Costa Rican international human rights judge
Elizabeth Odio Benito
(born 15 September 1939) is a lawyer and politician from Costa Rica. She served as President in the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
from 2018 to 2020. She was a Vice-President of the
International Criminal Court
. She previously served as a judge on the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
, and in her home country of
Costa Rica
was twice appointed Justice Minister, later becoming Vice-President of the Republic.
[1]
Her background is as an academic lawyer, specialising in the
administration of justice
and
human rights
, in particular the
rights of women
.
[2]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Although born in
Puntarenas
, the first child of Emiliano Odio Madrigal and Esperanza Benito Ibanez, most of her early life was spent in
San Jose
, where she attended the Colegio Superior de Senoritas. The law was something of a tradition on her father's side of the family; Odio Benito was particularly encouraged by her lawyer uncle, Ulises Odio Santos, to study that subject. She graduated with a master's degree from the
University of Costa Rica
in 1964, where she remained for much of her academic career, rising to a full professorship in 1986 and Vice-President for Academic Affairs in 1988. During this period, she began to work in the field of
gender studies
, with an emphasis on crimes committed against women.
[3]
Political career in Costa Rica
[
edit
]
From 1976 to 1978 she served as Secretary to the
Colegio de Abogados
, the
bar association
of Costa Rica, and in 1978 was appointed to the joint
offices of Minister of Justice and
Attorney General
, which she held until 1982 when the
National Liberation Party
took the presidency. In 1990 she returned for another four-year term as Minister of Justice, under President
Rafael Angel Calderon Fournier
. The peak of her domestic political career came in 1998, with her election as Second Vice-President alongside President
Miguel Angel Rodriguez
and First Vice-President
Astrid Fischel Volio
; during this time she was also Minister for the Environment and Energy.
[4]
Career in International Law
[
edit
]
Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 1993?1998
[
edit
]
Odio Benito's involvement in international justice began during her second ministerial term, with her 1993 appointment as a judge on the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
. This was the first time she had sat as a judge, a fact for which she has been criticised by some of the tribunal participants. A major contribution during these proceedings was Odio Benito's successful effort to have rape and other sexual assaults considered as
torture
. Her interpretation, based on a case of two
Serbian
women raped in the
?elebi?i detention camp
, is now an accepted principle of international law.
In 1998 Odio Benito left ICTY as a consequence of becoming Vice-President, but she continued to play an active role in related areas of the law. Most notably, she was president of the
United Nations
working group
that drew up the
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture
.
[1]
This additional treaty, open to any State that is party to the main UN
Convention Against Torture
anti-torture Convention, allows for international and independent national experts to visit any prison, detention camp, or similar facility, speak in private with people held there, and make recommendations to authorities aimed at preventing torture or other abuse from being practiced there. The Optional Protocol entered into force on 22 June 2006. As of 31 January 2007 it had 32 State Parties with a further 31 States have signed but not yet ratified the Protocol.
Judge of the International Criminal Court, 2003?2012
[
edit
]
Odio Benito's election to the International Criminal Court was not without controversy. Her candidacy had initially been sponsored by Costa Rica, but President
Abel Pacheco
withdrew support without explanation. Various women's groups mobilised to campaign for her readmittance.
[2]
She was eventually renominated by
Panama
, whose then president,
Mireya Moscoso
, is another noted activist for women's rights. Odio Benito was thus the only candidate not to be sponsored by her own nation. Nevertheless, she was elected in the first out of thirty-three rounds of voting, indicating strong support from the States Parties.
The ICC officially opened on 11 March 2003, with Elizabeth Odio Benito as Second Vice-President.
When the International Criminal Court sentenced
Congolese
warlord
Thomas Lubanga
to 14 years in prison in July 2012 for using
child soldiers
in his rebel army in 2002 and 2003 ? the first sentence imposed by the court in its history ?, Odio Benito disagreed with her two fellow judges and in a
dissenting opinion
said that 15 years would have been more appropriate given the harm done to the victims and their families,
[5]
particularly due to harsh punishments and sexual violence against the
UPC
's
child soldiers
.
[6]
Judge of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights
[
edit
]
Odio Benito served as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 2016 to 2020. She served as President in the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
from 2018 to 2020. She was the second woman to hold this position.
Lectures
[
edit
]
Los crimenes de violencia sexual en el derecho internacional penal de los siglos XX y XXI (El nuevo orden juridico internacional a partir de 1945 y su ausencia de perspectiva de genero)
in the
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
Awards
[
edit
]
Odio was inducted into
La Galeria de las Mujeres de Costa Rica
(The Costa Rican Gallery of Women) in 2002 for her contributions to human rights.
[7]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|