[…]
I have the honour to transmit herewith the three candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Luxembourg. These are, in alphabetical order:
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Luxembourg's national selection procedure was largely based on the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights, dated 28 March 2012, and the explanatory memorandum thereto, which includes good practice examples from other Council of Europe member States.
On 13 September 2014 a call for applications was published in the country's three principal daily newspapers, namely “Luxemburger Wort”, “Tageblatt” and “le Journal”, and on 19 September 2014 the same call for applications was published in the weekly newspaper “Letzebuerger Land”.
The call for applications was also published on the website of the Ministry of Justice and in the Luxembourg Official Gazette (Mémorial B No. 93 of 16 September 2014).
In addition it was distributed by email to the Luxembourg bar associations and the judiciary.
It was worded as follows:
“Election of the judge in respect of Luxembourg at the European Court of Human Rights
Call for applications
To permit the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to elect the new judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Luxembourg during the first six months of 2015, the Luxembourg government has been invited to submit a list of three candidates to the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.
The present call for applications is based in particular on the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the selection of candidates for posts of judge of the European Court of Human Rights, dated 28 March 2012. The judge's term of office will begin on 1 November 2015 and last nine years, or until he/she reaches the age of 70. This term is non-renewable (Article 23.2 of the Convention). It is recommended that candidates should be able to hold office for at least half of the nine-year term before reaching 70 years of age.
Applicants should be aware that they will also be called upon to perform the duties of judge of the European Tribunal in matters of State Immunity, which is composed inter alia of members of the European Court of Human Rights.
Applicants must:
The Committee of Ministers asks governments to promote a gender balance when drawing up national lists of candidates for election to the European Court of Human Rights. The Luxembourg government attaches particular importance to producing a list including both sexes.
Candidates must not engage in any activity which is incompatible with the demands of independence, impartiality and availability required for holding full-time office as a judge.
Applications will be referred to a national selection committee, which will invite applicants satisfying the criteria to an interview, during which it will assess not only their qualifications and experience and their legal and linguistic abilities, but also their capacity to perform judicial functions within a collegial body, including their managerial ability. Interviews will take place at the Ministry of Justice in Luxembourg between 20 October and 16 November 2014.
A list of three candidates will be forwarded by the government to the Council of Europe Secretariat, which will submit it to the Advisory Panel of the Council of Europe for consideration before it is transmitted to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's special Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights, which will examine the candidates' CVs and interview them. This committee makes recommendations to the Parliamentary Assembly, which proceeds with the election.
Applicants must indicate why, in their opinion, they are suited to the post. The curriculum vitae appended to their application must be prepared in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe and be based on the model to be found in electronic format at the following address: http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2009/ModelCVEN.doc
A covering letter, stating the applicant's reasons for applying, and the CV should be sent by recorded delivery by no later than 10 October 2014 to the Minister of Justice, 13, rue Erasme, L-1468 Luxembourg. Applicants will receive a receipt acknowledgment and may be invited to a selection interview”.
Since no female candidate had applied by the deadline of 10 October 2014 laid down in the first call for applications, an identical second call for applications was published on the Ministry of Justice website and distributed by email to the judiciary and the two Luxembourg bar associations on 13 October 2014.
It was also published in in the Luxembourg Official Gazette (Mémorial B No. 104 of 15 October 2014).
In this second call for applications the time-limit was extended to 22 October 2014 and the following information was added:
“Since no application had been received from a woman by 10 October 2014, the government has extended the deadline for applications in respect of all interested male or female candidates.”
Following this call for applications, the Ministry of Justice in the end received ten applications for the post of Luxembourg judge at the European Court of Human Rights, including two from female candidates.
One applicant having withdrawn on 27 October 2014, the selection committee finally interviewed nine applicants.
On 28 August 2014 the Minister of Justice, drawing on the above-mentioned guidelines and the explanatory memorandum thereto, sent an official letter to the institutions and individuals he considered should sit on the national selection committee.
This letter provided full explanations on the selection procedure, as ensuing inter alia from the above-mentioned guidelines.
By a ministerial decree of 3 October 2014, having as its legal basis the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Rules of Court of the European Court of Human Rights in force as of 1 July 2014, Resolution 1646 (2009) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on nomination of candidates and election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights, the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 23 September 2009 on the status and conditions of service of judges of the European Court of Human Rights and the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of 28 March 2012 on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights, the Minister of Justice appointed the following members of the Luxembourg selection committee:
The committee's secretariat was provided by Mr Laurent THYES, first-ranking government attaché at the Ministry of Justice, who had been appointed to these functions under the same ministerial decree.
On 20 October 2014 a new decree of appointment, having the same basis, had to be issued, since Mr Georges RAVARANI had in the meantime himself applied for the post of Luxembourg judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
Under the terms of that decree he was replaced by Mr Henri CAMPILL, President of the Administrative Tribunal of Luxembourg.
