Péter Kovács (born in 1959,

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

, Hungary) is a Hungarian professor of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

at the

Peter Pazmany Catholic University Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, where he is the head of the Public International Law Department and the Doctoral School. Kovács has been a judge at the

Constitutional Court of Hungary The Constitutional Court of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország Alkotmánybírósága) is a special court of Hungary, making judicial review of the acts of the Parliament of Hungary. The official seat of the Constitutional Court is Budapest. Until 2012 ...

since 2005. Previously he served as a diplomat at the Embassy of Hungary in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and as the head of the Department for

Human Rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and Minority Protection in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kovács was elected as a judge on 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 f ...

in the 2014 election of judges by the Assembly of State Parties. Kovács graduated from the Faculty of Law of József Attila University in 1983. After his studies at the European University Centre in Nancy, France, in 1983/84, he received his law degree specialized in community rights. For Kovács' thesis ''Protection of fundamental rights in the community rights system'', 1987, he was awarded the title of “doctor universitatis” at the

University of Miskolc The University of Miskolc (before 1990: ''Technical University of Heavy Industry'') is the largest university of Northern Hungary. Location Most of the buildings can be found in Egyetemváros ("University Town"), a part of the city of Miskolc. I ...

, accredited as a Ph.D. degree in 1996. He qualified as a university lecturer in 1997. From 1983 he was

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this conce ...

, from 1998 university professor, between 1999 and 2005 head of Department for International Law at Miskolc. Kovács was granted full professorship, and between 1997 and 2005 he was head of Department at Peter Pazmany. Between 1990 and 1994, Kovács worked at the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary to Paris, within the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while in 1998/99 he was head of Department for Human Rights and Minority Law. In his quality of governmental expert, he took part in the elaboration of two conventions on the protection of minorities, concluded under the auspices of the Council of Europe, namely the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, th ...

and the Framework-convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Europe. As a visiting professor, Kovács gave lectures at several universities in France:

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

(one month in 2000), Paris-Sud (one month in 2002), Panthéon-Assas (one month in 2003),

University of Nantes The University of Nantes (french: Université de Nantes) is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire ...

(one month in 2003); as well as in the United States (six months in 2002,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Fulbright scholarship). He is a member of the Société Française pour le Droit International.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacs, Peter 1959 births Living people Hungarian legal scholars International Criminal Court judges Hungarian judges Hungarian diplomats Hungarian judges of international courts and tribunals Constitutional Court of Hungary judges Fulbright alumni