Biographie orateur : Prof. Michael Bothe

Professor Michael BOTHE

Professor emeritus, Dr.iur.

Born 1938 in Berlin. He studied law at the Universities of Heidelberg and Hamburg and International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva.

From 1964 to 1979, he was research assistant/fellow at the Max Planck Institute for comparative Public Law and International law, Heidelberg, 1968/69 also visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

He passed the State Examinations in Law in Heidelberg (1961) and Stuttgart (1966), obtained the diploma of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva (1966), the doctorate in law in Heidelberg (1967) and the “Habilitation” also in Heidelberg (1974). 1974-77, he was a member of the German delegation to the Geneva Diplomatic Conference on International Humanitarian Law.

He served as Professor of Public Law, in particular international law at the Universities of Heidelberg, Hannover and Frankfurt 1977-2003. In addition, he was visiting professor/lecturer at different universities in Europe, the United States and Australia. He directed and coordinated a number of major international research projects. He also served as the coordinator of the Tacis Project “Creation of an Institute of European Law at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations” (1996-2000). He was Vice-President and President, European Environmental Law Association 1993-1998; President, German Society for International Law 2001-2005.

He is Chair, Commission for International Humanitarian Law, German Red Cross, and President of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. He also served as counsel in various cases before the International Court of Justice and the German Federal Constitutional Court.

He is the author of numerous publications on international law and the use of force, international humanitarian law, international, European and comparative environmental law as well as comparative constitutional law, including:

- New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflicts, Commentary on the 1977 Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Den Hague/Boston/London 1982, (with K.J. Partsch, W.A. Solf);

- The OSCE in the Maintenance of Peace and Security. Conflict Prevention, Crisis Management and Peaceful settlements of Disputes, Den Haag et al. 1997, (co-editor with Natalino Ronzitti and Allan Rosas);

- The New Chemical Weapons Convention - Implementation and Prospects, Den Haag et al. 1998, (co-editor with Natalino Ronzitti und Allan Rosas);

- Towards a Better Implementation of International Humanitarian Law. Berlin 2001 (ed.).