The national selection committee, composed as follows, held a first meeting on 20 October 2014 with Mr Georges SANTER in the Chair:
The committee's secretariat was provided by Mr Laurent THYES, first-ranking government attaché at the Ministry of Justice.
During this meeting the discussion focused on the selection procedures and practices and on the practical aspects of the interviews. The committee also worked on a standardised interview format and distributed the questions on the various subjects to be addressed among its members. It was decided that linguistic abilities would be tested by posing questions of substance in English during the oral interview.
The selection committee held a second meeting, in the same composition, on 27 October 2014.
During that meeting it examined and approved all the applications received by the Ministry of Justice. The admissibility of each individual application was discussed. No application was rejected, and all the applicants were invited to attend an interview lasting 45 minutes on 5 November 2014.
The committee also adopted a standardised format for the interviews and an assessment sheet for use by its members.
A sworn statement to be signed by applicants attending the interview was also drawn up, worded as follows:
“I the undersigned declare on my honour that: (1) if I am elected to the post of judge of the European Court of Human Rights I undertake not to engage, for the duration of my term of office, in any activity incompatible with the demands of independence, impartiality and availability required for holding full-time office; (2) I have never made any spoken or written statement or taken any action which, if it were to be made public, would bring dishonour on the European Court of Human Rights.”
It was also decided to ask applicants to provide a recent copy of their criminal record as objective proof of their high moral character.
The Chairman also asked all members of the selection committee whether they had to report any conflict of interest concerning any of the applicants.
All of the committee's members answered in the negative.
The interviews with the applicants were conducted on 5 November 2014 by the national selection committee, composed as follows, with Mr Georges SANTER in the Chair:
The committee's secretariat was provided by Mr Laurent THYES, first-ranking government attaché at the Ministry of Justice.
The interviews were conducted in Luxembourgish or French according to the applicant's preference.
At the beginning of each interview the applicant provided a recent copy of his/her criminal record, with only one exception, and signed a sworn statement to the effect that if they were elected to the post of judge of the European Court of Human Rights they undertook not to engage, for the duration of their term of office, in any activity incompatible with the demands of independence, impartiality and availability required for holding full-time office and that they had never made any spoken or written statement or taken any action which, if it were to be made public, would bring dishonour on the European Court of Human Rights. The applicant who had forgotten to bring a copy of her criminal record delivered it to the Ministry of Justice the following day.
The interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes and included a linguistic test, consisting in holding part of the interview in English.
Following the interviews with the nine applicants the selection committee began its deliberations. The committee members held a secret ballot, in which they could each vote for three applicants.
Following the voting process, the applicants having scored the highest number of votes were, by alphabetical order:
This list, along with the names of the other applicants, was submitted to the Minister of Justice, who endorsed the selection committee's conclusions.
The list was published in a press release and on the Ministry of Justice website on 14 November 2014 and was given wide coverage in the national media.
Name, forename: Kappweiler Marie-Jeanne
Sex: Female
Date and place of birth: 25 June 1967, Luxembourg
Nationality/ies: Luxembourgish
None
In connection with my professional activities I have taken an interest in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in the fields of criminal law, family law and freedoms in general.
As a member of Soroptimist International, a global organisation for socially committed women, I participate in many initiatives aimed at improving the lives of women, girls and children. This organisation aims to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to enhance women's education, basic health and empowerment. It supports many projects in Luxembourg and abroad. The Soroptimist Clubs in Luxembourg also hold an annual human rights conference on 10 December each year.
See III.a above
None
None
European, parliamentary and municipal elections
Since 2006
Chair of the principal polling station in the municipality of Dudelange
Contributions to publications of the International Commission on Civil Status (studies and practical guide)
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Since I studied in Strasbourg and regularly return there in connection with my activities for the ICCS, which has its seat in Strasbourg, I am entirely willing to take up permanent residence in Strasbourg.
Name: Moyse
Forename: François
Sex: Male
Date and place of birth: 15 April 1966, Luxembourg
Nationality/ies: Luxembourgish
Barrister, lawyer and legal counsel practising in courts of all levels: the Constitutional Court, the ordinary courts, including the Court of Cassation (civil and criminal divisions), the administrative courts, the social security courts, the European courts (Court of Justice of the European Union, General Court, EU Civil Service Tribunal) and the European Court of Human Rights.
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I undertake to become a permanent resident of Strasbourg if elected.
Name, forename: Ravarani Georges
Sex: Male
Date and place of birth: 1 May 1954, Luxembourg
Nationality/ies: Luxembourgish
Present activities:
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58 publications, including:
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I undertake to become a permanent resident of Strasbourg if elected.