On December 8, ICTJ and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University hosted UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein for the 8th Annual Emilio Mignone Lecture on Transitional Justice.
The event, held at the Ford Foundation Building in New York, featured the high commissioner in conversation with NPR international affairs correspondent Indira Lakshmanan, with over 150 leading human rights activists, policy makers, academics, and practitioners in the field of transitional justice.
High Commissioner Zeid discussed the hopes for the struggle against impunity in the turbulence of today's world. The discussion came as a continuation of a global online debate on the international community's commitment to the fight impunity launched by the ICTJ earlier in the year, which featured High Commissioner Zeid, Harvard Professor Michael Ignatieff, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Aryeh Neier, and a host of the leading voices on justice and human rights from around the world.
“Furthering accountability is a long-term project necessitating the contributions of many different actors,” said High Commissioner Zeid. “In this regard, I greatly value the excellent work that ICTJ does across the globe in advocating for transitional justice in many contexts and, hence, ensuring that the right of victims to an effective remedy is realized.”
Watch the Lecture:
High Commissioner Zeid has previously served as Jordan’s permanent representative to the UN, as well as ambassador to the United States. From 2002 to 2005, he served as president of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s decision-making body.
"The struggle against impunity has been at the heart of the idea of transitional justice since its inception," said ICTJ President David Tolbert in his opening remarks. "From its origins dating back to the historic movements across Latin America demanding truth and justice for crimes of dictators and military juntas, to truth commissions and international tribunals investigating widespread violations from South Africa to Guatemala, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Tunisia. It is this understanding that motivated ICTJ to open the global debate on the commitment of the international community to the struggle against impunity, and tonight’s event is the continuation of this discussion that we find crucial in today’s circumstances."
In her introduction, CHRGJ Faculty Director and Co-Chair Margaret Satterthwaite discussed CHRGJ’s mission to advance scholarship and action in the name of truth and justice and called the annual lecture “an attempt to break the logjam of impunity by fostering dialogue.”
The annual lecture is named after long-time Argentine human rights campaigner Emilio Mignone. Ford Foundation Vice President Martín Abregú paid tribute to Mignone’s legacy in his opening remarks, calling him “irreplaceable” for his combination of commitment to human rights values and political pragmatism.
“There is no doubt that what we need are more visionaries like Emilio, who take on his legacy to defend human rights in the most challenging contexts, being truthful to those values, but at the same time being able to effectively respond to the threats and constraints that we need to face,” said Abregú.
PHOTO: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein speaks with journalist Indira Lakshmanan during the 8th Annual Emilio Mignone Lecture on Transitional Justice at the Ford Foundation Building in New York in December 2015. (ICTJ)
