Prof. Dr. Georges Abi-Saab

Prof. Dr. Georges Abi-Saab is a Member or President of various international arbitral tribunals (ICSID, PCA, ICC, CRCICA, UNCITRAL, etc.)

Prof. Abi-Saab was a Member of the Institute of international Law (1981), Honorary Professor Faculty of Law, Cairo University (1997), Honorary Member of the American Society of International Law (2001), Honorary Member of the Indian Society of International Law (2009) and Distinguished Global Fellow, NYU School of Law (2008).

Dr. Abi- Saab was Consultant to the Secretary General of the United Nations for the preparation of his first two reports on “Respect of Human Rights in Armed Conflict” (1969 and 1970); and on the “Progressive Development of Principles and Norms of International Law relating to the New International Economic Order”(1984). He was a Member of the Egyptian delegation to the Conference of Governments Experts (1972) and the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (1974-1977).

Dr. Abi-Saab acted as Counsel and advocate of numerous governments in international litigation, including:

  • The Tunisian Government: before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case concerning the Continental Shelf (Tunisia /Libyan Arab Republic);
  • The Egyptian Government: in the arbitration on the Frontier Dispute (Taba) (Egypt/Israel); in the consultative proceedings before the ICJ on the Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March 1951 between the World Health Organization and Egypt, and on the Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict and the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons;
  • The Nigerian Government: before the ICJ in the case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria;
  • The Palestinian Authority: in the consultative proceedings before the ICJ on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and
  • The Greek Government before the ICJ in the case concerning the Application of the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995 (The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Greece).

Prof. Abi-Saab was Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso, Republic of Mali); and in the case concerning the Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad), Former Judge on the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY-ICTR), Former Member and sometime President of the Appellate Body, World Trade Organization (WTO), Former Member of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal (IMFAT), Former Commissioner on the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC).

Professor Abi-Saab was a professor of international Law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, from 1969 to 2000 (having taught there since 1963). Emeritus Professor from September 2000. He was a Visiting Professor, inter alia at Harvard Law School, 1969; University of Jordan, 1974; University of Tunis, 1974; University of the west Indies (Trinidad), 1976; “Fulbright Fortieth Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer” in American Universities, 1987; holder of the “Chaire Henri Rolin” in Belgian Universities, 1993-1994; Rennert Distinguished Professor in the Global Law School Program, NYU School of Law, 1998 (also Global Professor 1996). He is the author of numerous books and articles.

Prof. Abi- Saab’s academic qualifications are as follows: Licencie en droit of the University of Cairo (1954). Postgraduate studies in law, economics and politics at the Universities of Cairo (D.E.S. in Private law and Public law), Paris, Michigan (M.A. Econ.), Harvard (LL.M., S.J.D.), Cambridge and Geneva (Doctor of Political Science). Diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law. Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, Universire Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (2001), Doctor ofHumane Letters, honoris causa,the American University in Cairo (AUC) (2010).