Gilbert Guillaume (born 4 December 1930; ) is a French jurist and judge who served as the 19th President of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

(ICJ) in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

from 2000 to 2003. He was an ICJ Judge between 1987 and 2005. Guillaume was previously appointed a member of the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international ...

(PCA) in 1980. A native of

Bois-Colombes Bois-Colombes () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. International companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and Aviva have their French headquart ...

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

, Guillaume studied at

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

and graduated from the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

in 1957. He was appointed a master of requests at the

Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...

before joining the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

as Director of Juridicial Affairs in 1979."Décret du 2 novembre 1992 maintenant un conseiller d'Etat dans la position de détachement de longue durée"
legifrance.gouv.fr (in French), 6 November 1992. In 2007 he became a member of the

Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, which he presided over in 2016, when he was awarded the Great Cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. Guillaume is also a former member of the academic staff of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Gilbert Guillaume is the father of Marc Guillaume (born 1964), who was appointed

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaume, Gilbert 1930 births Living people 20th-century French judges 21st-century French judges Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration International Court of Justice judges Presidents of the International Court of Justice People from Bois-Colombes Members of the French Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Sciences Po University of Paris alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni 20th-century French civil servants Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Knights of the Order of Agricultural Merit Knights of the Ordre du Mérite Maritime Members of the Conseil d'État (France)