Justice In Profile
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Thomas Buergenthal
Thomas
Buergenthal, who currently occupies a seat on the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, has a
particular view of his position on the court: “[f]or
an international lawyer…this is a dream court and
a dream come true.”
His position as a judge on the ICJ also represents the capstone of a career devoted to international law, particularly international human rights law.
For the past 30 years, Judge Buergenthal has dedicated his career to the protection and promotion of international human rights. In 1979, he was nominated by Costa Rica for membership on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in San Jose, Costa Rica (the U.S. is not a party to the treaty establishing the IACHR, see its profile in the International Tribunal Spotlight section of this issue of the Monitor), where he served until 1991, including terms as vice-president and president. He was also President of the Administrative Tribunal of the InterAmerican Development Bank
Judge Buergenthal continued to promote human rights in the Americas as a member of the U.N. Truth Commission for El Salvador between 1992 and 1993. From 1995 until 1999 he had the honor of being the first U.S. envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In March 2000, Judge Buergenthal acceded to his current position on the International Court of Justice, to which he was re-elected in February 2006.
Human rights issues play a central role in Judge Buergenthal’s personal, as well as his professional life. He was born in Lubochna, Slovakia in 1934. One of the youngest child survivors of the Holocaust, he was imprisoned in the Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps during World War II. Judge Buergenthal’s childhood experiences instilled in him the belief “that in a situation where one was in trouble from a human rights point of view…[one] had to have some international mechanisms that could protect.”
After immigrating to the United States in 1951, Judge Buergenthal received his Bachelor of Arts from Bethany College in West Virginia. He continued his academic career at the New York University School of Law, where he was a Root Tilden Scholar and received his J.D. degree. He later received LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from Harvard Law School.
As a judge, Judge Buergenthal has heard many cases that have affected the development of international human rights law. He was a part of the landmark IACHR decisions of 1988 and 1989 requiring the Honduran government to compensate the families of victims of extra judicial killings and forced disappearances that occurred during the 1980s. He has also participated in many leading cases of the ICJ, including the Advisory Opinion case on the “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Not only is he a prominent international magistrate, but Judge Buergenthal is also a widely respected professor and scholar. He spent eleven years at the George Washington University School of Law as the Lobingier Professor of International Law and Comparative Law and presiding Director of the International Rule of Law Center. He was also Dean of the American University Washington College of Law and has held endowed professorships at the University of Texas Law School and Emory University Law School.
His numerous awards include the Louis B. Sohn Award from the International Section of the American Bar Association (2006). Among his many published works are International Human Rights (with D. Shelton and D. Stewart), 3rd ed., 2002, and most recently, Ein Glückskind (Child of Fortune), his childhood memoir, published in 2007.
Judge Buergenthal is a continuous staunch champion of international human rights law. He has maintained a deep interest in the ways in which international institutions can protect individuals and positively impact the international community. He continues to advocate the U.S. becoming a state party to such human rights treaties as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as seeking membership on the UN Human Rights Council.
by James G. Apple, Co-Editor, International
Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial
Academy; and Christine E. White, International Judicial
Academy
International
Judicial Monitor