UNITED NATIONS FELLOWSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AWARDED TO CANDIDATES FROM 20 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Press Release
L/2865
UNITED NATIONS FELLOWSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AWARDED TO CANDIDATES FROM 20 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
19980505 GENEVA, 29 April (UN Information Service) -- The Joint Selection Committee of the United Nations Fellowship Programme in International Law has awarded 20 fellowships to candidates from developing countries. The candidates, 10 men and 10 women, will attend the Fellowship Programme in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 6 July to 14 August.The Committee reached that decision at its meeting on 24 April, under the chairmanship of the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, Hans Corell. This year's fellows come from the following countries: Albania, Bahamas, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Georgia, Iraq, Kenya, Latvia, Federated States of Micronesia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Swaziland, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.
The Fellowship Programme in International Law was launched in 1965 under the United Nations Programme of Assistance for the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law. It is organized on an annual basis by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
The aim of the Fellowship Programme is to enable qualified professionals from developing countries and countries in socio-economic transition, in particular mid-level government officials and university professors of international law, to acquire additional knowledge about international law and the legal work of the United Nations and its associated bodies.
To qualify for the fellowships, candidates should be law graduates with practical experience in the field of international law, acquired by working for a public or private organization or a university. Eligible participants should be in the 24 to 40 age group.
For the 1998 programme, 143 people from 78 countries applied. Of those, 97 were male and 46 female. Applications were submitted from the following regions: 61 from Africa; 31 from Asia and the Pacific; 23 from Eastern Europe; 17 from Latin America and the Caribbean; and 11 from the Middle East
For the fourth consecutive year, self-funded observers from industrialized countries have also been granted access to the Programme. To apply for participation, they must have the same qualifications as the other participants. This year, they come from the following countries: Japan, Portugal (2) and Spain.
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