Buergenthal and Shestack Receive 2008 Gruber Justice Prize

October 30, 2008 -- GW Law helped honor two giants of international justice and law as the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation bestowed its 2008 Justice Prize upon colleagues GW Law Professor Emeritus and ICJ Judge Thomas Buergenthal and former ABA President Jerome J. Shestack.

"Through a lifetime of dedication and determination to the principles of equal rights and justice through law, each of this year's Gruber prize recipients has had a profoundly positive and lasting impact on the lives of people all over the world," said Patricia Gruber, co-founder of the foundation that has been awarding the Gruber Justice Prize annually since 2001.

Yale Law School Dean Koh delivered a talk entitled “Human Rights in the Post-Post-Post Cold War World,” after which the Justice Prize recipients shared their insights on this subject, gleaned from their long and distinguished legal careers. The three panel members took questions from the audience.

The event also included a poignant video tribute to the lives and careers of Judge Buergenthal and Mr. Shestack.

Thomas Buergenthal – a child of the Holocaust who became a world leader in the struggle for justice and 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.

Mr. 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.

For more information, please visit the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation website.