Two Champions of Justice Share $500K Gruber Foundation International Justice Prize
NEW YORK – The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation today announced that it will award its 2008 Justice Prize to two renowned advocates for human rights and justice though law:
Judge Thomas Buergenthal - a child of the Holocaust who became a world
leader in the struggle for justice, he serves as the American judge on
the International Court of Justice; co-authored the first international
human rights law textbook in the United States; as judge and president
of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, helped end the practice of
disappearances in Honduras, and helped secure the government of
Guatemala's compliance with a Court order ending executions of human
rights activists by special tribunals.
Jerome J. Shestack - former president of the American Bar Association
who helped end the practice of disappearances in Argentina, Chile, and
Brazil; helped marshal support to eliminate race and gender
discrimination in the United States; successfully defended dissidents
in the former Soviet Union and South Africa; organized protection for
human rights advocates; and served as a mentor to a generation of human
rights lawyers.
The Justice Prize will be awarded in a ceremony this fall celebrating the achievements of the recipients, who will share the $500,000 prize.
"I applaud the selection of Thomas Buergenthal and Jerome Shestack as Justice Prize recipients," said United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Throughout their distinguished careers, both have devoted their bright minds and brave hearts to repairing tears in their local communities, nation, and world. Justice, equal and accessible to all, has been their constant pursuit. They have strived to install and uphold the rule of law and respect for the humanity and dignity of all the world's people, however turbulent the times or the pressure to relent. Their courage and vigilance have inspired legions of jurists to follow in their way, to support and defend liberty and justice at home and abroad, whenever and wherever those hallmarks of civilized society are threatened."
Judge Thomas Buergenthal served as judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 1979 to 1991. He is the founder, former first president, and, since 1991, honorary president of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, which plays a premier role in human rights promotion, research, and education in Latin America. From 1992 to 1993, he was Commissioner of the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador, which investigated the human rights violations committed in that country during its civil war. He was the first United States citizen (1995-99) to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Committee, where he contributed to improvement of the Committee's working methods. While chairman of the American Bar Association's Human Rights Committee, Judge Buergenthal successfully advocated for U.S. ratification of international human rights agreements. He was also the first full-time chairman (1997-2000) of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. A concentration camp inmate during the first decade of his life, Judge Buergenthal has campaigned against genocide and crimes against humanity in many parts of the world. A law professor and prolific author, he co-authored the first American law school course book on international human rights law, which led to the introduction of international human rights courses and seminars in American law schools.
While U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights, Jerome J. Shestack spearheaded the creation of a Working Group to address the practice of disappearances engaged in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. He chaired the International League for Human Rights, and founded and chaired the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights (now Human Rights First), which helped rally world opinion on behalf of human rights through its missions to expose injustices and human rights abuses by the regimes of authoritarian and totalitarian rulers. While still a student at Harvard Law School, Shestack successfully launched a movement to have women admitted to the school. And, while on faculty at LSU in the early 1950s, he led a successful campaign to desegregate that school. As First Deputy City Solicitor of Philadelphia, his advocacy in the Pennsylvania appellate courts helped end segregation in swimming pools, bowling alleys, and places of public amusement. As chair of the American Bar Association's Section on Individual Rights, Shestack started the first ABA committees on women's rights, legal services to the poor, Native American rights, and international human rights. As president of the American Bar Association, he marshaled ABA support for the International Criminal Court, and other UN human rights treaties. Often referred to as the "Pied Piper of Human Rights," he has served as a mentor for a generation of lawyers in the United States and around the world.
The Gruber international Prize Program honors contemporary individuals in the fields of Cosmology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Justice and Women's Rights, whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture. The Selection Advisory Boards choose individuals whose contributions in their respective fields advance our knowledge, potentially have a profound impact on our lives, and, in the case of the Justice and Women's Rights Prizes, demonstrate courage and commitment in the face of significant obstacles.
The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation honors and encourages educational excellence, social justice and scientific achievements that better the human condition. For more information about Foundation guidelines and priorities, including additional information about the 2008 Justice Prize recipients, please visit www.gruberprizes.org.