José Luis Jesus

José Luis Jesus (born September 20, 1950 in Vila da Ribeira Grande, Santo Antão Island ) is a lawyer from the Republic of Cape Verde . He has been a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since 1999 and served as its president from 2008 to 2011.

Life

José Luis Jesus was born in 1950 on the Cape Verdean island of Santo Antão and studied law at the University of Lisbon until 1978 and then international law , political science and political science at St. John's University in New York until 1985 . Between 1979 and 1982 he headed the delegation from his home country to the third United Nations (UN) conference on the law of the sea . From 1981 he was ambassador to the United Nations for Cape Verde and from 1987 deputy permanent representative and from 1991 to 1994 permanent representative of the country to the UN. In 1986 he also served as Chairman of the Group of African States at the United Nations.

From 1987 to 1995 he headed the preparatory commission for the establishment of the International Seabed Authority, which existed from 1994, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea , which began its work two years later. In July 1992 and November 1993 he took over the presidency of the UN Security Council within the framework of the applicable rotation principle . He then served as Cape Verde's ambassador to Portugal , Spain and Israel from 1994 to 1996 , before becoming State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in his home country from 1996 to 1998 and Foreign Minister from 1998 to 1999 .

Since October 1st, 1999 he has been a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg . From 2008 to 2011 he was the presidency of the court. In this position he succeeded the German lawyer Rüdiger Wolfrum , his successor was the Japanese Shunji Yanai .

Publications (selection)

• Intervention in the domestic affairs on humanitarian grounds and international law . In: Volkmar Götz (Ed.): Liber amicorum Günther Jaenicke - for his 85th birthday . Springer, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-540-65125-X , p. 149.
• Rocks, new-born islands, sea level rise and maritime space . In: Jochen Abr. Frowein (ed.): Negotiating for peace - Negotiating for peace - Liber Amicorum Tono Eitel . Springer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-540-40073-7 , p. 579.
• Protection of foreign ships against piracy and terrorism at sea . In: International journal of marine and coastal law . Vol. 18, 2003-3, ISSN  0927-3522 , p. 363.

further reading

• Biographies of the Judges, the Registrar and the Deputy Registrar. Judge José Luis Jesus. In: International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Ed.): International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Yearbook 1999. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague 2001, ISBN 90-411-1502-1 , p. 86

Web links

• ITLOS - Judge José Luis Jesus biography on the website of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (English, with picture)