Jack Lang becomes UN adviser on prosecuting pirates

(BRUSSELS2) At the end of the meeting held yesterday (Wed August 25) at the UN Security Council, Ban Ki Moon announced his intention to appoint a " Special Advisor on Legal Issues Related to Piracy off Somalia » in order to « continue the reflection on the jurisdictional and penitentiary options » on the prosecution of the pirates (1). The name of the special adviser is now known. This is Jack Lang, the Minister of Culture then of Education of François Mitterand between 1981 and 2002 and today elected deputy in Boulogne sur Mer. But it is not these political qualities only that have retained the choice of Ban Ki Moon. Jack Lang was first a professor of public law and international law at the University of Nancy (from 1976 to 1981), then at the University of Nanterre during the periods of cohabitation (from 1986 to 1988 and from 1993 to 1999). Among other comments, he thus signed a work on the continental shelf of the North Sea and the judgment of the ICJ of 1969 (LGDJ editions, 1988). On the European side, he sat in the European Parliament (from 1994 to 1997), in the "Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy" Commission and in the "Security and Disarmament" Sub-Commission. And, he also a Blog (no one is perfect 🙂 which hasn't been fully updated since 2007...

Jack's mission, according to the UN: identify any additional measures that can be taken to assist States in the region, as well as other States, to prosecute and imprison those who are involved in piracy " and " explore the willingness of states in the region to eventually serve as host countries” for one of the judicial mechanisms mentioned in a recent report.

(1) Read: The 7 options

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)