The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes Louise Arbour, former Canadian Supreme Court justice, spoke to Brandeis students and faculty on Nov 6. Arbour discussed the need for international protection of human rights.

In 1999, Louise Arbour was the judge who indicted former President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslovia. Nine years later, dressed in a smart suit and armed with a confident smile, she summarized the relationship between international and domestic law to Brandeis students and faculty.

When creating an indigenous body of international law, Arbour explained, it is important to acknowledge that there is "no pre-existing objectively superior view to organizational or institutional settings."

Arbour, 62, former Supreme Court justice of Canada, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, addressed students and faculty in the International Lounge Nov. 6 as the keynote speaker from the North American Judicial Colloquium.

The NAJC brought together 19 judges from domestic and international courts to "[explore] the intricacies of the question: What can international and domestic judges learn from one another?" according to Daniel Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life.

Arbour has been one of the "key role figures both in developing and enforcing human rights and building bridges between international and domestic law," Terris said.

Terris opened the event by discussing the moment when Arbour "made history" by indicting Milosevic as responsible for inflicting "crimes against humanity."

Terris said that Arbour's actions marked the first time that a chief public representative of a political state was called before an international court.

Focusing in particular on the need for an international body of criminal law to protect human rights, Arbour discussed the Nuremburg Laws of 1935, which advocated for racial discrimination against the Jewish population in Nazi Germany. Arbour said the human rights violations in the Nuremburg Laws were only the first step in alerting the world that there was a need to protect those rights in international law.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools