UNITED NATIONS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME IN INTERNATIONAL LAW TO BE HELD FROM 5 JULY TO 13 AUGUST IN THE HAGUE

UNITED NATIONS FELLOWSHIP Programme IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

TO BE HELD FROM 5 JULY TO 13 AUGUST IN THE HAGUE

Selection Committee Awards 20 Fellowships

(Reissued as received.)

Geneva, 2 April (UN Information Services) -- The United Nations Fellowship Programme in International Law will be held from 5 July to 13 August on the premises of the PeacePalace in The Hague, Netherlands.  The Selection Committee of the Programme has awarded 20 fellowships to 11 male and nine female candidates.

The Selection Committee of the United Nations Fellowship Programme in International Law met in New York on Friday, 26 March 2003, under the chairmanship of Ralph Zacklin, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.  The Committee awarded fellowships to candidates from the following countries:  Afghanistan, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Commonwealth of Dominica, Eritrea, Guyana, Iraq, Kiribati, Liberia, Maldives, Mozambique, Myanmar, Philippines, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

A limited number of self-funded participants have also been granted access to the Programme.  They come from:  Iran, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Oman and Qatar.

The United Nations 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.  The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) organize the Programme on an annual basis.

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 normally 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 between 24 to 40 years of age.

Two hundred twenty-four persons from 89 countries filed their applications for the 2004 programme.  Nominations were received from 136 male and 88 female candidates.  Applications were submitted from the following regions:  82 from Africa, 61 from Asia and the Pacific, 34 from Eastern and Central Europe, 10 from the Middle East, 32 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 5 from Western European and other States.

The working language of the 2004 Fellowship Programme is English.  The 2005 Programme will be conducted in French.

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