Christian Tomuschat | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1936-07-23)July 23, 1936 (age 89) |
| Alma mater | Heidelberg Montpellier |
| Occupation | professor |
Christian Tomuschat (born 23 July 1936 inStettin, Germany (nowSzczecin, Poland)) is a German jurist. He is emeritus professor ofpublic international law andEuropean law at theHumboldt University inBerlin and is a former member of theUN Human Rights Committee and the UN'sInternational Law Commission.
After his graduation in 1955 inStuttgart, he studied law inHeidelberg andMontpellier, and earned his doctorate in 1970. From 1972 to 1995, he held the Chair of Public Law at theUniversity of Bonn.
In 1994 he chaired the UN-sponsoredHistorical Clarification Commission (CEH), after the conclusion of peace accords between theGuatemalan government and the guerrillas in December 1996, which worked to investigatehuman rights abuses committed during theGuatemalan Civil War and published its final report on 25 February 1999.
Since 1995 he has been a member of theBerlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and, since April 2003, an honorary Doctor of Law at theUniversity of Zurich. Since April 1995, he holds the Chair of Public and European Law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In May 2006, he was awarded the OrderPour le Mérite and, in October 2007, he was awarded theGrand Cross of Merit with Star.
In 2003, he was commissioned by Daimler-Chrysler (nowDaimler AG) to investigate human rights abuses the company allegedly aided during the Argentine military'sDirty War against suspected opponents, in particular the disappearances of fourteen union members at its Mercedes-Benz factory.[1] He issued a report noting that “MBA [Mercedes-Benz Argentina] has supplied information from company personnel files, including passport photographs, to the state secret service at its request" that put labor leaders in danger, and eventually their murders.[2] Ultimately, he found the activities of itsMercedes-Benz subsidiary did not rise to the level of incitement tokidnapping andmurder. Plaintiffs criticized the report as "corporatewhitewashing" and some pointed out they had not been interviewed.
In December 2008, withGermany bringing proceedings againstItaly in theInternational Court of Justice, Tomuschat was appointed co-agent representingGermany. The case (Jurisdictional Immunities of the State) alleges that Italy has violated the principle of sovereign immunity by allowing civil claims by victims of Nazi crimes against Germany to proceed in Italian courts.[3]
In 2013, he was elected president of theCourt of Conciliation and Arbitration for theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), for a six-year term.[4]
