by Vanessa Macdonald - editorial@di-ve.com
Current Affairs -- 06 May 2009 -- 09:10CEST

Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was invited to Strasbourg to meet the sub-committee within the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly to discuss the Maltese list of nominees for the European Court of Human Rights.

He told www.di-ve.com that he explained the process leading up to the nomination of Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, Mr Justice Joseph Camilleri and Mr Justice Joseph Filletti.

The list of nominees was originally rejected by the Parliamentary Assembly in 2006 because it did not include a woman. However, he explained to the sub-committee that Malta had actually made a public call for members of the judiciary interested and that no females applied (there were magistrates at the time).

He also noted that it would not have been considered appropriate to “badger” potential candidates into applying.

In 2004, the Assembly had determined that lists needed to include at least 1 woman to address a gender imbalance in the Court. A resolution adopted in October 2008 determined that all-male lists would be accepted in exceptional circumstances,where a country could demonstrate that it could find no suitable female candidates, and in November 2008, the Maltese Cabinet decided to resubmit the original list.

The Legal Affairs Committee will now look at the list and decide whether to grant an exception to the “at least one woman” rule.