It is announced from Glacis-sur-Mer, that Seychelles’ founding President James R. Mancham was a guest of honor last night of the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), HE Judge Peter Tomka, who was presiding over the launching of the memoirs of Judge C.G. Weeramantry entitled “Towards One World” who was until recently Vice President of the International Court of Justice.
The event was celebrated in the Grand Hall of the Peace Palace of the International Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, built by the Carnegie Foundation and dedicated to the service of humanity.
Dr. C.G. Weeramantry is a Doctor of Laws and a Doctor of Literature of the University of London; former Professor of Law of Monash University of Melbourne, Australia; and Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. He has won many international recognitions for his work such as the UNESCO Prize for Peace Award, the Right Livelihood Award (alternative Nobel Prize), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
The Judge’s contribution to international law was considered so noteworthy that when the city of The Hague celebrated its 750th anniversary in 1996, he was selected as a personality representing The Hague’s excellence in international law, one of the 18 areas which The Hague had achieved distinction over the years.
A longstanding friend of Sir James who often meet in international gatherings, Judge Weeramantry is the author of around 25 books and is President and Patron of several international peace-related organizations and has been a lecturer to audiences in over 50 countries. Like his other works, this new book conveys a very strong message about the use of law as a means for the betterment of humanity, saving it from the destruction threaten by nuclear weapons and leadiing the world forward to a regime of international peace and justice.
His memoirs is dedicated to – “Achieving the one world of peace and justice which is our sacred trust towards generations yet unborn.”
In his introductory remarks, HE Judge Peter Tomka – current President of the ICJ – said that Judge Christopher G. Weeramantry is one of the foremost international legal thinkers of our time. “During more than six decades of his outstanding legal career, he had not just practiced law but had been pondering on broader philosophical, cultural and religious issues in the search for justice and the true meaning of law and legal order. He remains a strong advocate and vocal proponent of peace and harmony, not only between human beings but also between human kinds and environment,” Judge Tomka declared to an audience made up of eminent judges and other distinguished ambassadors and guests representing all the corners of the globe who were attending the historic event.
Recently, Judge Weeramantry took note of the open letter which founding President Mancham had addressed to HE the President of Egypt pleading for clemency for three Seychelles citizens who are under the death sentence in Egypt to express his personal views concerning capital punishment which he said are based on his understanding of the sanctity of human life. In an e-mail to Sir James on October 24, 2014, the eminent jurist said: “Capital punishment is a penalty which I have always disapproved of as I feel that not event the state itself has the right to deprive a citizen of the most fundamental of human rights, namely the right to life. It is of course the duty of the state to punish wrongdoers, but it is also the duty of the state to do all it can to rehabilitate and correct those who have acted wrongly. This is an area of law which needs the attention of concerned citizens and legislators and it has been sadly neglected over the centuries.”
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