Patrick Lipton Robinson, a Jamaican judge serving at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia assumed duties as President of the Tribunal on November 17, 2008. Judge Robinson was first elected to the Tribunal in 1998 and has been re-elected twice since. He has served as the Presiding Judge for Trial Chamber III since 2004 and oversaw the historic trial of the former President of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, the first former Head of State to be brought to trial for war crimes.

Mr. Robinson holds a BA from the University College of the West Indies (UCWI), now the University of the West Indies, an LLB from London University and an LL.M. (International Law) from Kings College, University of London.

He has had a long and distinguished career in public service, in Jamaica and internationally, particularly, in the field of International Law. His contribution in the justice arena has been recognized through the award of the Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.) by the Government of Jamaica for services in international law in 1986, and in 2005, when he was awarded an Honorary Doctors of Laws by the University of the West Indies.

Patrick Robinson began his professional career working as a Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He held the post of Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held a number of positions in the Attorney General’s Department, serving for 12 years as Deputy Solicitor General of Jamaica.

He was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) from 1987 to 1995, serving as its Chairman in 1991 and representing it in cases heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.  

In 1995, he was appointed a foreign member of the Truth and Justice Commission of Haiti - the Commission’s purpose to establish the truth about the most serious rights violations committed during the de facto military regime between 1991 and 1994.

For 26 years, Patrick Robinson was Jamaica’s representative on the Legal Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to which he was accredited as an Ambassador.  In that capacity he served on a variety of UN bodies and committees including its Commission on International Trade Law and its Commission on Transnational Corporations of which he was Chairman of its 12th Session in 1986.

Additionally, Patrick Robinson is the author of the book, “Jamaican Athletics – A Model for the World” - the book seeks to explain the reasons for Jamaica’s high quality performances in global athletics over the past sixty years.