Anita Ušacka

Anita Ušacka (born April 26, 1952 in Riga , Latvian SSR ) is a Latvian judge. She was a judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and from 2003 to 2015 a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Personal life and education

Anita Ušacka was born on April 26, 1952 in Riga, the only daughter of Arturs Ušackis and Anna Krontāle. She has two older brothers, Ivars (* 1944) and Juris (* 1948). Ušacka has a son, Aleksejs Ušackis (* 1980). She is married to Peter Wilkitzki.

Ušacka spent her childhood in Riga, Latvia, where she attended elementary school and high school. In 1970 she began her studies at the Law Faculty of the University of Latvia. She graduated in 1975. Ušacka later graduated from the Law Faculty of Moscow's Lomonosov University and received a doctorate in 1980 ( candidacy ). Her doctoral thesis, which she defended in January 1980, dealt with legal aspects of industrial management in Latvia.

In 1991 Ušacka studied human rights at the International Human Rights Institute in Strasbourg, France. She spent the academic year 1993/1994 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana , where she studied comparative law and human rights. A research grant led her to the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1994 .

In 2006 the Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland awarded Ušacka an honorary doctorate. In her acceptance speech she referred to the urgency of a worldwide system of rule of law and the protection of human rights.

Professional career in Latvia

Ušacka has been an academic since finishing her studies in 1975. She began her academic career as a research assistant at the University of Latvia in the Department of Introduction to Law and then went through an academic career (1992: Dr. iur .; 1993: Lecturer). In 1999 she received a teaching position at the Riga Graduate School of Law, and in 2002 she was appointed professor at the University of Latvia. During her tenure at the University of Latvia, she introduced a course on human rights. She taught temporarily at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg (including on Latvian constitutional history) and at the Lewis and Clark Law School.

In 1993, two years after the Republic of Latvia declared its independence from the USSR, the Latvian branch of UNICEF was established. From 1994 to 1996, Ušacka was the executive director of this branch. Her tasks included monitoring the compliance of Latvian legislation with the requirements of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In June 1994 the Saeima , the Latvian Parliament, amended the Judiciary Act and established Latvia's first constitutional court. When the first judges at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia were elected in 1996, Ušacka was one of the six. Her term of office was ten years.

Judge at the International Criminal Court

In 2002 the Republic of Latvia proposed Ušacka as a candidate for the office of judge at the newly established International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands. The State Assembly of the International Criminal Court elected her as one of 18 judges (and one of seven women) to this office in February 2003. At that time she was the only female judge in the Eastern European group.

After the judges were elected, the President of the State Assembly drew lots for all 18 judges to determine the first term of office (3, 6 or 9 years). These different terms of office were necessary in order to guarantee a three-year rotation of the judges (the term of office of the judges is usually 9 years). Ušacka's first term lasted three years. In 2006 she was re-elected for another full nine-year term.

After taking office in 2003, the judges of the International Criminal Court were appointed to the various departments of the court. Ušacka was a member of the Main Litigation Department until 2009. From 2007 to 2009 she worked temporarily in the first chamber of the Pre-Trial Division. As a judge in that chamber, she upheld the charges against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, a case concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Furthermore, this chamber issued the first arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court against a head of state, namely against Umar al-Bashir because of his co-responsibility for the massacres in Darfur . Since 2009, Ušacka has been a member of the Court's Appeals Division, of which she was President from April 2011 to March 2012. She was the presiding judge in various appeal proceedings before the Appeals Chamber.

Research focus, lecturing and memberships

Ušacka is an expert on issues relating to the development of a post-Soviet legal system in Latvia, with a focus on public law , procedural law and litigation-related fundamental rights. Another focus is human rights (especially those of women and children) and their international implementation.

Ušacka has given numerous lectures and published in the field of law, in particular in public and administrative law, in international and comparative law and on the subject of human rights. Recent publications are:

1. The International Criminal Court in Action. Challenges in Fighting Impunity . In: Ius novum . ISSN  1897-5577 . Vol. 8 (2014), issue 1, pp. 11–45.
2. Promises Fulfilled? Some Reflections on the International Criminal Court in Its First Decade . In: Criminal Law Forum , Vol. 22 (2011), pp. 473–492.
3. Building the International Criminal Court . In: Pacific McGeorge Global Business & Development Law Journal . Vol. 23 (2011), pp. 225-242.

Ušacka has been an active member of the International Association of Women Judges since 1997 , which also supported her candidacy for the International Criminal Court. In May 2006 she chaired the panel discussion on “An independent judiciary: culture, religion, gender equality, politics” at the 8th conference of this association in Sydney . Ušacka has been a member of the European Group on Public Law since 2004 .

Web links

• Short biography of Ušacka on the website of Rīgas Juridiskā augstskola (English)
• Biography of Ušacka on the website of the International Criminal Court ( English and French )
• CV (English, accessed June 4, 2012; PDF; 221 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Constitutional Court of Latvia
2. ↑ University of Cologne, Peter Wilkitzki .
3. ↑ University of Latvia ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
4. ↑ Lewis & Clark Law School Commencement Address ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
5. ↑ CICC questionnaire for candidates for judicial office at the International Criminal Court (PDF; 42 kB).
6. ^ The judges at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia (Official Website of the Latvian Constitutional Court) .
7. ↑ Nomination of Anita Ušacka to ICC (PDF; 48 kB).
8. ↑ Articles 36 and 41 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (PDF; 223 kB).
9. ↑ CV of Anita Ušacka (Official website of the ICC) (PDF; 107 kB).
10. ^ Website of the International Association of Women Judges .
11. ↑ Program of the IAWJ May 2006 Biennial Conference in Sydney, Australia  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .