of state parties & the Rome Statute. However they are not eligible for re-election. In order for them to be selected, they have to meet certain characteristics and qualifications such as: They have either established competence in criminal law and procedure, and the necessary relevant experience, whether as a judge, prosecutor, advocate or in other similar capacity, in criminal proceedings; or have established competence in

relevant areas of international law such as international humanitarian law and the law of human rights, and extensive experience in a professional legal capacity which is of relevance to the judicial work of the Court.

Names: Daniela Mejia, Peter Glowacki, Maria Camila Paiba, Erin Gonzales, Alejandro Vanegas, Maria Jose Colpas & Brandon 

Number of Judges: Seven Justices (including a president and vice president, six year terms but can be reelected) 

The current composition holds Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito from Costa Rica, the president; the Judge Patricio Patiño Freire from Ecuador, the vice president; the other 5 members are: Judge Eduardo Vio Grossi from Chile, Judge Humberto Antonio Sierra Porto from Colombia, Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot from Mexico, Judge Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni from Argentina and, last but not least, Judge Ricardo Pérez Manrique from Uruguay. 

Nationality: The seven justices currently are from Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay but there have been past justices from other Latin American Countries.

Men/Women: Currently, the judges are mostly men but there are few women and women have been judges and presidents in the past. The current composition only holds one woman, Elizabeth Odio Benito, the president. The rest of the six judges are all men. 

Diversity: The Inter American Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction over 25 of the 35 States of the OAS that have acceded to its authority. So basically, all Latin American countries except Cuba are Members of the Court.  We consider it to be diverse. 

8. Lady Justice Bensaoula Chafika- Algeria
9. Lady Justice Stella Isibhakhomen Anukam -Nigeria 
10.  Justice Dumisa  Ntsebeza- South Africa

There are 11 judges in the African court, divided into 6 women and 5 men. This marked history in court, since it is the first time since 2006 where there are most women in the magistrate.  In addition, each of the judges comes from a different country, thus showing a different vision for the taking of the choices.

We consider this panel to be diverse, since it involves various African countries and in each of them a different culture and ethnicity is presented, which makes the representation of these countries a challenge for the State, but in the same way in the court it will help to achieve its human rights objectives in greater ways

With my group we have being studying the Inter-American human rights system, the commission on this area and the court. I am very surprised to see this effort of the American countries to look out for the human rights in the region with solid, not flawless but good, organisms such as the commission of human rights and the inter-American court of human rights. Extraordinarily, being all this without the influence and pressure of the United States. This fact also surprised me a lot because the HQ of the Inter-American commission of human rights is in Washington D.C.  

This is definitely a good tribunal that can be an example for other countries to generate regional and more effective mechanisms to protect human rights with a regional thinking and understanding of the issues. Although, the court must get better at making the parties abide the stipulated in its ruling. 

Even so, this court, as all the courts around the world has problems that we should resolve. One thing that I would change is the fact that the president has all the authority to nominated the amount of judges possible if he has the opportunity. I mean there is not a limit of judges that a single president can nominated for the Supreme Court. For example while Donald Trump was in charge he has the power to appoint three judges. That’s a big number knowing that the court is just for nine. I think that this is a big problem because as we know this charge is for life, so if a single president put one third of the judges the ideology of the majority of the political power would have a benefit, regarding the other party. 

In my opinion, the International Criminal Court has a crucial role in the world due to the fact that it investigates crimes against humanity, such as genocide, and aggression. Saying this, it can be said that the court mentioned before its crucial for preserving humankind. Also, I found it very interesting that it is very diverse, not only in terms of gender but also in terms of ethnicity as it includes both women and men from different parts of the world, including America, Africa, Europe, and Asia with a total of 9 men and 9 women. This makes it possible to have different perspectives about the disputes that can be ongoing from a cultural perspective and undoubtedly reflects diversity. Also, the majority of the investigations have been made in Africa, despite of the presence of the court in the  other continents, as it has witness a vast amount of crimes of all types, for example the Rwandan Genocide and many civil wars. Despite of this, I think it is crucial that the court has a more notable presence in the others countries that are part of the Rome Statue, such as Colombia. Likewise, United States and China that are two superpowers are not part of the ICC and have questioned its legitimacy, which makes its operation more challenging.