Hisashi Owada

Vladimir Putin greeting Hisashi Owada.

Hisashi Owada (小和田 恆, Owada Hisashi^?, born September 18, 1932) is a former Japanese diplomat and a judge on the International Court of Justice, and currently serves as its President, having been elected to this post in 2009.

Early life

Hisashi Owada was born in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. After earning a B.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1955, he attended the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom where he earned a law degree in 1956.

Career

Diplomat and international judge

Upon completion of his education, he returned to Japan and entered the country's Foreign Service in1955, serving in various posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo and Japan's embassies in Russia and the United States. From 1976 to 1978, he served as Private Secretary to Takeo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan. He served as Japanese Ambassador to the OECD from 1988 to 1989 before returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he served as Deputy Minister until his promotion to Vice-Minister in 1991 serving until 1993. From 1994 to 1998, he served as Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations, where he served until joining the International Court of Justice in 2003 (having been elected the previous year by the General Assembly and Security Council). During his tenure as UN Ambassador, he served twice as United Nations Security Council President.

The judges of the ICJ elected Owada as their president in 2009; he is the first Japanese judge to hold that post.

Until 2003 Owada was president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Owada also served as senior advisor to the president of the World Bank in 1999–2000.

Having been re-elected to the ICJ in 2011, Owada's term now expires on 5 February 2021.^[1] He received 170 out of 192 votes in the General Assembly on the first round, more than any other candidate,^[1] and 14 out of 15 votes in the Security Council on the first round.^[2] Owada had been nominated by the Japanese national group of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (as well as the national groups of 32 other countries).^[3][4]

Law professor

In addition to his Foreign Service career, Owada has also served as a law professor for three decades at the University of Tokyo, Harvard Law School, New York University Law School, Columbia Law School, the Hague Academy of International Law, Waseda University, and the University of Cambridge. Furthermore, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. and the Board of Directors of the United Nations Foundation. He has received honorary degrees from Keiwa College, Banaras Hindu University, and Waseda University. In addition, he is a professor of International law and organization at Waseda University.

Princess Masako

In 1993, his daughter Masako Owada, a diplomat in her own right, married Crown Prince Naruhito, the heir to the Japanese Chrysanthemum Throne.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "GA/11171: General Assembly, Concurrently with Security Council, Elects Four Judges to International Court of Justice" (Press release). United Nations Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York. 2011-11-10. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/ga11171.doc.htm. 
2. ^ "SC/10444: Security Council, General Assembly Elect Four New Judges to World Court / Fifth Vacancy Remains to Be Filled, Pending Concurrent Action by Both Bodies" (Press release). United Nations Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York. 2011-11-10. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10444.doc.htm. 
3. ^ "The Selection of Judge Hisashi Owada as a Candidate for the Election of judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2011" (Press release). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. 2010-09-01. http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2010/9/0901_01.html. Retrieved 2011-10-30. 
4. ^ "UN Doc. A/66/183–S/2011/453: List of candidates nominated by national groups / Note by the Secretary-General". 2011-07-26. http://undocs.org/S/2011/453. 

• International Court of Justice Biography of H.E. President Hisashi Owada
• Japanese Imperial Household Agency
• H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada (Japan) Elected the ICJ President and H.E. Judge Peter Tomka (Slovakia) Elected Vice-President in 2009-2012 and Statement of Japan Foreign Minister Nakasone on the Election of ICJ President Hisashi Owada of 6 February 2009 and Tokyo MFA and ASIL and Japanese Judge Elected World Court's New President and New President of ICJ Elected and Judge Owada of Japan Elected New President of the ICJ and World News and page 1: H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada Named ICJ President and Japanese Judge Elected President of World Court for First Time and Japanner Owada Is Voorzitter Internationaal Gerechtshof - ICJ, Belgian Nieuwsblad of 6 February 2009 and NRC Handelsblad
• Brandeis Institute for International Judges 2007 pages 21 and 34 and 5th Brandeis on 23-28 July 2007, Including H.E. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel and H.E. Judges Hisashi Owada and Peter Tomka
• 2005 Keynote Speech of H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada and Distinguished Fellows Lecture of 9 November 2005 and NYU Distinguished Global Fellows
• 10th IDI Commission on Authorization to Resort to Force Given by the United Nations and 12th IDI Commission on Judicial Control of UNSC Decisions of the Institute of International Law and IDI Members
• H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada's Lecture on The Encounter of Japan with the Community of Civilized Nations at newly launched in October 2008 UN Audiovisual Library of International Law and UN-Law
• H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada with UNSG Ban Ki-Moon of 23 March 2009 and UN Photographs
• Philip Jessup's 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee and 50th Jessup Video and 50th Jessup Programme and Prize for "Best Jessup Oralist" Launched in Honour of H.E. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel at[http://am2009.asil.org/program.cfm the 103rd ASIL Annual Meeting on International Law as Law, Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., 25-28 March 2009
• Statement of H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada to the 64th UNGA of 29 October 2009 and GA/10878 of 29 October 2009, pp.1-3 & 13-22 and President Owada's Statement to the 6th Committee, GA/L/3377 of 30 October 2009
• Solemn Tribute of H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada to the memory of Professor Shabtai Rosenne, in Nicaragua v. Colombia Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Costa Rica's Intervention) Oral Hearings, CR 2010/12, at p. 10 of 11 October 2010 and UN 6th Committee Pays Respect to the Israeli Jurist Shabtai Rosenne of 6 October 2010 and Shabtai Rosenne Obituary: Eminent International Lawyer, Teacher and Israeli Diplomat by Malcolm Shaw of 12 October 2010 and In Memoriam Shabtai Rosenne (24 November 1917-21 September 2010) by Prof. B. Kwiatkowska, in 26 IJMCL 1-3 (2011 No.1) & NILOS Papers
• Who's Who in Public International Law 2007
• Wikipedia Citations of ICJ President Owada's Views

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Name	Owada, Hisashi
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Date of birth	1932
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