War crimes prosecutor visits Adelaide

Justice Richard Goldstone
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Tuesday, 10 March 2009

International war crimes prosecutor and human rights campaigner Justice Richard Goldstone will deliver the annual John Bray Oration to a capacity crowd at Elder Hall this Wednesday 11 March, with all 600 seats booked out.

The South African judge is best known for helping his country make the transition to democratic government after the collapse of apartheid in the mid 1990s. He served as a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, which was entrusted with the task of interpreting the new South African Constitution.

Prior to this, Justice Goldstone served as chairperson of the South African Commission of Inquiry regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, which became known as the Goldstone Commission.

He was also Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

Justice Goldstone's experiences will be outlined in his oration, titled "Revenge or Forgiveness: Truth and Reconciliation in the Aftermath of Human Rights Violations".

The oration is convened by the University of Adelaide John Bray Law Network and the Equal Opportunities Commission, with a grant from the Law Foundation of South Australia.

The Secretary of the John Bray Law Network, Astrid Macleod, said Justice Goldstone was "eminently qualified" to speak on the topic of justice.

"He was recently named the 2008 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award for International Justice, an award which provides funding in support of non-profit organisations working on international justice issues," Ms Macleod said.

Justice Gladstone said in a recent interview that he was optimistic about the state of human rights in South Africa, but he regretted the "terrible human catastrophe" experienced by millions of people in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

The John Bray Law Network is named for Dr John Bray (1912-1995) who was Chief Justice of South Australia from 1967 until 1978. Dr Bray was respected throughout the common- law world as a learned reformer and jurist and was notable for his classical scholarship, poetry and wit.

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