JUDGE GILBERT GUILLAUME (FRANCE) ELECTED PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Press Release
ICJ/595

JUDGE GILBERT GUILLAUME (FRANCE) ELECTED PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Judge Shi Jiuyong (China) Elected Vice-President

THE HAGUE, 7 February (ICJ) – Today, Judge Gilbert Guillaume (France) was elected President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by his peers. Judge Shi Jiuyong (China) was elected Vice- President. They will both serve a three-year term.

Biographies of President Guillaume and Vice-President Shi, who have been Members of the Court since 1987 and 1994 respectively, are attached.

The International Court of Justice, composed of 15 members, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It adjudicates disputes between States and gives advisory opinions to United Nations organs and specialized agencies. With 24 cases currently on its docket, the Court is busier than ever before.

Taking into account the result of the election held on 3 November 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council to fill the five seats due to fall vacant on 6 February 2000 (see Press Communiqué No. 99/47), the composition of the Court is now as follows:

President Gilbert Guillaume (France) Vice-President Shi Jiuyong (China) Judges Shigeru Oda (Japan) Stephen M. Schwebel (United States) Mohammed Bedjaoui (Algeria) Raymond Ranjeva (Madagascar) Géza Herczegh (Hungary) Carl-August Fleischhauer (Germany) Abdul G. Koroma (Sierra Leone) Vladlen S. Vereshchetin (Russian Federation) Rosalyn Higgins (United Kingdom) Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren (Venezuela) Pieter H. Kooijmans (Netherlands) José F. Rezek (Brazil) Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan)

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Biographies

President GILBERT GUILLAUME

(Member of the Court since 14 September 1987, re-elected from 6 February 1991 and from 6 February 2000; President of the Court since 7 February 2000).

Born in Bois-Colombes, France, on 4 December 1930.

Licence (Bachelor's degree) in law, University of Paris. Diplôme from the Paris Institute of Political Studies; Diplôme d'études supérieures d'économie politique et de science économique (Diploma of Advanced Studies in Political Economy and Economic Science), University of Paris.

Alumnus of the Ecole nationale d'administration.

Member of the Council of State, as Auditeur (1957), then Maître des Requêtes (1963), and Councillor of State (1981-1996).

Legal Adviser to the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation (1968-1979); French Representative on the Legal Committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (1968-1979) and Chairman of the Committee (1971-1975); delegate to the diplomatic conferences on the suppression of the unlawful seizure of aircraft (The Hague, 1970), the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aircraft (Montreal, 1971) and air safety (Rome, 1973); President of the Diplomatic Conference on the Liability of the Air Carrier (Montreal, 1975); Head of the French delegations to the diplomatic conferences on the liability of the carrier vis-à-vis third parties (Montreal, 1978) and the non-use of force against civil aircraft (Montreal, 1984).

Chairman of the Conciliation Commission, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (1973-1978); Member of the European Space Agency Appeals Board (1975-1978); Director of Legal Affairs, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (1979).

Director of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1979-1987).

Counsel for France in the arbitration proceedings between France and the United States over the Franco-American air agreement (1978); Agent for France in the arbitration proceedings between France and Canada over the Franco-Canadian fisheries agreement (1986); Agent for France in numerous cases before the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. French Representative on the Central Commission for the Navigation of

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the Rhine (1979-1987); Chairman of the Commission (1981-1982); French Representative on the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee (1980-1987).

French delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations (Sixth Committee) (1982-1987); Head of the French delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982), the United Nations Conference on Succession of States in respect of State Property, Archives and Debts (Vienna, 1983) and the United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations (Vienna, 1986).

Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (since 1980). Member of the Court of Arbitration of the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe (OSCE). Designated arbitrator by the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

President of the French branch of the International Law Association (ILA). Member of the Institute of International Law. Vice- President of the French Society for International Law. Honorary Chairman of the French Society for Air and Space Law. Member of the International Institute of Law of the French-speaking Countries (IDEF). Member of the Académie de marine. Member of the Académie de l'air et de l'espace. Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Member of the Scientific Board of the Revue générale de droit international public and of the Board of Directors of the Annuaire français de droit international. Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Revue française de droit aérien et spatial.

Author of numerous works and articles. Has given a course on “Terrorism and International Law” at the Hague Academy of International Law (“Terrorisme et droit international”, Recueil des cours, vol. 215, 1989). Author of a work on Les grandes crises internationales et le droit (1994).

Vice-President SHI JIUYONG

(Member of the Court since 6 February 1994; Vice-President since 7 February 2000).

Born in Zhejiang, China, on 9 October 1926.

B.A. in Government and Public Law, St. John's University, Shanghai (1948); M.A. in International Law, Columbia University, New York, United States (1951); research in international law at Columbia University, New York (1951-1954).

