Mohammed Bedjaoui (born September 21, 1929 in Sidi Bel-Abbes) is an Algerian diplomat and jurist. He served as Algeria's ambassador to France and the United Nations among other places. He also served as a judge on the International Court of Justice and as President of the Constitutional Council, Algeria's highest judicial authority of constitutionality review.

Early life and education

He was born in Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algeria during French Colonization. He earned a Diploma of the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies in 1952 and a PhD degree from University of Grenoble in 1956.

Career

He was legal adviser of National Liberation Front (FLN) from 1956 to 1962. At the beginning of the independence of Algeria, Mohammed Bedjaoui was appointed first as Secretary General of the Government in 1962, and then Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals from 1964 to 1970. He was appointed as Ambassador of Algeria to France from 1970 to 1979. Mohammed Bedjaoui was appointed as Ambassador at Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations in New York from 1979 to 1982. Mr. Bedjaoui was Judge at the International Court of Justice of the Hague for almost twenty years from 19 March 1982 to 20 September 2001. His international law career has been summarised as "always committed to reforming international law from within the discipline’s centres of intellectual and professional power, but ... demonstrating an expansion and augmentation of his existing beliefs into a broader account of the historical and conceptual relations between colonialism and international law". He was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs on May 1, 2005 during a cabinet reshuffle, and remained in that position until the appointment of a new government on June 4, 2007, in which he was not included. He was replaced as foreign minister by Mourad Medelci.

Major works

Selected books

Selected academic articles and chapters