Prof Surya Subedi appointed Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia
DILA Governing Board Member Professor Surya Prasad Subedi was recently appointed Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia by the UN Human Rights Council. Subedi, who is Professor of International and Human Rights Law at Leeds University, replaces Yash Ghai, who resigned his post in frustration. Subedi, who hails from Nepal, has taught for many years in Britain said of his appointment:
I am delighted and honoured by the trust and confidence placed in me by such a high level UN body in recognition of my work in the field of international and human rights law.
Congratulations, Surya!!!
Congratulations: Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf
The Governing Board of DILA congratulates Dr Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf on his election to the International Court of Justice earlier this month.
Dr Yusuf is currently Chairman of the Executive Committee of the African Foundation for International Law and is a member of DILA’s Advisory Board.
Judge Yusuf was educated at the Somali National University where he obtained his Dr Juris. He subsequently obtained a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of Geneva. He taught at the Somali National University from 1974 to 1981, and then at the University of Geneva from 1981 to 1983. From 1975 to 1980. He served as Somalia’s delegate to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
From 1987 to 1992, Judge Yusuf was Chief of the Legal Policies Service of UNCTAD before becoming its representative and Head of its New York Office from 1992 to 1994. From 1994 to 2001, he served as Legal Advisor, then Assistant Director for African Affairs to UNIDO in Vienna. Judge Yusuf has also been guest Professor and Lecturer at a number of universities and institutes in Switzerland, Italy, Greece and France.
Judge Yusuf is Founder and General Editor of the African Yearbook of International Law and a member of the Institut de droit international (Geneva). He was also one of the founders of the African Foundation for International Law and Chairman of its Executive Committee. Dr.Yusuf is fluent in Somali, English, French, Arabic, and Italian.
For background on the recent election of the judges to the ICJ, see:
Judge Yusuf’s Reply to DILA’s Congratulatory Message
I thank you for your very kind and warm words of congratulations as well as for your wishes of success on the occasion of my election to the International Court of Justice.
I am very proud of my association with the DILA and hope that we will be able to establish more effective working relations between DILA and AFIL (African Foundation for International Law) of which I am currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee.
Kindly convey my thanks to all the members of the Board and Advisory Council of DILA.
I hope we will keep in touch.
Yours sincerely
Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf
Obiturary: The Hon. Judge Park Choon Ho
DILA mourns the loss of Judge Park Choon Ho who passed away on Wednesday 12 November 2008 after a brief battle with cancer. Judge Park had been associated with DILA since its earliest days and was a member of its Advisory Board.
Judge Park was born in Namwon, Korea on 15 April 1930 and was educated at the Seoul National University where he obtained a BA in political science. He then obtained a graduate diploma in applied linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in 1965, and a PhD in international law from the Law Faculty of the same institution.
After graduation, Judge Park worked as a research associate, first at the Harvard Law School (1972–1978), and then at the East-West Center in Hawaii (1978–1982). In 1982, he returned to Korea where he became Professor of International Law at Korea University, a post he held till 1995 when he became Professor of International Law at the Seinan Gakuin University in Japan. He retired in 2001. From 1997 to 2001, Judge Park was concurrently Distinguished Professor of International Law at the Graduate School of International Studies at Korea University.
Judge Park became fascinated by international law after studying the fisheries disputes between Korea and Japan and was a member of the Korean delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea as well as the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1974–1995). In 1996, Judge Park was elected a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He was re-elected for a second term in 2005.
At the time of his death, Judge Park was a member of the Institut de droit international; the editorial board of Marine Policy, Ocean and Shore-Line Management, and The Asian Review, as well as a member of DILA’s Advisory Board. From 1977 to 2000, he was a member of the editorial board of Ocean Development and International Law.
In 1989, Judge Park was conferred the prestigious Distinguished Scholarship Award (Social Sciences) by the Academy of Sciences in Korea. In 1998, his alma mater, University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary Doctor of Law degree.
Judge Park was laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, 160km south of Seoul on 16 November 2008. The Governing Board of DILA sends its condolences and heartfelt sympathies to his family.
Welcome
This is the official webpage of the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the scholarship, study and dissemination of international law in Asia.
