Biographical Note

New Permanent Observer for Asian-African Legal Consultative

Organization Presents Appointment Letter

 

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new Permanent Observer for the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, Roy S. Lee, today presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Lee served as Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University, since 1997, and since 2003, as Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Mr. Lee’s professional involvement with the United Nations began in 1967, with the preparation in the Division of Human Rights, until 1972, of reports and studies on, among other topics, the protection of human rights in times of armed conflict, civilian protection in armed conflicts, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and question of political asylum and extradition.

From 1973 to 1982, Mr. Lee served as Secretary of the Working Group on the International Seabed Regime and Machinery and the Seabed Committee.  He was Committee Secretary of the United Nations Third Conference on the Law of the Sea, from 1974 to 1982.  He was Chief, Uses of the Sea: Ocean and Coastal Zone Management and Planning, from 1978 to 1981.

Beginning in 1981, he held a number of United Nations positions, including as Senior Special Fellow (pro bono) at the United Nations Institute for Research and Training (1999 to 2007), and in the Office of Legal Affairs, Executive Secretary, United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Rome (1997 to 1998), and Director of the Codification Division, Legal Affairs Office (1995 to 1998).

In those years, Mr. Lee served concurrently as Secretary of: the International Law Commission; Sixth (Legal) Committee of the General Assembly; Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and Strengthening of the Role of the Organization; Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court; Ad Hoc Committee on the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombing; and the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.  He was Principal Legal Officer, Office of the Legal Counsel, from 1981 to 1995.

Mr. Lee received a doctorate degree from the University of London, a Master of Law degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a Bachelor of Law degree in China.  He was born in GuiLin, China, on 18 March 1939.

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