Levan Aleksidze

Levan Aleksidze (Georgian: ლევან ალექსიძე) (born 5 July 1926) is a Georgian jurist and expert on international law. He is a Professor of Tbilisi State University and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

Levan Aleksidze was born in Tbilisi on July 5, 1926. In 1964 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Tbilisi State University. Since 1964 Levan Aleksidze has been Doctor of Law; Professor (1965); Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (1996); full member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (2001). In 1964-1969 Levan Aleksidze served as an Assistant, Docent, Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Tbilisi State University; in 1969-1970 he was the Head of the Department of International Law. In 1970-1977 – Senior Officer at the Department of Human Rights of the United Nations Secretariat (New York, Geneva); 1970-1975 – Secretary of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; 1975-1977 – Head of the Department of Consultancy Service and Special Tasks; Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General and an organizer at the inter-state seminars arranged by the section. Since 1970 Levan Aleksidze has delivered lectures on the persisting problems of international law at famous scientific and educational institutions, including the Emory and Boston Universities (the United States); the Humboldt University (Germany); the Hague Academy of International Law; the State Universities of Kiev, Azerbaijan and Armenia; the Academy of Human Rights (Greece); the State University of Latvia, etc. Since 1977 Levan Aleksidze has been Professor at the Tbilisi State University in the direction of international law. In 1985-1993 Levan Aleksidze was the first Vice-Rector of the Tbilisi State University. 1990-1991 – member of the Parliament of Georgia In 1991, Aleksidze, then a member of the Parliament of Georgia, drafted a power-sharing agreement that helped temporarily defuse growing tensions in the separatist region of Abkhazia. Aleksidze served for years as the former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze's adviser on the international law, but explicitly expressed his support to the opposition protests at the height of the 2003 Rose Revolution. In the mid-1990s, he also chaired the Georgia State Committee for Investigation of Facts of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of the Georgian Population in Abkhazia.

1993-2004 – chief adviser of the President of Georgia in the issues of international law 1993-2004 – participating in the Geneva Discussions on Abkhaz problems as a member of the Georgian delegation; 1994-1999 – a representative of Georgia at the sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights; 1993-1995 – a law expert of the Georgian delegation at the 47th and 49th Sessions of the UN General Assembly; June 1993 – deputy head of the Georgian delegation at the Vienna International Conference on Human Rights; March 1997 – head of the Georgian delegation at the session of the Human Rights Committee; July 1998 – law expert at the Rome Conference of the International Criminal Court; July 2001 – chairman and expert at the course of international regional trainings on international and regional mechanisms of human rights protection. 1999-2012 – member (expert) of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance 2009-2010 – chairman of the Committee for International Legal Aspects of the Georgian Constitution in the State Constitutional Commission. Since 2010 Levan Aleksidze has been serving as the Deputy Rector of the Tbilisi State University. Levan Aleksidze was and still is a member of many international non-governmental organizations, including a member of the former Soviet Association of International Law (1958-1991); member of the Executive Board of the same association (1962-1970 and 1981-1990); member of the International Law Association (1962-1990); member of the American Branch of the International Law Association (1970-1976); President of the Rome Club in Georgia (since 1995); Director of the Institute of European Law and International Human Rights Law (since 2000); member of the European Society of International Law (2011-2012). Levan Aleksidze has received state prizes and awards, including St. George’s Victory Order (2013); the Presidential Order of Excellence (2010); Order of Honor (1996); Georgian state prize in science for a monograph: Некоторые Вопросы Теории Международного Права - Императивные нормы “jus cogens”, Тбилиси, 1982 (1986). Aleksidze has issued about 150 scientific works – monographs, textbooks, scientific articles, which were published in various countries in English, German, Spanish, Russian and Georgian languages. They have laid the foundation to the study of international legal aspects of Georgian history, were recognized in the world doctrine of international law and are dedicated to substantiation of the groundless nature of the right to self-determination of aggressive separatists of breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He was also an initiator of publishing the first Georgian-language textbooks in the sphere of international law (an updated and complemented version of Modern International Law in 1968-2006 has been published for several times). He was an editor and co-author of dictionary-guides: Modern International Law (dictionary-guide), Tbilisi, 2003 – editor-in-chief and co-author; International Law of Human Rights (dictionary-guide), Tbilisi, 2005 - editor-in-chief and co-author.