Thomas Mensah (lawyer)

Thomas A. Mensah (1932 – 7 April 2020) was a Ghanaian judge, law lecturer and diplomat. He was the first president of the International International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and a former Assistant Secretary-General at the International Maritime Organization and Ghana's High Commissioner to South Africa.

Mensah was the President of a five-member tribunal in that Permanent Court of Arbitration that ruled on the case filed by the Philippines against China which concerns the disputed territories in the South China Sea particularly the validity of the nine-dash line claim of China.[1] He died in London on 7 April 2020 after a short illness.[2]

Early life and education

Thomas Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ghana, on 12 May 1932. He was educated at Achimota School. He held a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ghana (1956), a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London (1959), a Master of Laws (1962) and a Doctor of Juridical Science (1964) from Yale University Law School.

Career

He was a lecturer and dean at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana from 1966-1968 and also worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency, a former President of The International Maritime Organization, The UN Environment Programme (World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden Leiden University, Leiden, The Law of the Sea Institute, University of Hawaii, USA) and served as Ghana's High Commissioner to the South Africa.[3][4] He was appointed by Bangladesh in the maritime boundary delimitation dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal. In 2013, he was awarded the International Maritime Prize for 2012 from the IMO Council. He was a president of the IMO and defended the country in a number of lawsuits at the International Court on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the most notable one being the boundary proceedings between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. He was an expedient judge who represented Ghana in the "ARA Libertad" against Argentina. He has to his credit several publications in the field of public international law, law of the sea, maritime law and international environmental law.[2]

References
  1. http://www.theage.com.au/world/south-china-sea-meet-the-man-who-stared-down-china-on-behalf-of-the-world-20160713-gq4lhr.html
  2. "Ghana's judge in Cote d'Ivoire border dispute dies". Graphic Online. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  3. http://seafarersrights.org/advisory-board/thomas-a-mensah/
  4. http://www.iflos.org/en/summer-academy/faculty/bio-mensah.aspx
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