Paul Weis

Paul Weis (19 March 1907 – 6 February 1991) was an Austrian lawyer and survivor of the persecution by the Nazis. He is dubbed to be the "founding father of the protection".

Life

Weis was born in Vienna on 19 March 1907. He flew from the concentration camp Dachau. He was the Protection Director of the United Nationals High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR). He co-authored the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. He contributed groundbreaking work on the law of nations, in particular to the right of asylum and refugee law.  His monograph "Nationality and statelessness in international law" is a standard work.

He died on 6 February 1991 in Geneva.

For his work relating to the rights of refugees, Weis was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award posthumously in 1991.

Publications

• The Refugee Convention, 1951: The Travaux préparatoires analysed with a Commentary by Dr. Paul Weis (PDF). UNHCR. 1990.
• Protection against group defamation : present law and its extension. British Section of the World Jewish Congres. London: British Section of the World Jewish Congress. 1990.
• Weis, Paul; Graupner, Rudolf. The problem of statelessness. British Section of the World Jewish Congress. London: British Section of the World Jewish Congress.

Monographs

• Nationality and statelessness in international law. Stevens, London 1956 (English).
  • Nationality and statelessness in international law (2. revised ed.). Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands and Germantown, Maryland, U.S.A.: Sijthoff & Nordhoff. 1979. ISBN 90-286-0329-8.

Awards

• 1991: Nansen Refugee Award (posthumously)