Born in Egypt on 9 June 1933, Georges Michel Abi-Saab is Honorary Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva (having taught there from 1963 to 2000); Honorary Professor at Cairo University’s Faculty of Law; and a Member of the Institute of International Law.
Abi-Saab served as consultant to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the preparation of two reports on “Respect of Human Rights in Armed Conflicts” (1969 and 1970), and for the report on “Progressive Development of Principles and Norms of International Law Relating to the New International Economic Order” (1984). He represented Egypt in the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law (1974 to 1977), and acted as Counsel and advocate for several governments in cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as well as in international arbitrations. He has also served twice as judge ad hoc on the ICJ, as Judge on the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, and as a Commissioner of the United Nations Compensation Commission. He is a Member of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Monetary Fund and of various international arbitral tribunals (ICSID, ICC, CRCICA, etc.).
Abi-Saab graduated in law from Cairo University and pursued his studies in law, economics and politics at the Universities of Paris, Michigan (MA in Economics), Harvard Law School (LLM and SJD), Cambridge and Geneva (Docteur es Sciences Politiques). He also held numerous visiting professorships, inter alia, at Harvard Law School, the Universities of Tunis, Jordan, the West Indies (Trinidad), as well as the Rennert Distinguished Professorship at NYU School of Law and the Henri Rolin Chair in Belgian Universities.
Abi-Saab is the author of numerous books and articles, including “Les exceptions préliminaires dans la procédure de la Cour internationale: Etude des notions fondamentales de procédure et des moyens de leur mise en oeuvre” (Paris, Pedone, 1967); “International Crises and the Role of Law: The United Nations Operation in Congo 1960-1964” (Oxford University Press, 1978); “The Concept of International Organization” (as editor) (Paris, UNESCO, 1981; French edition, 1980); and of two courses at the Hague Academy of International Law: “Wars of National Liberation in the Geneva Conventions and Protocols” (Recueil des cours, vol. 165 (1979-IV)) and the “General Course of Public International Law”(in French) (Recueil des cours, vol. 207 (1987-VII)).
Source
Biography: ‘Mr. Georges Abi-Saab’ http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ls/Abi-Saab_bio.pdf last accessed 24 April 2014.