Patrick Lipton Robinson, a Jamaican judge serving at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, was recently elected President of that Tribunal. He will assume duties on November 17th. Judge Robinson was first elected to the Tribunal in 1998 and has been re-elected twice since. He has served as the Presiding Judge for Trial Chamber III since 2004 and oversaw the historic trial of the former President of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, the first former Head of State to be brought to trial for war crimes.

Mr. Robinson has had a long and distinguished career in public service, in Jamaica and internationally, particularly, in the field of International Law.

He began his professional career working as a Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He held the post of Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held a number of positions in the Attorney General’s Department, serving for 12 years as Deputy Solicitor General of Jamaica .

He was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) from 1987 to 1995, serving as its Chairman in 1991 and representing it in cases heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

In 1995, he was appointed a foreign member of the Truth and Justice Commission of Haiti - the Commission’s purpose to establish the truth about the most serious rights violations committed during the de facto military regime between 1991 and 1994.

He was a member of the United Nation’s International Law Commission between 1991 and 1995 and its Drafting Committee on the Draft Code of Crimes Against Peace and Security of Mankind. He helped to draft the statute for the International Criminal Court.

For 26 years, Patrick Robinson was Jamaica’s representative on the Legal Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to which he was accredited as an Ambassador. In that capacity he served on a variety of UN bodies and committees including its Commission on International Trade Law and its Commission on Transnational Corporations of which he was Chairman of its 12th Session in 1986.

He was a member of UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee from 1996 to 2005; its Vice President from 2002 – 2005. He was a Member of the Board of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Worldwide Academy and was coordinator of the Academy Session for English speaking countries of Asia in 2000.

Mr. Robinson is a lifelong sports enthusiast. A Jamaica College old boy, he was a member of the school’s track team that won the Inter-Scholastic Championships (CHAMPS) in 1959 and a member of the school’s Sunlight Cup cricket team.

He is the author of the book, “Jamaican Athletics – A Model for the World” - the book seeks to explain the reasons for Jamaica ’s high quality performances in global athletics over the past sixty years.

Mr. Robinson holds a BA from the UCWI, an LLB from London University and an LL.M. (International Law) from Kings College , University of London .

In 1986, he was awarded the Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.) by the Government of Jamaica for services in international law and in 2005, an Honorary Doctors of Laws by the University of the West Indies.

(Article Courtesy of Julian Robinson)