Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi (born 24 October 1954) is an Argentine lawyer, diplomat and judge. She has been a judge at the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

(ICC) since 20 January 2010 and President of the ICC from March 2015 to March 2018. She was elected to the presidency for a three-year term and served until March 2018. In 2020 she was elected to serve as President of the Assembly of States Parties to Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court for the twentieth to twenty-second sessions (2021-2023).

Education

Fernández studied law at the universities of Córdoba and Limoges, and earned a doctorate at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

Career

Fernández trained as a diplomat 1987–1988, and entered the diplomatic service in 1989. In 2006, she became Director General for Human Rights in the Foreign Ministry.

Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2010-2018

Fernández was elected as a judge at the ICC on 18 November 2009. During her time as judge, she regularly issued dissenting or partially dissenting opinions in high-profile cases, including opposing the opening of an ICC investigation in Côte d'Ivoire in 2011. She served as presiding judge when the ICC rejected

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

's request to annul the international arrest warrant for

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...

, ruling that the Libyan government was not yet capable of holding a fair trial by itself and it is obliged under international law to hand him over to the ICC. In 2014, as member of the Pre-Trial Chamber I, she later confirmed four charges of crimes against humanity against former Ivorian minister and youth activist Charles Blé Goudé and committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber.

President of the International Criminal Court, 2015-2018

In early 2015, Fernández was elected president of the court for a term of three years. Her two vice-presidents, also appointed for three-year terms, were

Joyce Aluoch Joyce Aluoch (born 1947) is a Kenyan lawyer who served as Judge of the International Criminal Court from 2009 until 2018. She is a former judge of the High Court of Kenya. In addition to her career as a judge, she was the First Chairperson of the ...

and Kuniko Ozaki. With the office of the

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is the officer of the International Criminal Court whose duties include the investigation and prosecution of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, namely genocide, ...

held by

Fatou Bensouda Fatou Bom Bensouda (; ; born 31 January 1961) is a Gambian lawyer and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). She served as Prosecutor from June 2012 to June 2021, after having served as a Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the ...

, four of the court’s most influential legal positions were held by women. In August 2015, Fernández decided to reopen a hearing into whether to take action against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

over allegations it obstructed investigations into its President

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

, arguing that the appeals chamber had failed to properly assess the role of prosecutors and that errors prevented it "from making a conclusive determination".

President of the International Criminal Court's ASP, 2021-

In December 2020, the Assembly of State Parties elected her as President of the Assembly of State Parties for the twentieth to twenty-second sessions. Her term started in February 2021.Press Release 19th ICC ASP session, including 1st resumption
/ref>

Other activities

Fernández is also a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law's Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She is a member of the

Crimes Against Humanity Initiative The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative is a rule of law research and advocacy project of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Started in 2008 by Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, the Initiative has as its goals the study of the need for a compre ...

Advisory Council, a project of the

Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law, established in 2000 as the Institute for Global Legal Studies, serves as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law. Background ...

Washington University School of Law Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (WashULaw) is the law school of Washington University in St. Louis, a private university in St. Louis, Missouri. WashULaw has consistently ranked among the top law schools in the country; it is c ...

in St. Louis to establish the world’s first treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

Selected publications

* Mit Håkan Friman: ''The rules of procedure and evidence and the regulations of the court''. In: Jose Doria (Hrsg.): ''The legal regime of the International Criminal Court: essays in honour of Professor Igor Blishchenko; in memoriam Professor Igor Pavlovich Blishchenko (1930-2000)''. Nijhoff, Leiden 2009, , S. 797–824. * ''An insider's view''. In: Mauro Politi (Hrsg.): ''The international criminal court and the crime of aggression''. Aldershot, Ashgate 2004, , S. 175 ff. * Mit Håkan Friman: ''The rules of procedure and evidence of the International Criminal Court''. In: T.M.C. Asser Instituut, Institute for Private and Public International Law, International Commercial Arbitration and European Law: ''Yearbook of international humanitarian law''. Bd. 3, 2000, , S. 289–336.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez de Gurmendi, Silvia Argentine women judges International Criminal Court judges 1954 births Living people Argentine diplomats Presidents of the International Criminal Court Argentine women diplomats Argentine judges of international courts and tribunals