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Assistant Research Fellow in International Law, Institute of International Relations, Beijing, China (1956-1958). Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor of International Law, Foreign Affairs College, Beijing (1958-1964). Research Fellow in International Law, Institute of International Law, Beijing (1964-1973). Research Fellow in International Law, Institute of International Studies, Beijing (1973- 1980). Professor of International Law, Foreign Affairs College, Beijing (1984-1993). Professor of Law, Foreign Economic Law Training Centre, Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China, Beijing (1987- 1988).

Adviser, Chinese Society of International Law, Beijing. Council member, Institute of Hong Kong Law of the Chinese Law Society, Beijing. Member, American Society of International Law.

Legal Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China (1980-1993); Legal Adviser, Office of the Chinese Senior Representative, Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (on the question of Hong Kong) (1985-1993). Legal Adviser, Chinese Centre of Legal Consultancy, Beijing (1989-1993). Member, Standing Committee, Beijing Committee (1988-1993), and member, Eighth National Committee (1993), Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Legal Adviser, Chinese delegation to the 1980 Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Legal Adviser, delegation of the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China for the formal visit to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1980). Adviser, Chinese delegation to the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and China's Alternate Representative to the Sixth Committee at that session. Adviser, Chinese delegation to the thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth sessions of the United Nations General Assembly and China's delegate to the Sixth Committee at the same sessions (1981- 1983). Delegate, Chinese delegation to the sessions of the Asian- African Legal Consultative Committee in 1981, 1985 and 1993. Legal Adviser, Chinese delegation to the talks between the Government of China and the Asian Development Bank on the question of China's membership in the Bank (1986). Legal Adviser of the Chinese side, Working Group of the Sino-British Negotiations on the question of Hong Kong (1984). Legal Adviser of the Chinese side, Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (on Hong Kong) plenary sessions (1985-1993). Delegate, Chinese delegation, legal consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Department of State of the United States (1983 and 1984). Delegate, Chinese delegation, negotiations between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States on Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investment Agreement (1983 and 1984). Representative of the International Law Commission to the forty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly (1990). Expert from China, Senior

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Legal Experts Meetings on Review of Montevideo Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, 5-6 July 1991 at Geneva and 5-7 September 1991 at Nairobi. Representative of the International Law Commission to the thirtieth meeting of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Conference, Cairo, 22-27 April 1991. Legal Adviser to the Chinese delegation, Disarmament Conference, November 1991 to August 1992.

Member (1987-1993), Rapporteur (1988) and Chairman (1990) of the International Law Commission.

Member, Foreign Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (1984-1988). Member of the Steering Committee on revision of the Hague convention of 1907 on Pacific Settlement of International Disputes of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (since 1994).

Taught general course of international law, Foreign Affairs College, Beijing (1958-1963). Taught general course of international economic law, Department of Law, Peking University (1980-1985). Taught general course of international economic law, Foreign Economic Law Training Centre, Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China (1988).

Lectures on international financial institutions, National Bureau of Oceanography, the People's Republic of China (1986). Lectures on principles of international law relating to the new international economic order, Department of Law, Peking University (1988).

Lectures on protection of private foreign investment (in English), the Hague Academy of International Law, Regional Programme, Beijing (1987). Lecture on the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong (in English), Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva (1988). Lecture on autonomy in international law and the case of the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (in English), International Law Seminar, United Nations Office at Geneva (1988). Lecture on “Nationality of Hong Kong Residents: Present and Future”, Graduate Studies, Foreign Affairs College (1988). Lecture on certain issues relating to the legal status of the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Graduate Studies, Department of Law, Peking University (1989). Lectures on international trade regulation, Foreign Service Training Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (1985 and 1986). Lectures on problems of international economic law, Department of Law, Chinese People's University, Beijing (1987). Chairman, panel discussions on the new international economic order, Beijing Conference on the Law of the World, World Peace through Law (1990). Participant, Symposium on the International Law of Arms Control and Disarmament, held at Geneva (February 1991). Lectures on the International Law Commission, Graduate Studies, Department of Law, Peking University (March 1991).

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Lectures on selected topics of international economic law, Graduate Studies, Foreign Affairs College (September/October 1991). Participant in the Seminar on the Draft Code of Crimes and International Criminal Jurisdiction, sponsored by the Foundation for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law Commission, Talloires, France (May 1991). Lectures on bilateral investment protection agreements (in English), International Law Seminar, United Nations Office at Geneva (June 1992). Participant, symposium on Teaching, Dissemination and Research of International Law in Developing countries, Beijing, 1992.

Author of numerous publications on international law.

Website of the Court: Information Department: Mr. Arthur Witteveen, First Secretary (+ 31 70 302 23 36) Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Information Officer (+ 31 70 302 23 37) E-mail address:

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