THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, May 25, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today honors Justice Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, with the MacArthur Award for International Justice. The Award was presented at a dinner held in The Hague, the international city of peace and justice, which is home to more than 150 international legal organizations and judicial tribunals, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Guests include representatives from the diplomatic and judicial communities, as well as civic and non-profit leaders.
As the first Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Goldstone helped shepherd these courts, the first of their kind since Nazi war criminals were tried at Nuremberg following World War II. In 1995, Goldstone filed charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic for their roles in the "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnian Muslims, as well as torture, rape, the shelling of Sarajevo, and the sacking of mosques and Catholic churches.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Prosecutor in 1994, Goldstone was chair of the Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation (commonly called "the Goldstone Commission") in the aftermath of apartheid in his native South Africa. His service on the Commission proved invaluable to the democratic transition in that country, where he also served as an inaugural justice of the Constitutional Court. He currently serves as the first Spinoza Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study.
In accepting the Award, Justice Goldstone said, "I am delighted that the MacArthur Award recognizes the centrality in the 21st Century of international criminal justice. It is a system that withdraws impunity for war criminals even if they are sitting heads of state. It is also a system that recognizes the inherent dignity of all human beings and seeks to bring official acknowledgement to victims of atrocity crimes."
"As Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Justice Goldstone displayed a mature, meticulous, and measured exercise of his mandate that reanimated the enterprise of international justice, bringing both a degree of resolution to victims and a new model for the prosecution of crimes against humanity," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, who presented the Award. "Insisting on the independence of the counsel and judges, a transparent establishment of the facts in each case, due-process protections for the accused, and the centrality of first-hand testimony from witnesses and surviving victims, he gave the Tribunals moral authority and legal credibility. Justice Goldstone stood guarantor for the responsibility, probity, and value of international justice; his unquestioned competence and integrity won the faith of the world."
The Award provides Goldstone with $100,000 for his own work and invites him to suggest an additional $500,000 in support for non-profit organizations working on international justice issues. At Justice Goldstone's suggestion, MacArthur is awarding grants of $100,000 each to the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation; the International Bar Association; the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life at Brandeis University; the International Center for Transitional Justice; and Physicians for Human Rights.
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