Gonzalo Parra Aranguren

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Gonzalo Parra Aranguren, born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 5 December 1928, is a judge at the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in The Hague, Netherlands. He was born in Venezuela and is married to María Trinidad Pulido Santana. He served as a Professor at the Hague Academy of International Law in 1988.

Degree in juridical and political sciences (summa cum laude) at the Central University of Venezuela (1950); postgraduate course in comparative law and jurisprudence (LL.M.) at the Inter-American Law Institute, New York University (1951-1952); Doctor of Law (doktor iuris) (cum laude) at the Ludwig-Maximileans University, Munich, (1955).

Professor at the Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, teaching private international law (1956-1996); has taught that same course at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas (1957-1996).

Judge in the Second Court of First Instance (commercial matters), Federal District and State of Miranda, Caracas (1958-1971); first associate judge (1988-1992) in the Chamber of Cassation (civil, commercial and labour matters) of the Supreme Court of Justice; alternate judge of the same Chamber (1992-1996). Has acted as arbitrator, both in Venezuela and abroad, in the latter case regarding international commercial matters of a private nature; on several occasions has testified in foreign courts as an expert on Venezuelan law.

Member of the Commission of Inquiry appointed in 1985 by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to consider the implementation by the Federal Republic of Germany of the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (1958, No. 111); the report was submitted in 1986, but he did not endorse its recommendations.

Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (since 1985).

Member of the legislative committees that drafted the section on Venezuelan nationality in connection with the Constitution that was approved in 1961; the draft law on private international law (1963) and its subsequent revision in 1965 that was essentially reproduced in the 1998 Venezuelan Private International Law Act; and the revised draft sections of the Code of Commerce dealing with credit instruments and bankruptcy respectively (1963-1965).

Member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984-1996) and of the Legal Advisory Council of the National Congress (1990-1996).

Member of the Institut de Droit international (elected in 1979).

Member of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences of Caracas (since 1966) and its President (1993-1995). Corresponding Member of the Uruguayan International Law Association (1978); Corresponding member of the Argentine International Law Association (1981); Corresponding member of the National Academy of Law and Social Sciences of Córdoba, Argentine Republic (1982); Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Granada, Spain (1994); Corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation corresponding to that of Spain (1994); Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, Madrid (1994); member of the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerrecht” (1998).

Member of the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) (1982-1993); elected again in 1996 for one year. Honorary member of the same Council (1993).

Former member of the editorial board of the Revista del Colegio de Abogados del Distrito Federal, Caracas; the editorial board of the Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas (from its establishment until 1996). Correspondent for the Netherlands International Law Review (since 1987).

Taught the General Course on Private International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law (1988), and has given lectures in various countries: in Curaçao, at the commemoration of the centenary of the Introduction of the Civil Code and the Installation of the High Court of Justice (1969); at the course on international law (Rio de Janeiro, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1988, 1992 and 1997), organized by the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the Brazilian Foundation “Gétulio Vargas”; at the Hague Academy of International Law, on “Recent Developments of Conflict of Laws Conventions in Latin America” (1979); at the “Journeys of International Law” (Salamanca, November 1992); at the seminar on “Principles for the International Commercial Contracts”, prepared by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) (Rome, December 1993); at the working meeting on the “Reviews and Books for the Unification of the Latin-American Juridical System” (Rome, December 1993); at the Eighth World Conference of the International Society of Family Law (Cardiff, June 1994); at the Congress on Children on the Move, organized by the Dutch committee of the International Year of the Family in collaboration with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (The Hague, October 1994); at the seminar on “Adoption, an Act of Love”, organized by the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (Bogotá, June 1995); at the Symposium “Il nuovo Diritto Internazionale Privato Italiano”, University of Padua (1996); at the Symposium “Globalization of Child Law: The Role of the Hague Convention” (The Hague, September 1997); and at the “Civil Law Congress” organized by the Bar Association of Puerto Rico (1998).

Co-Chairman of the Committee on Private International Law, during the Sixteenth Session of the Inter-American Lawyers Federation (Caracas, 1969). Reporter at the “First Latin-American Journeys of International Law”, at the Andrés Bello Catholic University (Caracas, 1979); at the Twelfth Congress of the Hispano-Luso Institute of International Law (Merida, Venezuela, 1980); at the International Seminar on Adoption (Caracas, 1996); and at the Inter-American Congress “Towards a New Regulation of the International Contracts” (Valencia, Venezuela, 1996).

Representative for Venezuela at the International Association of Legal Science and the German Society for Comparative Law (Treveris, Federal Republic of Germany, 1961); and at the third meeting of the Joint Venezuelan-Spanish Commission (Madrid, 1974).

Representative for Venezuela at the first Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-I, Panama, 1975), being Vice-Chairman of the Second Committee; at the second such Conference (CIDIP-II, Montevideo, 1979), being Chairman of the Second Committee; at the third and fourth such Conferences (held, respectively, CIDIP-III in La Paz, Bolivia, 1984, and CIDIP-IV in Montevideo, 1989), being Chairman of the Second Committee; and at the fifth such Conference (CIDIP-V, Mexico City, 1994), being Chairman of the First Committee.

Member of the Committees of Experts that met in Washington, D.C., in 1980 in preparation for the Third Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-III); in Tucson, Arizona, 1993 in preparation for the Fifth Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-V); and in Washington, D.C. (1995, 1996) to prepare the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

Representative of Venezuela at the Hague Conference on Private International Law: thirteenth session (1976-1977); fourteenth session (1980); fifteenth session (1984); special session (1985); sixteenth session (1988); and the seventeenth session (1993); member of the special working group and Special Commission (April and October 1994, respectively) to study the application of the Convention of 1993 to minors who are refugees; of the Special Commission (second meeting, June 1995) on the protection of minors and incompetent adults; and of the Special Commission on maintenance obligations (November 1995). Elected one of the five Vice-Chairmen at the fifteenth and sixteenth sessions.

Rapporteur of the Special Commission of the seventeenth session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and, in pursuance of these functions, prepared the preliminary report (1992) and the explanatory report on the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption of 29 May 1993.

[edit] Works

Die Regel “Locus Regit Actum” und die Formen der Testamente, 1955
La Nacionalidad Venezolana Originaria, Vols. I and II, 1964
La Constitución de 1830 y los Venezolanos por Naturalización, 1969;
Codificación del Derecho Internacional Privado en América, Vol. I, 1982; Vol. II, 1998;
La Nacionalidad Venezolana: I. Antecedentes Históricos, 1983;
La Influencia del Matrimonio sobre la Nacionalidad de la Mujer en la Legislación Venezolana, 1983;
La Nacionalidad Venezolana: II. Problemas Actuales, 1983;
Monografías Selectas de Derecho Internacional Privado, 1984;
Ensayos de Derecho Procesal Civil Internacional, 1986;
Curso General de Derecho Internacional Privado (Problemas Selectos), 1991;
Curso General de Derecho Internacional Privado. Problemas Selectos y Otros Estudios, 1992;
Curso General de Derecho Internacional Privado. Problemas Selectos y Otros Estudios, Tercera Edición, 1998;
Estudios de Derecho Procesal Civil Internacional, 1998;
Escritos Diversos de Derecho Internacional Privado, 1998;
Estudios de Derecho Mercantil Internacional, 1998;
El Régimen de los Bienes en el Matrimonio en el Derecho Internacional Privado Venezolano, 2007.