Philippe Kirsch, (born April 1, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2009 and was the Court's first

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Biography

Kirsch was born in Belgium in 1947 and arrived in Canada in 1961. Kirsch holds a Bachelor of Civil Law and an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

(1972). Kirsch, who joined the Department of External Affairs of Canada in 1972, has held a number of positions in the Department, including Assistant Deputy Minister for Legal, Consular and Passport Affairs, Ottawa (1994–1996); and Director General, Bureau of Legal Affairs, Ottawa (1992–1994). He was Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations (1988–1992), Deputy Representative to the Security Council (1989–1990) and Canada's ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden. Kirsch is member of the

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of the Province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and of the

Canadian Council on International Law The Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1972 by Sir Ronald St. John Macdonald. The mandate of the organization is to further the worldwide discussion of international legal issues including public ...

and was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1988. Kirsch served as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the International Conference on the Problem of War Victims (1993), Chairman of the preparatory and subsequent Intergovernmental Working Groups of Government Experts on the Protection of War Victims (1993, 1995), and Chairman of the Drafting Committee at the 26th and 27th International Conferences of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

and the Red Crescent (1995, 1999). He was Chairman of the Canadian National Committee on Humanitarian Law (1998–1999) and member of the Group of International Advisers to the International Committee of the Red Cross (2000–2003). He has extensive experience in the development of international criminal law with regard to issues such as various acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

; suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

; unlawful acts of violence at airports serving international civil aviation; safety and security of UN and associated personnel and the taking of hostages. His appointment as judge came after his extensive experience in the process of the establishment of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by prot ...

and international criminal law. In 1998 Kirsch served as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole of the Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an

. He was also Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (1999 to 2002).

Honours

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

"for his contributions to international criminal law, notably as president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague".

Biography

Honours

References

Further reading