The Role of the UN in Conflict Resolution: The Case of Cyprus (Video)

Ambassador Andrew Jacovides - Speaker
Former Ambassador of The Republic of Cyprus to the United Nations

Andrew (Andreas) Jacovides was born in Nicosia, Cyprus and received his higher education in law, specializing in international law, at the University of Cambridge, the Inns of Court, and  at Harvard Law School. At Cambridge he graduated top of his class, received several prizes for academic distinction and taught as a College Supervisor.  At Harvard he was Henry Fellow and did research on State Responsibility.

He was among the first to join the Cyprus Foreign Service in 1960 and was present at the admission of the Republic of Cyprus to the United Nations (20 September 1960).

He served in different capacities at the United Nations (1960-1965;1969-1979;1992-1993;1997-20004) and for fourteen years (1979-1989;1993-1997) as ambassador to the United States (where he was briefly Dean of the Diplomatic Corps).He also served as ambassador in Germany (at the time of German reunification) and as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was non-resident ambassador to Brazil; Canada; Ecuador; Austria; Denmark; and to several Caribbean Commonwealth countries.

He represented Cyprus in many international Conferences (including Law of Treaties and Law of the Sea) to Non-Aligned and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and to several international Organizations (including the World Bank, IMF, OAS, ICAO, UNIDO, IAEA).

He is an arbitrator with ICSID (World Bank) , a patron of the American Society of International Law, a former board member of the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, among other professional assignments (UN Compensation Commission, Dormant Swiss Accounts Tribunal, Protection of Minorities Committee, etc.).

Ambassador Jacovides is a board member of the A.G. Leventis Charitable Foundation and of CAARI (Cyprus-American Archaeological Research Institute).

He received high decorations from the Government of Greece (1976) and of Austria(1992) ,he is honorary citizen of  several major American Cities, holds honorary doctorates from American universities, and is Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Ambassador Jacovides headed the Cyprus Delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference (1973-1982) and signed the resultant Convention(1982). He lectured on Law of the Sea issues at the International Law Commission' Seminar in Geneva and has been on the faculty of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy (in 2006 he was awarded the Onassis Distinguished Scholar Award for his contribution to the development of the Law of the Sea).

He was three-term member of the UN International Law Commission, having been elected by the UN General Assembly three times (1981,1986 ,1991), where he was an early supporter of the creation of the International Criminal Court..

Ambassador Jacovides has written and published extensively on legal and political topics. His book. "International Law and Diplomacy--Selected Writings", was published in 2011 by Brill/Martinus Nihjoff, with a Forward by Dame Rosalyn Higgins and received many positive reviews in the United States and Cyprus. 

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