» Statute of the Inter-American Juridical Committee

CHAPTER II

COMPOSITION

Article 4**: The Committee shall be composed of 11 jurists, nationals of the member states, elected by the General Assembly in their personal capacity for a period of four years, from panels of three candidates presented by those states.

Its members may be reelected consecutively only once. Their terms of office shall begin on January 1 of the year following their election. Part of the membership of the Committee shall be replaced every year

Article 5: In the election of the members of the Committee, an equitable geographical representation shall be taken into account, insofar as possible. No two members may be nationals of the same State.

Article 6: A Member State may propose nationals of other Member States on its panel of three candidates. The candidates shall be of high moral character, possess the scientific knowledge and the experience required for the best performance of their duties, and be able to devote themselves exclusively to the work of the Committee during its meetings.

Article 7: Prior to each election, either to replace a member at the end of his normal term or to fill a vacancy owing to some other cause, the General Secretariat shall invite the governments of the Member States to present their respective panels of three candidates, if they wish to do so, at least 30 days in advance, together with their biographical data, and shall immediately communicate them to the government. Subsequently, the General Secretariat shall submit to the General Assembly a list of the proposed panels of three candidates, drawn up in accordance with the alphabetical order of the names of the countries making the proposal and accompanied by the corresponding biographical data.

Article 8: In the event of a vacancy caused by a reason other than the expiration of the term of a member of the Committee, the successor elected shall begin serving immediately and shall complete the term os his predecessor.

Article 9*: The failure of a member of the Committee to attend its meetings for two consecutive period of sessions shall automatically result in vacancy of his position, unless the Committee issues a consubstantiated statement at the second failure to attend indicating that such failure is fully justified.

* Amendment by resolution AG/RES. 885 (XVII-0/87), at the 17th Regular Period of Sessions of the General Assembly, Washington, D.C., November 1987. 

** Amendment by resolution AG/RES. 2282 (XXXVII-O/07), at the XXXVII Regular Session of the General Assembly, Panama, June 2007