Justice Richard J. Goldstone
Richard Goldstone was awarded the Heintz Humanitarian Achievement Award at a reception and dinner at the Robert H. Jackson Center recently.
The event kicked off the 16th annual Humanitarian Law Roundtable (IHLR).
Goldstone was a judge in South Africa for 23 years, the last nine as a Justice of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country’s judicial system situated in Johannesburg. After retiring from the bench in 2004, he taught as a visiting professor in several United States and European Law Schools.
Previously, from August 1994 to September 1996, he was the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
He chaired the Independent Expert Review Group established in December 2019 by the Assembly of States Parties to review the International Criminal Court and Rome Statue system. He is a vice chair of Integrity Initiatives International and chairs its International Anti-Corruption Court Treaty Drafting Committee.
His honorary positions include member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and an international member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Bencher of the Inner Temple, London, Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge; life member of the International Bar Association and President of its Human Rights Institute.
His numerous past awards include the International Human Rights Award of the American Bar Association (1994) and the International Justice Award of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in December (2009).
Goldstone, who addressed the roundtable remotely via video message, said he was deeply honored to receive this award and particularly meaningful for three reasons.
“First, it is associated with the Jackson Center and the Nuremburg Trials that gave birth to modern humanitarian law. The second reason is the distinguished people who have received this award over the years it is a great privilege to follow them. Perhaps most meaningful to me is that it is an honor by my peers and dear friends,” Goldstone said.
He continued that despite the best work of the assembled experts in international humanitarian law, contradictory policies of the United States’ administrations and their ambiguous support, due to politics and zealous protection against the prospect of a United States citizen being charged, is harmful to the mission of international justice.
“It is for this reason that hurdles have been placed in the way of a special trial for the crime of aggression in Ukraine. Some of you present at this dinner have been working ceaselessly to support such a tribunal. It is in this context we must continue to value and with the staunch and unwavering support given to international criminal justice by all of you who assemble each year in Chautauqua… It is now crucial that support should not flag, and indeed that it should go from strength to strength,” Goldstone said.
The program is one of the ways the Robert H. Jackson Center, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, advances the legacy of Jackson.
The Joshua H. Heintz Award for Humanitarian Achievement is given to an individual who demonstrates compassion, vision, and dedication in pursuit of international humanitarian justice. The award honors efforts to limit the effects of armed conflict, to protect people and culture, and to ensure judicial processes are developed and enforced. The award’s benefactor, Joshua H. Heintz, practiced law for more than 31 years before retiring.
The International Humanitarian Law Roundtable brings together prosecutors and judges from international courts and tribunals as well as international humanitarian law practitioners, scholars, and students each year for lectures and discussion groups. The Roundtable was cosponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Law, the American Bar Association, PILPG, American Red Cross, and the American Society of International Law.
To learn more about Robert H. Jackson, visit the Jackson Center from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 305 E. Fourth St., Jamestown, or visit roberthjackson.org. Docents are available to provide tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturdays between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and by appointment. Donations are welcome.
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