The Rule of Law, widely recognized as central to democracy, is increasingly assumed to be no less essential to the functioning of a just and equitable global community. Richard J. Goldstone—formerly a justice in three of South Africa’s highest courts and a noted global human rights activist—will examine this assumption and conclude that there has been a rapid growth of Rule of Law in the global community when he delivers the Blaine Sloan Lecture on September 15.
Presently, Justice Goldstone is the Bacon-Kilkenny Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. Prior to entering the academy, he served as a judge at the Transvaal Supreme Court, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Justice Goldstone also served as chairperson of South Africa’s Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation (the Goldstone Commission) from 1991 to 1994. From 1994 to 1996, was the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In 1999, he assumed the chairmanship of the International Independent Inquiry on Kosovo and was appointed as the co-chairman of the International Task Force on Terrorism established by the International Bar Association. Justice Goldstone also has served as an international advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross. And as head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Justice Goldstone presented the report of the Mission to the Human Rights Council on September 29, 2009, urging the Council and the international community as a whole to put an end to impunity for violations of international law in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
