The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes Director of the Ethics Center Daniel Terris introduced speaker Judge Thomas Buergenthal last Thursday.

Judge Thomas Buergenthal, who sits on the International Court of Justice at The Hague, spoke on human rights issues and the value of worldwide criminal courts at The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life's 10th anniversary celebration last Thursday.

Eighty people attended the program, called "Justice 2018: Charting the Course" and held in the International Lounge in Usdan. The speech focused on the value of international courts now and in the future.

Buergenthal is a Holocaust survivor and has become a pioneer in the protection of human rights. In 2000, he was elected to the International Court of Justice at The Hague and "is the United States' senior judge on the world stage," said Daniel Terris, the Ethics Center's founding director.

Terris, who introduced Buergenthal and who recently published a book about the International Court, said that he "wanted a keynote speaker who would embody the Center's principles." According to a pamphlet distributed at the event, the mission of the Center "is to develop effective responses to conflict and injustice by offering innovative approaches to coexistence, strengthening the work of the international courts and encouraging ethical practice in civic and professional life."

Terris said that marking the 10-year anniversary with Buergenthal is a great way to look forward to where Brandeis and the world are going. He said that Buergenthal's "life, his work and his spirits align so closely with whom this University is named," referring to progressive former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

Buergenthal began his speech by stressing the importance of creating more human rights tribunals in the future.

Evaluating whether regional criminal courts would make sense, Buergenthal said states in certain regions of the world would feel comfortable with these types of courts and added that he "has no doubt that more regional international criminal courts will be needed with more international trade." However, he said that "some states see courts as threats to sovereignty."

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