Press Releases
Nomination of Ms. Tomoko Akane, Director-General, Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice and Ambassador for International Judicial Cooperation, as a Candidate for the Election of International Criminal Court (ICC) Judges
1. At the Cabinet Meeting held on April 22, Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, announced that the Government of Japan would nominate Ms. Tomoko Akane, Director-General, Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice and Ambassador for International Judicial Cooperation, as a candidate for the election of ICC judges to be held in 2017. Ms. Akane is Japan’s leading expert in criminal justice.
2. The ICC was established in 2002 as the first-ever permanent international criminal court for prosecuting and sentencing individuals, in accordance with international law, who has committed the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Japan officially became a State Party to the ICC Rome Statute in 2007.
3. Since then, Japan has been actively contributing to the ICC’s activities in many ways including through producing judges. The continued election of a judge from Japan in the forthcoming election would represent Japan’s proactive efforts in the development of international criminal law and humanitarian law and in the promotion of the rule of law in the international community.
