McGill marks UN Day with new International Law Chair
McGill University is pleased to announce the creation of the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law, endowed by the generous support of Tamar Oppenheimer, OC, BA'46 (McGill), MA'53 (public international law, Columbia University), LLD'94 (McGill), who was the first Canadian woman to have been appointed Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Secretariat.
"Dr. Oppenheimer rightly sees the establishment of this chair at McGill as a gift to Canada," said Dean Nicholas Kasirer. "We see it as a bold call to action for universities to place the issue of the relationship between international law and domestic law at the centre of Canadian legal education. Her own career stands as a model for McGill students," he continued, "and I see her gift as a commitment to emphasizing international law that will strengthen McGill immeasurably."
On United Nations Day, October 24, at 11:30 am, an exhibit highlighting McGill's distinguished and lasting contributions to international law and diplomacy will be held in the Nahum Gelber Law Library at the McGill Faculty of Law (3660 Peel St.) to coincide with the announcement of the Oppenheimer Chair. Prof. John Peters Humphrey's 1947 draft of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be on display, as well as various documents authored by Dr. Oppenheimer, who spent over 40 years with the UN. Her varied career included assignments as Secretary-General of the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Director of the Division of Narcotic Drugs and Deputy to the Director General of the UN office in Vienna, where she now lives.
The Oppenheimer chair holder will emphasize the importance of international norms in national law and bring the work of multilateral organizations as well as the ancillary role of non-governmental organizations to the attention of law students and others who come to international law from different disciplines. Dr. Oppenheimer has established this Chair with the objective of furthering the implementation of international legal instruments and their incorporation into domestic legislation, as well as encouraging law students to undertake careers in the international, national and provincial civil service. By providing an opportunity to study matters relating to the implementation of international law in national rules and administrative practices, the Chair will help students acquire the skills that civil servants working with international legal issues need, whether they embark on careers in Canada or elsewhere.
The Faculty of Law at McGill, which draws its undergraduate and graduate students from across the country and around the world, is an ideal setting for the study of public international law, given its comparative and international orientation. The Faculty has long been instrumental in shaping international law and in inspiring future diplomats and international public servants. The Oppenheimer Chair will be part of a rich tradition in teaching and research in this field dating back to the first international law courses taught at McGill in the 1850s. Teachers and scholars such as Percy Corbett, BA'13, MA'15, DCL'61, Herbert Arthur Smith, Eugène Lafleur, BA 1877, BCL 1880, DCL 1900, LLD'21, John Cobb Cooper, LLM'52, John Humphrey, BCom'25, BA'27, BCL'29, PhD'45, LLD'76, Maxwell Cohen, LLD'94, Peter Leuprecht and Stephen Toope, BCL, LLB'83, have taught international law at McGill. Graduates include former ambassadors Herbert Marler, BA'95, BCL'98, Arnold Heeney, BCL'29, LLD'61, and Yves Fortier, BCL'58, LLD'05, as well as international civil servants such as Donald Johnston, BCL'58, LLD'04, former Secretary-General of the OECD. In 2005, Louise Fréchette, former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, received an honorary degree at the convocation of the Faculty of Law.
Established in 1848, the Faculty of Law at McGill University reflects a central commitment to its vocation of teaching and conducting research in comparative law, legal traditions and in respect of the internationalization of law. The Oppenheimer Chair will stimulate research and teaching in Public International Law, a foundational aspect of legal education at McGill.
