Karim Khan, a veteran of the international legal scene who has worked on both the defense and prosecution sides, will shape the court’s image and effectiveness for years to come.
After months of intense lobbying and shifting candidate lists, the member states of the International Criminal Court on Friday chose Karim Khan, a British lawyer, as the tribunal’s next chief prosecutor, a role that will shape the court’s image and effectiveness for years to come. Mr. Khan, a veteran of the international legal scene who has worked on both the prosecution and defense sides, received 72 votes in a secret ballot after the 123 countries had failed to reach consensus on any of four shortlist contenders. Elected to a nine-year term, he will succeed Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, whose appointment expires at the end of June. The chief prosecutor holds the most important post at the court, which has been operating since 2002 in The Hague. The top body in international criminal justice, it has 18 judges to carry out its mandate of trying crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of genocide and aggression. But the prosecutor drives the institution by selecting the cases to pursue, effectively determining what events and which people are targeted by the court. Although the court has been widely criticized for its slow pace — it has secured just five convictions in its first two decades — competition for the job had been fierce. Diplomats and rights advocates had wrangled for more than six months over candidates, signaling the court’s potentially far-reaching impact if it manages to strengthen its role. Mr. Khan’s election “comes at a moment when the court is needed more than ever and faces both internal performance shortcomings and external pressure about its role,” said Elizabeth Evenson of Human Rights Watch. One central issue that divided member countries is whether they wanted a weak or a strong prosecutor, an idealist or a pragmatist, one who accepts limited and manageable cases or one who dares to address crimes in which major powers may be involved. Mr. Khan,50, currently leads a U.
