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Francisco Rezek

H E PhD

Honorary Fellow

H E Dr Francisco Rezek is a Brazilian judge who served as a member of the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, from 1997 to 2006. Rezek earned his LL.B. and D.E.S degrees from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and obtained a doctoral degree from the Sorbonne in 1970. He went later to England, earning a Diploma in Law at Oxford (Wolfson) in 1979, after undertaking extension courses and research at Harvard University (1965) and at the Hague Academy of International Law (1968, 1970). A Professor of International Law and Constitutional Law at the University of Brasilia from 1971 to 1997, he became Chair of the Department of Law in 1974, serving until 1976, and was Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies from 1978 to 1979. Rezek taught International Law at Rio Branco Institute (the official diplomatic school of Brazil) from 1976 to 1997, and lecturered at The Hague Academy of International Law in 1986 and at the Institute of International Law in Thessaloniki in 1989.

Rezek became Attorney of the Republic at the Supreme Court of Brazil in 1972; and Deputy Attorney-General from 1979 to 1983. In March of the same year, he was appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate to become Justice of the Supreme Court of Brazil. Rezek resigned from this role in March 1990. He was re-appointed in April 1992 for life, but retired in 1997 to initiate his mandate in The Hague. 

Rezek was Foreign Minister of Brazil from 1990 to 1992 and he has been a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration since 1987. He is Head of a law firm in Sao Paulo.