Professor Paula Escarameia Award
Applications are now open for the Professor Paula Escarameia Award, established by NOVA School of Law based on the legacy of the same Professor, who aimed to encourage the study of Public International Law among the student community of our School.
Students from the 1st Cycle or 2nd Cycle may apply for this award.
Applications must be submitted by June 30, 2023, addressed to the Jury, which is composed of Professors Teresa Pizarro Beleza and Helena Pereira de Melo and a relative of Professor Paula Escarameia.
The prize will be awarded on the NOVA School of Law Day.
About Paula Escarameia
Paula Escarameia was a Professor at NOVA School of Law and at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas.
She held a PhD in Public International Law from Harvard Law School (1988), where she also obtained an LLM (1986), was a graduate of the Catholic University of Lisbon Law School (1983) and obtained a Diploma in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University, Bologna Center (1984).
With numerous publications in Public International Law, she lectured in a number of Portuguese and foreign universities, delivered conferences and seminars at the United Nations, at the British Bar Association, Princeton University, Harvard University, among others, but also at the Portuguese Parliament.
She was legal advisor to the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations in New York, representing our country in negotiations and debates within the scope of International Conventions, in areas as diverse as International Terrorism, International Crime and the Law of the Sea, and participated in the work that led to the creation of the International Criminal Court.
She was also the first woman to join the United Nations International Law Commission (she was also the first Portuguese person appointed to this position), where she arrived in 2002. Four years later she was re-elected for a period that would last until 2011.
A tireless defender of Women’s Human Rights, she participated in the work that led to the creation of the International Criminal Court, a diploma that was considered innovative in several thematic areas, with special emphasis on the issue of fighting violence against women.
Paula Escarameia was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague and an honorary member of the Portuguese Association of Women Lawyers. She was also an activist in the struggle of the East-Timorese people, having been one of the founders of the International Platform of Jurists which legally supported this independence process, within the international community.
For her recognized and undeniable merits, she was awarded the degree of Grand Officer of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, in 2002.