Robert Van Lierop

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert F. Van Lierop is a lawyer, civil rights activist, diplomat, journalist from Vanuatu and was chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) from 1991 to 1994 .

Life

Degree and civil rights attorney

Van Lierop first studied economics at Hofstra University , which he graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (BAE) . He then received his doctorate in 1967 as a visiting scholar of the Arthur Garfield Hays Foundation for Civil Rights to a doctorate in law at the New York University School of Law .

He then served as legal advisor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As such, he litigated in cases of employment discrimination, the desegregation in schools, police misconduct and other civil and constitutional issues. He later founded the law firm Van Lierop & Burns, which he also continued to operate as a diplomat at the UN .

As a lawyer, he also represented several foreign governments and international organizations at the UN. Van Lierop was also chairman of the African Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association from 1994 to 1997 and chairman of the Bar Association's International Affairs Council from 2000 to 2003.

Today Robert Van Lierop works as a lawyer in a New York law firm in the field of sports and entertainment law and has worked as a lawyer, among others, the actress Halle Berry , the director Spike Lee , the music group " The Drifters " and the American athletics association "The USA Track and Field ”.

Ambassador to the UN and Chairman of AOSIS

After the independence of the former British-French Dominion of the New Hebrides on July 30, 1980 as Vanuatu , Van Lierop was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the South Pacific island state to the United Nations in 1981 . He held this office until 1994.

As such, he was vice-president of the 43rd session of the UN General Assembly in 1988 and, during the 44th session in 1989, chairman of the UN Committee for the UN Trust Council and Decolonization . Furthermore, during the 16th special session of the UN General Assembly in 1989, he was deputy chairman of the ad hoc committee on questions of apartheid and its devastating effects in South Africa .

After the establishment of the renaming of the Small Island Developing Countries (SIDS) in 1990 to AOSIS , Van Lierop became the first chairman of AOSIS in 1991. He held this post until the end of his ambassadorial role at the UN in 1994. During his tenure he was a leading negotiating partner in multinational negotiations, which in particular led to the adoption of a number of conventions on international environmental law .

Most recently he was a member of the jury ( jury member ) at the World Tribunal on Iraq .

Director and journalist

Films as a director

At times he interrupted his legal work to work as an independent director and photojournalist in southern Africa . During this time the following films were made in Mozambique and Angola with Robert Bob Fletcher:

  • A Luta Continua (1972)
  • Angola's Second War Of Liberation (1975)
  • O Povo Organizado (1976)

Publications

Together with Bob Fletcher he was the author of Quiet War in Mozambique (Ebony, 1973).

He was also the New York and sports correspondent for The Black World Today (TBWT) magazine. Between October 2004 and June 2005 Van Lierop published the following articles, among others:

Van Lierop is now a member of the Media On Trial production team , which focuses on the relationship between media and violence.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ East Timorese government website: Professor Noam Chomsky and Ambassador Robert Van Lierop honored in New York City , accessed October 4, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Van Lierop, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Van Lierop, Robert F.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Vanuatu lawyer, diplomat, journalist and Chairman of AOSIS (1991–1994)
DATE OF BIRTH before 1964