Professor Bimal Patel, Vice-Chancellor of the Rashtriya Raksha University and Member of the National Security Advisory Board of India, has been elected to the International Law Commission for a five-year term, in a hard-fought election at the United Nations.
"Hearty felicitations to Prof Bimal Patel @RakshaUni for election to International Law Commission by topping the group," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti tweeted on Friday, thanking all UN member states for overwhelming support to India's candidature.
Patel, 51, garnered 163 votes in the UN General Assembly out of 192 members present and voting, topping the Asia-Pacific group that included candidates from China, South Korea and Japan. He will serve a five-year term starting January 1, 2023.
In the Asia-Pacific group, there were 11 very strong candidates vying for 8 seats, making the election hotly-contested.
Professor Bimal Patel of India is elected to the ILC for a 5-year term. Our contribution to ILC will reflect the commitment to uphold rules-based international order, underpinned by Rule Of Law," India's Permanent Mission to the UN tweeted, in the backdrop of growing global concern over China's military muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.
Heartfelt gratitude to all countries who reposed their trust in India's candidate with highest votes in Asia-Pacific Group, the mission said.
India topped the group with 163 votes for Patel, followed by 162 votes for Thailand, 154 for Japan, 145 for Vietnam.
China could manage 142 votes, followed by 140 for South Korea, 139 for Cyprus and 123 for Mongolia.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years.
Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region which, in parts, is claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Beijing has impeded commercial activity like fishing and mineral exploration by neighbouring nations in recent years, saying the ownership of the resource-rich maritime territory belongs to China for hundreds of years.
Patel is an esteemed educationalist, jurist and administrator and during his professional career of over three decades, he has served in various roles such as the Director at the Gujarat National Law University and member of the 21st Law Commission of India.
He has worked for 15 years at global organisations such as the United Nations of Youth and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the Hague, Netherlands, according to his profile on the Rashtriya Raksha University website.
The International Law Commission was established by the General Assembly in 1947 to undertake the mandate of the Assembly to "initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification .
The Statute of the International Law Commission provides that the Commission shall consist of 34 members who shall be persons of recognised competence in international law.
The members of the Commission are to be elected by the General Assembly from a list of candidates nominated by the Governments of States Members of the United Nations.