For
ICJ, Jamaica's
Lead Grows in
UNGA Over Argentina,
Round III
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 7 --
In the archaic
system by
which
International
Court of
Justice judges
are elected,
the UN
Security
Council and
General
Assembly voted
again and
again on
Friday morning.
Each body
had to select
a firth and
final judge --
the same
judge.
But while the
Security
Council stuck
on nine for
Argentina's
Susana Ruiz
Cerutti and
six for
Jamaica's
Patrick Lipton
Robinson, in
the General
Assembly
Jamaica's Robinson
rose in
support. Just
after noon he
received 123
votes, versus
only 69 for Argentina's
Ruiz Cerutti.
As that meeting
broke up to
reconvene at 3
pm, numerous
diplomats
stopped to
talk to Inner
City Press.
What sense
does it make,
one of them
asked, for the
Security
Council to
ignore what
the full 193
members think?
Why are the
two bodies
given equal weight
when "we are
all here,"
meaning in the
General
Assembly?
On
the other
hand, an
Argentine
argument made
to Inner City
Press is that
this is not
about
countries
about about
legal systems:
Commonwealth
means common
law.
Meanwhile an
African
diplomat in
the General
Assembly asked
Inner City
Press, And if
the Jamaican
gets a two
thirds
majority in
the GA - what
then? What,
indeed.
Winning ICJ
judge
positions on
November 6
were Kirill
Gevorgian of
Russia, with a
perfect 15
votes in the
Council's
final round of
the day, Joan
E. Donoghue of
the US and
Mohamed
Bennouna of
Morocco, both
with 14, and
James Richard
Crawford of
Australia with
12.
In
the Security
Council, Argentina's
Susana Ruiz
Cerutti got
just enough
votes with
nine, and
Jamaica's
Patrick
Lipton
Robinson did
not, with
seven.
But
in the General
Assembly,
Jamaica's
Robinson with
141 led Argentina's
Ruiz Cerutti
with 108. The
vote, Security
Council president
Gary Qiunlan
said, would
continue on
November 7.
In
the hall
diplomats from
the General Assembly
continued to
talk up
Jamaica,
saying the African
Group has a
special relationship
with CARICOM,
and talking
about the
Commonwealth.
(Want to guess
where the UK
comes down in
this one?)
Throughout
the day, Inner
City Press
jogged back
and forth
between the
Council and
Assembly
chambers, as
did for
example the
Jamaican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative,
and when the
two bodies
broke for
lunch, the
following
story emerged.
A
number of
African
Permanent
Representatives
said, it
should be
Jamaica. They
asked, But
will the
Security
Council go its
own way?
Inner
City Press has
heard Susana
Ruiz Cerutti
speak, and she
seems like a
good
candidate. And
Argentina ran
a more
transparent
than usual
month atop the
Security
Council, and
has big proposals
for example on
sovereign debt
restructuring.
But how will
this stand-off
be resolved?
Why did the
candidates
from the DR
Congo and
Madagascar get
so few votes?
The
latter dropped
out, the
former was
urged to. But
until the
Security
Council agrees
with the GA,
the election
is not
finished.
Update
of 4:10 pm:
On
ICJ in GA,
again more
than five
candidates got
more than the
required 97
votes. But
Jamaica's
candidate got
141
(up from 135),
Argentina's
only 116 (down
from 134)
Update
of 4:50 pm
On
ICJ in UNGA,
again more
than 5 got
more than 97.
But Jamaica
138
(still up from
136),
Argentine 108
(down from
116)
Inner
City Press
covered the
more than 30 day
stand-off in
2011 between
candidates
from Sierra
Leone and
Uganda, with
the latter
winning.
At
least they are
voting - the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has
noted that the
correspondents
(or now
censors')
association
UNCA has
entirely non-competitive
annointments,
this time with
the return of
the censor in
chief. Click
here for that,
and watch this
site.
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