Lankan candidate wins election to United Nations International Law Commission

COLOMBO: Dr. Rohan Perera, PC, Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sri Lanka candidate to the International Law Commission was elected by the UN General Assembly in New York on November 16 by polling 138 votes and securing one of the seven seats allocated to the Asian region.

Eleven candidates from the Asian region contested these seven seats. The complete results of the balloting for the Asian region were as follows:

Japan - 144, India - 141, China - 140, Sri Lanka 138, Qatar - 138, Indonesia - 135 and Jordan 122.

Dr. Perera has served for over 30 years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially as Assistant Legal Advisor and thereafter, as Legal Advisor and is also the current Chairman of the UN Ad-hoc Committee on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism which recently concluded the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

The Ad-hoc Committee is currently negotiating the Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism. Dr. Perera also serves as a Member of the Group of Legal and Constitutional Experts appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to advise the All party Representatives Committee on a Constitutional Framework.

The International Law Commission was established in 1949 by the General Assembly and entrusted with the codification and progressive development of international law.

The Commission comprises 34 members elected on a regional basis for a period of five years.