International Human Rights in a Nutshell (Nutshells)
(This guide offers a reliable source on international huma...)
This guide offers a reliable source on international human rights law for students, practitioners, and professors. It provides an overview of the international, regional, and domestic human rights systems. It reviews recent developments in the field of international humanitarian law, including decisions of the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the establishment of the International Criminal Court. It discusses the history behind international human rights, including the institutional context from which they evolved. It also features expert review of human rights norms and identifies new developments in this area.
Thomas Buergenthal, American judge. Bar: New York 1961, District of Columbia 1983, United States Supreme Court 1982. Recipient Pro-Humanitas Ring, West-Ost Kulturwerk, Federal Republic of Germany, 1978, Distinguished Service award for legal education, New York University Law School Association, 1987, Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial award, Columbia University Law School, 1989, International Justice prize, Gruber Foundation, 2008.
Background
Thomas Buergenthal, born to German-Jewish/Polish-Jewish parents who had moved from Germany to Czechoslovakia in 1933, grew up in the Jewish ghetto of Kielce (Poland) and later in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen. After the War he lived with his mother in Göttingen.
Education
Bachelor, Bethany College, 1957. Doctor of Laws, Bethany College, 1981. Juris Doctor, New York University, 1960.
Master of Laws, Harvard University, 1961. Doctor of Juridical Science, Harvard University, 1968. Doctor of Laws (honorary), University Heidelberg, 1986.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), Free University of Brussels, 1997. Doctor of Laws (honorary), State University of New York, Buffalo, 2000. Doctor of Laws (honorary), American University, 2002.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), University Minnesota, 2003. Doctor of Laws (honorary), George Washington University, 2004. Doctor of Laws (honorary), University Göttingen, 2007.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), St. Edward's University, 2008.
Career
Instructor law, University Pennsylvania, 1961-1962;
assistant professor, State University of New York, Buffalo, 1962-1964;
associate professor, State University of New York, 1964-1967;
professor, State University of New York, 1967-1975;
visiting professor, University Texas-Austin, 1975-1976;
professor, University Texas-Austin, 1976-1977;
Fulbright and Jaworski professor, University Texas-Austin, 1977-1980;
judge, Inter-American Court Human Rights, 1979-1991;
president, Inter-American Court Human Rights, 1985-1987;
dean, professor of law, American U., Washington, 1980-1985;
distinguished professor of law and human rights, Emory University School Law, 1985-1986;
I.T. Cohen professor of human rights, Emory University School Law, 1987-1989;
Lobinger professor of comparative law and jurisprudence, George Washington University, Washington, since 1989;
judge, Administrative Tribunal, Inter-American Development Bank, 1989-1994;
president, Administrative Tribunal, Inter-American Development Bank, 1993-1994. Member United Nations Human Rights Committee, since 1995. Member Claims Resolution Tribunal forDormant Accts. in Switzerland, since 1998.
Member of advisory committee Restatement (3d) of the Foreign Rels. Law of the United States. Chairman human rights committee United States National Common for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1976-1979.
United States representative United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Human Rights Working Group, 1977-1978. United States expert United Nations Interregional Expert Meeting on Crime Prevention and Control, 1978. Member of advisory board President Holocaust Commission, 1978-1980.
Vice president United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Congress on Tchg. of Human Rights, 1978. Member United Nations TruthCommn. for El Salvador, 1992-1993. Member United States Holocaust Memorial Council, since 1996, Chairman of Commission on conscience, since 1997.
Between 1979 and 1991, he served as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, including a term as that court"s president From 1989 to 1994, he was a judge on the Inter-American Development Bank"s Administrative Tribunal. In 1992 and 1993, he served on the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador.
And from 1995 to 1999, he was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
He is member of a number of editorial boards of law journals, including the American Journal of International Law.
Connections
Children: Robert, John, Alan. Married Marjorie J. Bell, 1983. Stepchildren: Sebastian, Cristina.
Recipient Pro-Humanitas Ring, West-Ost Kulturwerk, Federal Republic of Germany, 1978, Distinguished Service award for legal education, New York University Law School Association, 1987, Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial award, Columbia University Law School, 1989, International Justice prize, Gruber Foundation, 2008.
Recipient Pro-Humanitas Ring, West-Ost Kulturwerk, Federal Republic of Germany, 1978, Distinguished Service award for legal education, New York University Law School Association, 1987, Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial award, Columbia University Law School, 1989, International Justice prize, Gruber Foundation, 2008.