ICEL GOVERNANCE
ICEL adopted its statutes on 26 November 1969. Its last amendment took place at a meeting of ICEL-members on 11 December 2020.
Art. 3, Para 1 of the ICEL-Statutes states the main functions of ICEL are to:
- (a) Promote the progressive development of international and comparative environmental law and its related disciplines, to encourage the transformative effect on the principles of law and practices, through providing expert advice and advancing proposals that have a realistic prospect of being adopted;
- (b) Promote the principle of legality and the rule of law generally, and the environmental rule of law at international, regional and national levels;
- (c) Promote the compilation and dissemination of information relating to international environmental law and comparative environmental law, and its related disciplines, and to facilitate education and capacity building about environmental law and sustainable development practices.
Tasks and Functions of the ICEL-bodies
The “Board of Governors” shall not exceed 15 members. It is the Supervisory Board of ICEL. Ex-officio member of the Board is the chairman of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, Justice Antonio Benjamin, Brazil. The Board of Governors is elected for a period of five years by the membership of ICEL.
Currently is comprised by:
Chief Justice Antonio Herman Benjamin (Brazil) – Chancellor
Chair, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law; Judge of the High Court of Brazil (Superior Tribunal de Justiça)
John E. Scanlon AO (Australia/United Kingdom) – Executive President
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO); Distinguished Alumni, University of Adelaide, Australia; Chinese Government Friendship Award; Doctor Honoris Causa, Ilia State University, Georgia.
Gustavo Alanís-Ortega (Mexico) – Treasurer
Executive Director and founder, Mexican Environmental Law Center (CEMDA)
Prof. Montserrat Abad (Spain), Co-Director of ICEL International Secretary
Professor of Public international Law, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Prof. Ben Boer (Australia) – Chair, ICEL Publications Committee
Visiting Professor, Wuhan University (China)
Prof. Koh Kheng Lian (Singapore) [Chair, Nominations Committee]
Emeritus Professor and Director of APCEL, National University of Singapore
Rose Lesley Kautoke, Esq. (Tonga)
Attorney General’s Chamber, Kingdom of Tonga
Prof. Patricia Kameri-Mbote (Kenya)
Director, Law Division of the United Nations Environment Programme
Prof. Reinhard J. Krapp (Germany)
Minister and diplomat, retired, Federal Republic of Germany
Prof. Nilüfer Oral (Turkey)
Director, Center for International Law, National University of Singapore
Member of UN International Law Comission
Prof. Eckard Rehbinder (Germany)
Emeritus Professor, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Prof. Alexandr Solntsev (Russia)
Head of Department of International law of the People’s Friendship University in Russia (RUDN), Moscow
Prof. Christina Voigt (Norway)
Professor, University of Oslo, Department of Public and International Law, Coordinator at PluriCourts, Center of Excellence at the University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway), Chair of the Climate Change Specialist Group of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and Member of the IUCN Task Force on Climate Change
Prof. Zhou Chen (China)
Professor Xiamen University Law School and Chief-Secretary in International Environmental Law of the China Environmental and Resources Law Association
The “Bureau” – including the Chair, Vice Chair, Executive Governor, Treasurer and Secretary – is the executive committee of the Board of Governors and responsible for the day-to-day business of ICEL.
ICEL is represented at UN organizations by “ICEL Representatives” – currently in New York, Vienna, Geneva, Nairobi, Madrid, Sydney, and Bonn.
Mr. John E Scanlon AO – New York, Geneva and Vienna
Prof. Maria Ivanova – New York
Prof. Nicholas A. Robinson – New York
Mr. Daniel Kachelriess – Vienna
Ms. Ana Motamayor – Sydney
Ms. Milena Bellini Sheppard – Geneva
Mr. Donald Kaniaru – Nairobi
Mr. Reinhard Krapp – Bonn
Mr. Antonio Oposa – Ombudman for Future Generations
Prof. Hiroko Muraki-Gottlieb – Oceans
Prof. Koh Kheng Lian – ASEAN
Mr. Chikosa Banda – African-Asian Legal Consultative Organization
Mr. Shakeel Kazmi – International Renewable Energy Agency
Prof. Juan Cruz Allí Turrillas – UN World Tourism Organization (WTO)
Over several decades three “Executive Presidents” exerted the secretariat function. The current ICEL-statutes have been revised in Paris in 2017 and they provide now for only one Executive Governor, who is the functioning director and chief executive officer for ICEL. John E. Scanlon AO is the current Executive Governor.
ICEL Statutes are public and open to be consulted for those interested on this organization.
