Council of Europe to probe all-male nomination for ECHR judge

The decision by Malta to nominate only men for the post of a judge at the European Court of Human Rights will be investigated by a Council of Europe committee.

The Maltese government will be asked to prove that it was impossible to submit a woman's name among its three nominees for the post, currently held by Judge Giovanni Bonello, Luxembourgian parliamentarian Lydie Err said.

The decision was taken last week during a meeting of the sub-committee for the nomination of judges, after which Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said Malta's all-male list had been refused for the second time because no woman was nominated.

However, the Justice Ministry said it had not received anything suggesting that the European court would revise the decision taken last February, which said the Parliamentary Assembly "may not reject the list in question on the sole ground" that it did not include a female.

Ms Err, a member of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and of the sub-committee, said an all-male list could only be accepted as an exception if it is proven that there was strictly no possibility to nominate a woman. It is the Maltese government that will have to prove this to the sub-committee, she said.

Last December, Ms Err had contacted the Malta Confederation for Women's Organisations asking for information on the issue. Anna Borg, who chairs the confederation, said there was concern abroad that Malta did not have any competent female lawyers, which was certainly not the case.

"This is embarrassing for Malta," she said.

The issue dates back to 2006 when the government submitted a shortlist of Malta's three most senior judges - Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano, Mr Justice Joseph Camilleri and Mr Justice Joseph Filletti - to fill the seat occupied by Judge Bonello, who reached the retirement age of 70 in June 2006.

This list was rejected by the Council of Europe in March 2007 because the government failed to comply with the requirement to nominate a woman.

Two months later, a motion by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, proposing that one-sex shortlists could be accepted in exceptional cases, was rejected by the Assembly's Equal Opportunities Committee.

Then Justice Minister Tonio Borg had defended Malta's list, saying he believed it was in accordance with the European Convention, with the three nominees being the most competent from 11 applicants.

Asked whether the government had been informed of the sub-committee's investigation, a Justice Ministry spokesman said the government was only informed that the list of nominees submitted in 2006 was being duly processed.

"The government will duly act once a final decision is communicated," he said, adding that the government had not been informed of the investigation.