Former British president of the International Court of Justice
Rosalyn C. Higgins, Baroness Higgins
,
GBE
,
KC
(born 2 June 1937)
[1]
is a British former president of the
International Court of Justice
(ICJ). She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ, and was elected to a three-year term as its president in 2006.
Life
[
edit
]
Born to a
Jewish
family in 1937 as
Rosalyn Cohen
, she married the politician
Terence Higgins, Baron Higgins
in 1961.
[2]
Education and career
[
edit
]
Higgins studied at
Girton College
,
University of Cambridge
, receiving her
B.A.
degree in 1959 and an
LL.B.
degree in 1962. She was a
Harkness Fellow
between 1959 and 1961. Besides her undergraduate degrees, she also qualified with a
M.A.
degree. She continued her studies at
Yale Law School
earning a
J.S.D.
degree in 1962.
[3]
Following her education, Higgins was a practising
barrister
, and became a
Queen's Counsel
(QC) in 1986, and is a bencher of the
Inner Temple
. She served on the UN Human Rights Committee for 14 years. Her role as member of the leading body for supervising implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights earned her respect for her diligence and competence. She resigned from the
Human Rights Committee
when she was elected to the
International Court of Justice
on 12 July 1995, re-elected on 6 February 2000, and ended her second term on 6 February 2009.
Her professional appointments include:
Higgins is the author of several influential works on international law, including
Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It
(1994). Despite delivering many balanced judgements in different cases, Higgins's dissenting opinion in the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or the Use of Nuclear Weapons has been widely criticised by some legal scholars, on the grounds that it provides sovereign states with an unjustifiable amount of latitude in resort to the use of
nuclear weapons
in times of armed conflict.
[4]
In October 2009 she was appointed advisor on
International Law
, to the British government's
inquiry
into the
Iraq war
(Headed by Sir
John Chilcot
).
[5]
Honours and awards
[
edit
]
Higgins is a member of the
Institut de droit international
. She was appointed a
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(DBE) in 1995, and was advanced to
Dame Grand Cross
(GBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours. In 1988 she was appointed a
Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms
. Furthermore, in 2007 she was awarded the
Balzan Prize
for International Law since 1945.
Her competence has been recognised by many academic institutions, having received at least thirteen
honorary doctorates
, as well as the
Yale Law School
Award of Merit
[3]
and also the
Manley-O.-Hudson medal
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Birthdays today"
.
The Telegraph
. London. 2 June 2011. Archived from
the original
on 3 June 2011
. Retrieved
31 May
2014
.
Dame Rosalyn Higgins, QC, President, International Court of Justice, 2006?09, 74
- ^
Telegraph.co.uk
[
dead link
]
6 April 2006 "Was it any more difficult for her to be so critical in the Israel case because she is Jewish? 'I don't think so,' she says, stressing that she judged the case as an international lawyer and not because of her background. 'I also think that the fact you happen to be Jewish doesn't mean you think that everything the State of Israel does is right.'"
When the Foreign Office put her name forward for election to the court, there were fears that some countries in the UN would not vote for a
Jewish
woman. She dismisses such concerns. "I don't think I have ever been perceived as Rosalyn Higgins, the Jewish international lawyer - and I hope not Rosalyn Higgins, the woman international lawyer."
- ^
a
b
Award of Merit
- Yale alumni website
- ^
A. Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty and Making of International Law, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 293
- ^
IraqInquiry.org.uk
External links
[
edit
]
- ICJ Biography of H.E. President Rosalyn Higgins
- Who's Who in Public International Law 2007
- Shabtai Rosenne
Memorial Lecture -
"Shabtai Rosenne and the International Court of Justice"
by Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE QC, London, 19 November 2012 (retrieved 2013-03-26)
- "What International Courts (and Judges) May and May Not Do"
, a lecture by Dame Rosalyn Higgins in the
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
(retrieved 2013-03-26)
- Belgium/Netherlands Iron Rhine Award
and
XXVII UNRIAA 35
and
Award Series
- Professor Edith Brown Weiss and Charles Brower
and ICJ Presidents
H.E. Rosalyn Higgins
and
H.E. Stephen M. Schwebel
at
the 104th ASIL Annual Dinner of 26 March 2010
in
Ritz Carlton
in
Washington, D.C.
, and
104th ASIL Annual Dinner's Video
in
104th ASIL Videos
- ICJ Presidents H.E. Rosalyn Higgins
and H.E.
Stephen M. Schwebel
at
The Function of International Law Conference in Cambridge on 11-12 July 2008
and
25th Lauterpacht Centre's Anniversary
- 6th IDI Commission on The Position of International Judge
of the
Institute of International Law
and
IDI Members
- Manley O. Hudson Awards
and
26 January 2009
- ICJ Presidents
H.E. Rosalyn Higgins
and H.E.
Stephen M. Schwebel
at
the ILSA-ASIL Gala Dinner Celebrating the 50th Anniversary
of the
Philip Jessup
Moot Court Competition on 27 March 2009 and
Jessup's 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee
and
50th Jessup Video
and
50th Jessup Programme
and
Prize for "Best Jessup Oralist" Launched in Honour of Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel
at
the 103rd ASIL Annual Meeting on International Law as Law, Fairmont Hotel
in
Washington, D.C.
, 25?28 March 2009
- U.S. Legal Adviser
Harold Hongju Koh
's Membership, along with i.a. H.E. Former ICJ President
Stephen M. Schwebel
, in
the U.S. National Group
of
the PCA
which on 18 June 2010 nominated
U.S. Principal Deputy Legal Adviser Joan E. Donoghue
to be the second - after ICJ President Rosalyn Higgins -
woman Judge in the International Court of Justice's history
and U.S. Foreign Secretary
Hillary Clinton
's
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