Vietnam’s Permanent Missions to the United Nations (UN) in New York and Geneva have announced the candidacy of Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao to the International Law Commission (ILC) for the 2023-27 tenure.

Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao. Source: Baoquocte

The election of the members of the Commission for the next term is scheduled for November 2021 in New York, according to the Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr. Thao will compete for the election with 9 other candidates in Asia-Pacific states, including China, Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Lebanon, to represent the region at the ILC.

Under the General Assembly’s resolution, Asia-Pacific has seven out of 34 seats at the Commission.

In 2016, Thao became the first Vietnamese to be elected as an ILC member. During the 2017-22 tenure, he has actively contributed to ILC’s researches, including national inheritance, international conflict resolution, delivered speeches and joined discussions at the ILC.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said joining the International Law Commission is a great opportunity for Vietnam to build and develop a team of experts, proactively handling international issues on the basis of international law.

Associate Prof. Nguyen Hong Thao received his LL.B. and Ph. D. from University of Paris I Pantheon – Sorbonne, France in 1996. His main academic specializations are in Public International Law, Law of the Sea, International Organizations, International Humanitarian and Environmental Law.

Dr. Thao is author of series of works on international law, especially on the maritime dispute resolutions.

He has had experience in maritime affairs and diplomacy, with Ambassador Postings in Malaysia (2011-2014) and Kuwait (2014-2017).

He is also member of Asian Society of International Law, Vietnam Society of International Law, Editor in Chief of the Vietnamese Yearbook on International Law, Member of the Advisory Board of the Asian Yearbook of International Law AYBIL, Member of the Asian Journal of International Law (AsianJIL), AALCO Journal of International Law and Journal of East Asia and International Law Editorial Boards.

In 2016, he was elected as a Member of International Law Commission of the United Nations for the term of 2017-2021. In 2018, he was appointed as 2nd Vice Chairman of the Commission.