Thomas Aboagye Mensah

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Thomas A. Mensah, 2013

Thomas Aboagye Mensah (born May 12, 1932 in Kumasi ; † April 7, 2020 in London ) was a lawyer from Ghana . He was a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea from 1996 to 2005 and during that time from 1996 to 1999 the first president in the history of the court.

Life

Thomas A. Mensah received his education at the Achimota School in Accra . This was followed by the study of philosophy , which he completed in 1956 with a BA degree at the University of Ghana . Three years later he earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London . In 1962 he graduated from the law faculty of Yale University with a Master of Laws , two years later he also received his doctorate from Yale. He then returned to his home country and worked from 1962 to 1968 as a lecturer at the University of Ghana and from 1966 to 1968 as dean of its law faculty. In addition, he worked from 1965 to 1966 as a judicial officer for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna .

From 1968 to 1990 he was legal advisor and assistant to the General Secretariat of the International Maritime Organization and from 1981 to 1990 visiting professor at its educational institution, the World Maritime University in Malmö . He also worked as a professor at the University of Leiden (1993/1994) and at the Institute for the Law of the Sea at the University of Hawaii (1993-1995). From 1995 to 1996 he was Ghana's High Commissioner in South Africa .

From October 1, 1996 he was a member of the newly founded International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg . When the court began to work, he was elected its first president from 1996 to 1999, after which he remained as a judge at the court until 2005 . Since his departure, Mensah has been advising governments, international organizations and law firms on questions of international maritime and environmental law. In doing so he remains linked to the work of the Court of Justice. In the legal dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the border in the Bay of Bengal, he was appointed by the plaintiff as an ad hoc judge.

On February 4, 2013, he was appointed to a five-member arbitration tribunal under the Convention on the Law of the Sea . Together with Aun Schaukat al-Chasauneh , Elsa Kelly , Bernard H. Oxman and Bruno Simma , he should decide on a dispute under maritime law between Argentina and Ghana . On June 21, 2013, he also took over the chairmanship of another arbitration proceeding under the Convention on the Law of the Sea between the Philippines and China .

In the legal dispute between the Netherlands and Russia over the events on the Arctic Sunrise , Mensah was also appointed as arbitrator and chairman on January 10, 2014. Since January 12, 2015, he has also been acting as an ad hoc judge at the International Tribunal for the Sea in the legal dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast over the course of the sea ​​border in the Atlantic Ocean .

At the International Court of Justice he was appointed ad hoc judge in a case between Nicaragua and Colombia .

Awards (selection)

The International Maritime Organization awarded Mensah the International Maritime Prize 2012. In addition, since 1989 he has been a member of the Institut de Droit international .

Works (selection)

  • as editor: Ocean Governance. Strategies and Approaches for the 21st Century (= The Law of the Sea Institute. Proceedings. Vol. 28). Law of the Sea Institute, Honolulu HI 1996, ISBN 0-911189-31-9 .
  • as co-editor: Sustainable Development and Preservation of the Oceans. The Challenges of UNCLOS and Agenda 21 (= The Law of the Sea Institute. Proceedings. Vol. 29). Law of the Sea Institute, Honolulu HI 1997, ISBN 0-911189-32-7 .

Web links

  • Thomas A. Mensah , biography in the yearbook of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea 1996, p. 29 (English, with picture)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Judge Thomas A. Mensah dead. Retrieved April 20, 2020 (English).
  2. ^ Ghana's judge in Cote d'Ivoire border dispute this. Retrieved April 20, 2020 (UK English).
  3. ↑ HE Judge Thomas Mensahp - International Maritime and Environmental Law Advisor ( English ) Retrieved on May 20, 2013.
  4. ↑ Press release No. 169 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of ​​August 26, 2011 (PDF; 32 kB)
  5. ↑ Press release No. 189 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of ​​February 5, 2013 (PDF; 26 kB)
  6. ↑ Press release of the Permanent Court of Arbitration from August 8, 2013 (PDF; 107 kB)
  7. ↑ Press release No. 197 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of ​​June 24, 2013 (PDF; 107 kB)
  8. ↑ Press release No. 207 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of ​​January 13, 2014 (PDF; 72 kB)
  9. ↑ Press release No. 222 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of ​​January 12, 2015 (PDF; 63 kB)
  10. ↑ Press release of the International Maritime Organization of November 22, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Mensah, Thomas Aboagye
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ghanaian lawyer and former President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Kumasi
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 2020
Place of death London