Algérie Presse Service (APS) – November 18, 2011
NEW YORK – The Algerian legal expert, Mr. Ahmed Laraba, was easily elected yesterday to the UN International Law Commission, sources close to the Permanent Mission of Algeria to the UN told APS.
Mr. Laraba, 63, was elected on the first round of elections as member and expert of the commission to a five-year term beginning January 1, 2012. The election was held at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Competing for one of the nine seats allotted to Africa within the commission, the Algerian jurist obtained 144 votes (with 96 votes representing a majority of votes) and ranked third on a list of thirteen African candidates. Mr. Laraba graduated in 1985 with a Ph.D in International Public Law and teaches international law at the University of Algiers and at the diplomacy and administration school of École Nationale d’Administration (ENA).
He was Visiting Professor at a number of European universities and enjoys an internationally-recognized experience in international arbitration and as legal expert, namely with the International Court of Justice.
The African experts sitting on the commission as of January 1, 2012, come from Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
The commission includes 25 other members from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Jordan, Qatar, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Colombia, Jamaica, and Costa Rica.
Established on November 21, 1947, by the UN General Assembly, the International Law Commission seeks to foster progressive development and codification of international law.
Its 34 members represent the major legal systems in the world. They sit as experts and as individuals, and not as representatives of their respective governments.
