President Shi will review and analyse the history of Asia's relations with the International Court of Justice, which was established in 1945 as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. President Shi will highlight the role that Asian countries, including Japan, have played in promoting peaceful settlement of international disputes and illustrate his lecture with pertinent law cases.

Shi Jiuyong has been a judge of the ICJ since 1994, and served as Vice-President of the Court from 2000 to 2003. He was appointed President of the Court in February 2003. Shi Jiuyong previously held a variety of academic and government advisory positions, including Professor of International Law, Foreign Affairs College, Beijing (1984-93); Professor of Law, Foreign Economic Law Training Centre, Chinese Ministry of Justice (1987-88); and Legal Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China (1980-93). He also has been a member, Rapporteur and Chairman of the International Law Commission, and is an adviser of the Chinese Society of International Law and a member of the American Society of International Law.

Simultaneous Japanese-English interpretation of President's Shi's lecture will be provided. The lecture, which will take place from 4:00 to 5:15 PM on 14 April in the U Thant International Conference Hall of UN House, is open to the public, but advance registration (by 12 April) is required. A registration reply form can be downloaded from http://archive.unu.edu/news/public-lecture/Shi-reply.doc.

For those unable to attend, President Shi's lecture will be "webcast" live (and archived) at http://c3.unu.edu/unuvideo/index.cfm?fuseaction=event.home&EventID=35

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend.

Programme