Yash Pal Ghai CBE | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the 2013 Constitutional Commission, Fiji Commission | |
| In office June 2012 –December 2012 | |
| President | Epeli Nailatikau |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 October 1938 Nairobi,Kenya Colony |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | Oxford (BA),(MA),(DCL) Harvard University (LLM) |
| Occupation | Constitutional Lawyer |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Positions | Professor,UEA–DAR (1968-70) Lecturer,Yale Law (1971-73) Research fellow,Uppsala (1973-78) Professor,Warwick (1978-89) Professor,HKU (1989-) |
Yash Pal Ghai CBE (born 20 October 1938) is a Kenyan academic in constitutional law. As of 2007 he is the head of the Constitution Advisory Support Unit of the United Nations Development Programme in Nepal. Until 2008,he was a Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cambodia on human rights. In September 2008,he resigned his post,following bitter arguments with the Government of Cambodia. He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2005.
His grandparents were from the Khukhrain family-group of Khatris,who came from the Punjab region of North India,and were part of the waves of Indian migration in East Africa,sponsored by the British Empire. His father sent Ghai to Oxford University to study. [1]
He was the Sir YK Pao Professor of Public Law at the University of Hong Kong starting in 1989. He has been an Honorary Professor there since his retirement in 2005. Prior to that,Ghai taught and did research in law at the University of Warwick,Uppsala University in Sweden,the International Legal Center in New York City,and Yale Law School. He has also taught courses at the University of Wisconsin Law School,as part of an exchange program. [2] He was the Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (which attempted to write a modern constitution for Kenya) from 2000 to 2004. Professor Ghai is also recently selected by the Fijian Military Government to be the Chairperson of Fiji's Constitutional Committee.
Ghai has also advised and assisted NGOs on human rights law-related work. He drafted the Asian Human Rights Charter—A People's Charter,a project of the Asian Human Rights Commission.
Ghai has written several books on law in Africa,the Pacific islands,and elsewhere. [ where? ]
Professor Ghai has received the following honours and awards: [1]
Papua New Guinea:Independence Medal,1976
Vanuatu:Independence Medal,1979
New Hebrides:Queen's Medal for Distinguished Service,1980
United Kingdom:Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire,1980 [3] [ citation needed ]The politics of Cambodia are defined within the framework of a constitutional monarchy,in which the king serves as the head of state,and the prime minister is the head of government. The collapse of communism set in motion events that led to the withdrawal of the Vietnamese armed forces,which had established their presence in the country since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The 1993 constitution,which is currently in force,was promulgated as a result of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements,followed by elections organized under the aegis of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The constitution declares Cambodia to be an "independent,sovereign,peaceful,permanently neutral and non-aligned country." The constitution also proclaims a liberal,multiparty democracy in which powers are devolved to the executive,the judiciary and the legislature. However,there is no effective opposition to the Prime Minister Hun Sen,who has been in power from 1984 up to 2023. His Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly in 2018 after the banning of opposition party CNRP and KNLF. KNLF became a main opposition exiled in Denmark after CNRP was dissolved. During the communal election in 2022 and the national election in 2023,there were no international observers. The government is considered to be autocratic.
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