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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Rights lawyer wins Tang Prize
Lawyer and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: CNA, courtesy of the Tang Prize Foundation
TRAILBLAZER: Louise Arbour was the first prosecutor to gain a genocide conviction at an international tribunal and helped reduce government interference in legal proceedings
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Canadian lawyer and former UN high commissioner for human rights Louise Arbour yesterday won the Tang Prize in rule of law.
The Tang Prize was awarded to Arbour “for her enduring contributions to international criminal justice and the protection of human rights, to promoting peace, justice and security at home and abroad, and to working within the law to expand the frontiers of freedom for all,” Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh （李遠哲）, who chairs the Tang Prize Selection Committee, told a news conference in Taipei.
Arbour, 69, served as the UN high commissioner for human rights from 2004 to 2008, and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1999 to 2004. She was also the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia （ICTY） and for Rwanda （ICTR） from 1996 to 1999.
In 1998, Arbour became the first prosecutor to gain a conviction for genocide at an international tribunal, when the ICTR convicted former mayor of Rwanda’s Taba commune Jean-Paul Akayesu of genocide.
In Akayesu’s trial, the tribunal defined rape as a means of perpetrating genocide — the first time that rape was considered an act of genocide by an international tribunal.
The following year, as the chief prosecutor for the ICTY, Arbour again made history by indicting then-president of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, who became the first incumbent head of state to be tried for war crimes by an international tribunal.
During her term at the ICTY, Arbour introduced legal procedures such as “sealed indictments” to reduce interference by local authorities in legal proceedings and to take war crime suspects by surprise.
As a result, the number of arrests made by the tribunal more than tripled during her term.
Later, while serving as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Arbour continued to speak out against injustice, taking strong stances against honor killings, human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and war crimes in Darfur.
From 2009 to 2014, she was president and chief executive officer of nongovernmental organization the International Crisis Group, focusing on conflict prevention and resolution
On hearing that she won the prize, Arbour said: “I hope it will inspire young lawyers to realize that it’s a gift to work in this legal profession that gives us the tools to advance the rule of law for the benefit of all people.”
Arbour said she would use the platform afforded to her by winning the prize to further the rule of law.
The rule of law is the “fabric” that combines together people from all over the world “who have the same aspirations to live, to live in peace, to live freely, to have the basic opportunities to educate their children, to provide them with healthcare,” she said.
The Tang Prize was established in 2012 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin （尹衍樑） to honor top researchers and leaders in the fields of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and rule of law.
An award ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sept. 25 in Taipei.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
