As of fall 2019, Mr. Pablo A. Arrocha Olabuenaga is an affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict.

Mr. Arrocha is a Mexican diplomat specialized in public international law with over 15 years of experience working for the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has served in the Office of the Legal Adviser and the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. He is currently the legal adviser of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations in New York, where he has been elected as Vice-president of the Sixth Committee (Legal Affairs) of the 74th General Assembly. His portfolio covers a broad range of issues, including UN law, law of the sea, human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law.

He has been involved in numerous negotiation processes, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. He was a member of the Mexican delegation to the Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the Case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America) before the International Court of Justice, as well as to the Security Council (2009–2010), the negotiations of the Arms Trade Treaty, and currently to the Intergovernmental Conference to negotiate an implementation agreement of UNCLOS for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Since 2012, he has been assistant to Special Rapporteur Juan Manuel Gómez-Robledo in his work in the International Law Commission on the provisional application of treaties.

In addition to his diplomatic career, he has been a public international law professor at the LaSalle University (Mexico City), and he is a member of the Mexican Branch of the International Law Association and of the Editorial Board of the Mexican Yearbook of International Law. He has over 20 publications including specialized books, book chapters, and articles.

Mr. Arrocha holds a law degree with honors from the Faculty of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and an LL.M. in public international law from University College London (UCL). He also has diplomas from The Hague Academy of International Law, the European University Institute and the San Remo International Institute of Humanitarian Law, among other programs and institutions.

Webpage last updated: September 2019.