| Pedro Nikken | |
| Office2: | 3rd President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights |
| Term Start2: | 1983 |
| Term End2: | 1985 |
| Predecessor2: | Carlos Roberto Reina |
| Successor2: | Thomas Buergenthal |
| Birth Date: | 12 June 1945 |
| Birth Place: | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Death Place: | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Alma Mater: | Andrés Bello Catholic University University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas University of Carabobo |
Pedro Antonio Nikken Bellshaw (12 June 1945 – 9 December 2019) was a Venezuelan lawyer and jurist.[1]
He studied law at the Andrés Bello Catholic University Law School, graduating in 1968. In 1973 he obtained a diploma from higher studies at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas and in 1977, a doctorate in law from the University of Carabobo.[2]
He was professor and dean of the Faculty of Juridical and Political Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela.[3]
Between October 1979 and 1989 he was judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, being also its vice president between 1981 and 1983, and president between 1983 and 1985.[4] In 1988 he was vice president of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.[5]
In the 1990s, the United Nations appointed him as legal advisor to the mediation that ended the Salvadoran Civil War.[6] [7]
Since 1997 he was a member of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences of Venezuela.[8]
In 2017 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires.[9]