INTRODUCING THE STOCKHOLM HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

The Stockholm Human Rights Award is a joint initiative by the International Bar Association, the International Legal Assistance Consortium  and the Swedish Bar Association.
The  Stockholm Human Rights Award will be given annually to an individual or an institution for outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The first Award was given to the South African Judge Richard Goldstone at a ceremony in Stockholm on on 3 December 2009 at 4 p.m. at the auditorium of the Swedish Bar Association, Laboratoriegatan 4, Stockholm. In connection with the award ceremony, Richard Goldstone delivered a lecture on a human rights related topic.

Richard Goldstone has made an outstanding career in the promotion of the rule of law and human rights, first in his home country South Africa and during the last fifteen years in various highly prestigious international fora.
From 1994 to 2003, Richard Goldstone was a member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. From 1994 to 1996, he served as the Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In 2001 he was appointed as the co-chairperson of the International Task Force on Terrorism that was established by the International Bar Association. Richard Goldstone is presently the co-chairperson of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association. From 1999 to 2003 he served as a member of the International Group of Advisers of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was a member of the committee, chaired by Paul A Volcker, appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to investigate allegations regarding the Iraq Oil for Food Program.
In March 2009, Richard Goldstone was appointed by the United Nations to lead an independent fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Richard Goldstone is presently a Visiting Professor of Law at Fordham Law School in New York. In recent years he has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Fordham, Georgetown and New York University School of Law. He is an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple, London, an Honorary Fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge, and an Honorary Member of the Association of the Bar of New York. He is a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has recently received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Award for International Justice.