Letters

摘要

sir - You are correct in pointing out that the authority of international courts and tribunals depends ultimately on the quality of their judges ("Wanted: better judgment, fewer crowd-pleasers and lickspittles", November 22nd). But your dismissive reference to "vague qualifications" did not recognise the efforts we made, when drafting the statute of the International Criminal Court, to mitigate the worst effects of the fact that the only available process for choosing the ICC's judges is election by the states that have signed up to the court. Specifically, the statute contains considerable detail about the practical and professional experience that candidates must have, and obliges a government forwarding a nomination at least to make clear how the candidate meets those requirements.