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South African Judge Richard Goldstone Gives Trienens Lecture

October 02, 2001


Richard Goldstone, the distinguished South African Justice best known as the first chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, delivered a lecture as part of this year's Howard J. Trienens Visiting Judicial Scholar Program.

Free and open to the public, Goldstone's lecture "International Criminal Justice - Why We Need It," took place at noon, Tuesday, Oct. 2.


Photo of Justice Goldstone taken by Jim Ziv

"The Trienens Visiting Judicial Scholars Program enables us to invite a leading jurist to the law school for a few days to lecture and provide students and faculty with a perspective on some of the most pressing legal issues of our time," said David E. Van Zandt, dean of the Law School.

As chief prosecutor of the UN International Tribunal from 1994 to 1996, Goldstone insisted that wartime rapes and torture of women be recognized as war crimes and inhumane treatment under the Geneva Convention. His book For Humanity: Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator recounts his time as a prosecutor of the Tribunal and argues in favor of establishing a permanent international court.

Goldstone, who currently serves as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, has been an international champion of human rights throughout his career. In the early 90s, he became involved in the transition of South Africa from an apartheid state to a democracy, and served as the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, which came to be known as the Goldstone Commission.

In 1998 Goldstone led a high level group of international experts in the drafting of a Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities for the Director General of the UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. He is currently the chair of the Board of the Human Rights Institute of South Africa and the chair of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo.

The Howard J. Trienens Visiting Scholar Program was established at Northwestern University School of Law in 1989 by partners of Sidley and Austin to honor Mr. Trienens' service to the firm and Northwestern. Trienens, who headed Sidley and Austin's Executive Committee from 1977 to 1993, joined the firm in 1949 as an associate and became a partner in 1956. Distinguished jurists who have lectured as part of the Trienens Visiting Scholar Program in the past include U.S. Supreme Court Justices William H. Renquist, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, and Sandra Day O'Connor.

Justice Goldstone speaks with Douglass Cassel, director of the Center for International Human Rights, and Judge Ruben Castillo, U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois, at a reception following the Trienens lecture.

(from left) Justice Goldstone speaks with Douglass Cassel, director of the Center for International Human Rights, and Judge Ruben Castillo, U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois, at a reception following the lecture.

 

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