Jens Evensen

Jens Evensen Ingebret ( born November 5, 1917 in Kristiania, † 15 February 2004 in Asker ) was a Norwegian lawyer, diplomat and politician of the Arbeiderpartiet. He worked from 1973 to 1978 in the Norwegian government, first as Minister of Commerce and later as Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for the Secretariat for Maritime Law, and was from 1985 to 1994 as a judge at the International Court. His activities contributed significantly to the international legal regulation of the Norwegian access to marine resources and thus to the development of the oil industry in the country.

Life

Jens Evensen was born in 1917 in Kristiania, now Oslo, in a working class family. He graduated in law at the University of Oslo and graduated in 1942. After the end of World War II, he went in 1947 to further studies in the United States at the University of Minnesota and Columbia University. From 1952 to 1953 he studied with a Rockefeller Fellowship at Harvard University, where he also received his doctorate.

From 1945 to 1973 he worked as a lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Oslo. In addition, he was active in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was held there from 1961 to 1973 the post of Director General of the Legal Department in addition he was an ambassador until 1985 and legal counsel of the Ministry. In these roles, he represented his native country, among others, from 1949 to 1951 and from 1955 to 1957 in two cases before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in negotiations with the European Communities in 1972 completed a trade agreement. In the Norwegian government, he worked from 1973 to 1974 as Minister of Commerce and from 1974 to 1978 under the Prime Minister Trygve Bratteli and Odvar Nordli as Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under standing secretariat for maritime law.

From 1973 to 1982 he was head of the Norwegian delegation to the third Law of the Sea United Nations ( UN) and one of the Vice- President of the Conference. In addition, he led the delegation of his native country at the UN Committee on the peaceful uses of the ocean floor and was from 1968 to 1973 Vice- Chairman of the Committee. From 1979 to 1984 he was a member of the UN International Law Commission. In 1978 he became a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Between 1978 and 1982 he worked in one case as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, to which he was elected, together with the Chinese Ni Zhengyu in November 1984 as a regular judge and worked from 1985 to 1994 for a regular term of office of nine years had.

Jens Evensen was married and the father of two sons. He died in Asker, 2004.

Work

Among the priorities of the activities of Jens Evensen included not only the Law of the Sea, in which he contributed, among others, the creation of the legal concept of the exclusive economic zone ( 200 nautical miles ), the areas of disarmament and international telecommunications law. In 1965 and 1986 he worked as a lecturer at the Hague Academy of International Law. Its legal, political and diplomatic work is considered decisive for the international legal regime of Norway's access to marine resources in the area of oil exploration and fisheries, and thus for the development of the Norwegian oil industry and the associated wealth of the country.

Awards

Jens Evensen belonged from 1971 to the Institut de Droit International and was commander of the Norwegian St. Olav's Order.

Works (selection)

• Aspects of International Law Relating to Modern Radio Communications. Series: Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law. Volume 115 The Hague 1965
• Working Methods and Procedures in the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Series: Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law. Volume 199 The Hague 1987