Appointment of Judges El-Kosheri and Pinto as Members of the Tribunal
Pursuant to Article IV of the Statute of the Tribunal, the Executive Directors of the Bank have appointed Judges Ahmed El-Kosheri and Mónica Pinto as members of the Tribunal to fill the vacancies created by the expiry of the terms of Judges Francisco Orrego-Vicuña and Sarah Christie. Judges El-Kosheri and Pinto will serve a five-year term commencing on October 1, 2009 and expiring on September 30, 2014.
In accordance with Article IV(2) of the Statute of the Tribunal and a memorandum dated June 4, 2001 from the President of the Bank to the Executive Directors on the topic of “Enhancing the Bank’s Administrative Tribunal,” the President of the Bank appointed an Advisory Committee to recommend to him a list of candidates for nomination. The Advisory Committee is composed of the Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of the Bank as Chair; a member of staff selected by the Bank Group Staff Association; and two other members selected by the President of the Bank, one of whom shall be a member of staff and the other an outside expert. As part of its work, the Committee sought the views of internal stakeholders and external sources, and also solicited from them the names of potential candidates. Having reviewed the curricula vitae of all the candidates whose names it received, the Committee submitted to the President of the Bank a report on its work outlining its findings and recommendations. On the basis of the Committee’s work, the President of the Bank nominated Judges El-Kosheri and Pinto, both of whom were appointed by the Executive Directors of the Bank.
Judge El-Kosheri is a Senior Partner of Kosheri, Rashed and Riad Law Firm Cairo, Egypt. He has served as a judge ad hoc at the International Court of Justice (1992-2003); Professor of Law and President of Senghor University at Alexandria (1997-2003); a member of the Administrative Tribunal of the African Development Bank (1997–2002); a member of the UN "Redesign Panel" for the Reform of the UN internal judicial system (2006); Vice-Chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (1998-2009); a member of the Appeal Commission of the International Organization for the Francophonie (since 2002); a member of the International Law Institute (since 1987); and has been either counsel or arbitrator in more than 100 arbitration proceedings. He was General Counsel of the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development (1973–1974) and Secretary of the Islamic Development Bank (1977–1978).
Judge Pinto is Dean and professor at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, where she teaches international law and international human rights law. She has been visiting professor at Columbia Law School, the University of Paris (I and II), the University of Rouen and The Hague Academy of International Law. She was appointed as an Independent Expert by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to examine the human rights situation in Guatemala (1993-97) and in Chad (2004-05). She has been Director for Human Rights Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of Cooperation and International Affairs at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Argentina. She is currently Vice-President of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights at the United Nations. She has published extensively in the fields of human rights and international law.