Ambassador Gudmundur Eiriksson

Curriculum Vitae

Gudmundur Eiriksson has been Ambassador of Iceland to the Republic of South Africa, with residence in Pretoria, since 2 October 2008.

He received an A.B. degree and a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Rutgers College in 1970, an LL.B. (Honours) degree from King's College, University of London in 1973 and an LL.M. degree from Columbia University in 1974.

He served as a Law of the Sea Officer in the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Law of the Sea from 1974 to 1976 and as a Special Consultant at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1977.  He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland in 1977, with the rank of Ambassador since 1988, and served as Assistant Legal Adviser (1977-1980), Legal Adviser (1980-1996), Ambassador to Canada, Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru (2003-2005) and in the Directorate for International and Security Affairs (2007-2008).  He was elected to serve as a Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1996-2002; President, Chamber for Fisheries Disputes 1999-2002). He was a Lecturer at the University of Iceland from 1987 to 1996 and a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law from 1994 to 1995.  He joined the University for Peace in Costa Rica in 2001 and served until 2003 as Director of International Law and Human Rights Studies and Dean for Cooperative Programmes and from 2005 to 2007, on a part-time basis, as Professor and Head of the Department of International Law and Human Rights; he was appointed Legal Adviser to the Council of the University in 2004.

Ambassador Eiriksson was a member of the United Nations International Law Commission (1987-1996; Rapporteur 1990; First Vice-Chairman 1993).  He was a delegate of Iceland to numerous international forums, including the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1978-1982) and the Council of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (President 1984-1988).  He is a member of the Panel of Conciliators and Arbitrators, Center for Arbitrations, Mediation and Conciliation in Dakar, and the Panel of Conciliators and Panel of Arbitrators, International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington.

He is the author of The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2000) and numerous articles on the law of the sea, legal education, international criminal law, international organizations, international relations, disarmament and human rights.

Ambassador Eiriksson has furthermore lectured at the Universities of Cambridge, London, Durham, Lund, Helsinki, Lapland, Stockholm, Ottawa, Oslo, Tromso, Bergen, Hamburg, Utrecht, Georgia (USA), California (Berkeley), Kyoto, Geneva and Hawaii, at the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and at Dalhousie, Duke, Columbia and Abo Academi Universities.

He is a Knight Commander of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon.

Ambassador Eiriksson was born on 26 October 1947.  He is married to Thorey Vigdis Olafsdottir, Social Worker and Psychologist. They have four children.