Cablegate: Sri Lankan Candidate for International Law Commission Dr.

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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLM #1931 3201144
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161144Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4761
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1534
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0502

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001931

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND IO/UNP

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNGA CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKAN CANDIDATE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION DR.
AMRITH ROHAN PERERA

REF: A) STATE 180503 B) COLOMBO 1848

1. As reported ref (b), the Government of Sri Lanka had pledged to
support U.S. candidate Michael Matheson for the International Law
Commission (ILC). MFA also asked the U.S. to support its candidate
for the ILC, Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera. Dr. Perera is well and
favorably known to us as the incumbent legal advisor at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. We have every reason to think he would be a
good choice for the ILC.

2. Brief CV of Dr. Perera follows:

2004 Served as a member of the Club de Madrid's working group on
"Legal responses to Terrorism" in the International Summit on
Democracy, Terrorism and Security to mark the first anniversary of
the terrorist attack in Madrid; Legal advisor to Sri Lanka's
delegation to the SAARC Heads of State Summit (He has held this
position since 1986.)

2003 Represented Sri Lanka at the meeting of SAARC senior officials
and legal experts negotiating the Additional Protocol to the SAARC
Convention; Served on the Advisory Board of the Manchester Journal
of International Economic Law; Sri Lankan delegate to meetings of
the UN Human Rights Committee considering national reports of Sri
Lanka as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) He served the same function in 1993 and
1995.

2002 Served as a panelist at:
-- Commonwealth Secretariat's Working Group on International
Terrorism at the Oxford Conference
European Parliament's Conference on a Transatlantic Dialog in
Combating International Terrorism, convened by the European
Parliament and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
-- United Nations roundtable conference to combat terrorism in New
York

2000 Elected Chairman of the UN Ad-hoc Committee on Measures to
eliminate International Terrorism

1997-1999 Vice-Chairman of the UN Ad-hoc Committee on Measures to
eliminate International Terrorism

1997 Published:
"International Law-Changing Horizons," a collection of essays on
international law
"International Terrorism," a doctoral thesis on international
initiatives to prevent and combat terrorism and the development of
international law

Dr. Perera regularly contributes articles on international law to
legal journals, including the Commonwealth Law Bulletin, the
American Review of International Arbitration, Sri Lanka Law College
Law Review, and the Sri Lanka Journal of International Law.

1995 Legal advisor to the Sri Lankan delegation to the conference
of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

1994 Member of the Sri Lanka delegations at meetings of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights (He held the same position in
1989 as well.)

1990 Chairman of the SAARC group of legal experts meeting on
combating drug abuse and drug trafficking

1980 Received a United Nations Institute for Training and Research
(UNITAR) Fellowship (As a part of the Fellowship, he followed a
course in Public International Law at The Hague Academy of
International Law and then underwent practical training at the Legal
Departments of both the International Bank of for Re-Construction
and Development (IBRD) and the International Civil Aviation
Organization.)

As an undergraduate, Dr. Perera served as editor of the Law Journal
published by the Aquinas College of Business Studies. Currently, he
serves on the Panel of Consulting Editors of the Manchester Journal
of International Economic Law, the Sri Lanka Journal of
International Law, and the Sri Lanka Law College Law Review.

Dr. Perera has an excellent command of English, is a native speaker
of Sinhala, and has a basic knowledge of French.

BLAKE

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