Today, the ICJ announced that Mr. Rajeev Dhavan (India), Dr. Gustavo Gallon (Colombia), Mr. Maurice Kamto (Cameroon) and Ms Asma Jahangir (Pakistan) had been elected as members of the organization.
Mr. Rajeev Dhavan is a senior advocate and practising lawyer at the Supreme Court of India. He taught at Queen’s University (Northern Ireland), Brunei University, and the University of West London. He is a visiting professor at the University of London, Madison (Wisconsin), Austin (Texas), the University of Delhi and the Indian Law Institute. Mr. Dhavan is also Director of the Public Interest Legal Support and Research Centre (PILSARC), a public interest law firm. He has been involved in many public interests campaigns especially environmental.
Dr. Gustavo Gallon is the current Director and founding member of the ICJ Affiliate in Colombia, the Comision Colombiana de Juristas. He is at present a visiting Professor at Notre Dame University, USA. Dr. Gallon is a member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJlL). He was awarded the 1989 Human Rights Watch International Prize and the 1997 Lawyers Committee for Human Rights International Prize. Dr. Gallon is also an Ad Hoc Judge of the Constitutional Court of Colombia since 1991.
Mr. Maurice Kamto is a Professor of Public Law at the Institute of International Relations of Cameroon (IRIC) of the University of Yaounde. He is also a Professor at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration et de Magistrature, Yaounde. Mr. Kamto is the Director and founder of CERDIE (Centre d’Etudes, de recherche et de documentation en droit international et sur l’environment). He is also a member and the Secretary-General of the Comité National des Droits de l’Homme et des Libertés du Cameroun (CNDHL). He was awarded the 1983 “Prix de thèse” of the Law Faculty and City of Nice and the 1988 “Prix de l’Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer”, Paris.
Ms Asma Jahangir (photo) is the Chairperson and founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (ICJ affiliate), cofounded with the late ICJ Member, Justice Dorab Patel. She is a practising lawyer and a human rights activist. As an advocate, Ms Jahangir has built up a reputation as a courageous defender of the rights of the poor. She refused two invitations from the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to occupy a woman’s seat in the National Assembly and to become the first woman judge of the High Court. She is also the founding member of the Women’s action Forum which defends women’s rights. Ms Jahangir was awarded the 1995 Martin Ennals Award and the Magsaysay Award.
The Commission is the directive authority of the organization. It is composed of distinguished jurists from around the world, representing various legal systems and traditions. New members are elected by a secret vote of all other members of the Commission.