Richard Goldstone
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Richard J. Goldstone, (born October 26th, 1938), South African judge and international war crimes prosecutor.
Official photo of Justice Goldstone:
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Judge and Justice
South Africa
Richard J. Goldstone served nine years as a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, which was entrusted with the task of interpreting the new South African Constitution and supervising the country’s transition into democracy.
Argentina
He was a member of the international panel established in August 1997 by the government of Argentina to monitor the inquiry into Nazi activity in the republic since 1938.
Kosovo
Goldstone was chairperson of the International Independent Inquiry on Kosovo established in 1999.
South African honors
Served as national president of the National Institute of Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO); chairperson of the Bradlow Foundation, a charitable educational trust; and head of the board of the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA).
The Goldstone Commission: Defusing apartheid
Before taking a seat on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation—later known as the Goldstone Commission in South Africa. The Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections, and concluded that political violence was fuelled by a 'third force'.
Chief UN Prosecutor in Yugoslavia and Rwanda
From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Author
Goldstone is the author of numerous articles on international humanitarian law. He has written forewords to several books, including "Martha Minow’s Beyond Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide" and "Mass Violence and War Crimes: The Legacy of Nuremberg", which examines the political and legal influence the Nuremberg trials have had over contemporary war crime proceedings.
Awards and honorary degrees
In 1994, Goldstone received the International Human Rights Award of the American Bar Association. He holds honorary degrees from Hebrew University, the University of Notre Dame, Maryland University College, and the Universities of Cape Town, British Columbia, Glasgow, and Calgary among others. He is an honorary fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge, an honorary member of the Association of the Bar of New York, a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Center for International Affairs of Harvard University.
External links
- Biography: Constitutional Court of South Africa (http://www.concourt.gov.za/judges/jdgoldst.html)
- Law and the search for justice: Conversation with Justice Goldstone (http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Goldstone/gold-con0.html)
- TIME magazine: The Cape Crusader: South African wants a permanent international court to try war criminals (http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/1211/goldstone.html)
- Judge Goldstone retires: To teach in New York (http://iafrica.com/news/sa/273583.htm)