Louise Arbour: Law as a force for good
The winner of this year’s Tang Prize for Rule of Law is the Canadian jurist Louise Arbour, who has long fought for transitional justice, human rights within the correctional system, and the abolition of capital punishment. Among her most notable contributions are those made during her tenure (1996‡1999) as chief prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and for Rwanda (ICTR). In both these tribunals, she led the effort to prosecute national leaders who engaged in genocide during civil wars in those two countries.
While serving as a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Arbour headed an inquiry into incidents of abuse at a women’s prison. The incidents violated the basic human rights of female inmates and minorities.
After completing the inquiry she released the Arbour Report, which recommended that the administration of correctional institutions be brought back in line with the Canadian Constitution and other legislation. In addition, the report put forward recommendations regarding the rights of female inmates and minorities. The report sparked a round of reforms to Canada’s correctional service.
While on the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, Arbour contributed to judgments advancing the protection of human rights in several areas of the law. The court, for example, struck down the prisoner disenfranchisement law, and Arbour advocated that imprisonment is no reason to disregard inmates’ basic rights.
In 1996 Arbour was appointed by the UN Security Council as chief prosecutor of the ICTY and ICTR.
The ICTY and ICTR were only just getting set up at the time, and while they were very much in the limelight, it was actually very difficult for them to achieve their purpose of bringing war criminals to trial. However, Arbour made skillful use of her under-resourced organizations and overcame many complex obstacles related to international politics, persuading numerous countries and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to cooperate. She successfully achieved the arrest of major war criminals, and prosecuted former Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic and others.
The work of the ICTY and ICTR reaffirms the significance of international criminal justice for post-conflict communities in the search for peace, justice, and reconciliation.
After stepping down as chief prosecutor of the ICTY and ICTR in 1999, Arbour returned to Canada and became a Supreme Court justice. Then in 2004 she became the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The 69-year-old Arbour has spent her entire career fighting for human rights. During remarks delivered at the Tang Prize awards ceremony, she quoted the 19th-century French preacher Henri Lacordaire: “Between the strong and the weak, between the rich and the poor, between the master and the slave, it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free.” Expressing her firm belief in law as a force for good, Arbour stated that humans seek justice and accountability, and must not give in to despair.
After the conclusion of the awards ceremony, Jennifer Doudna and Rachel Chung (representing Prof. de Bary) proceeded to National Chung Hsing University and National Central University, respectively, to take part in round-table discussions with young Taiwanese students, whom they encouraged to be curious and stay open-minded.
At National Central University Rachel E. Chung, associate director of the Columbia University Committee on Asia & the Middle East, took part in a wide-ranging discussion of sinology with local high-school students, whom she encouraged to engage in active cultural exchange between East and West.
Chinese-American bioengineer Feng Zhang, microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American RNA structural biologist Jennifer Doudna were jointly awarded the 2016 Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science for their contributions to the development of a groundbreaking technology for genome editing.
French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, American RNA structural biologist Jennifer Doudna and Chinese-American bioengineer Feng Zhang were jointly awarded the 2016 Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science for their contributions to the development of a groundbreaking technology for genome editing.
American RNA structural biologist Jennifer Doudna, French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and Chinese-American bioengineer Feng Zhang were jointly awarded the 2016 Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science for their contributions to the development of a groundbreaking technology for genome editing.
Jennifer Doudna speaks to students from Taipei First Girls High School about her academic career, and encourages them to courageously pursue their interests no matter what difficulties they may encounter.
Canadian jurist Louise Arbour, winner of this year’s Tang Prize for Rule of Law.
Canadian jurist Louise Arbour has spent her entire career fighting for human rights. While in Taiwan to receive her Tang Prize for Rule of Law, she went to the National Palace Museum to see “Viewing Nature in Chinese Art: A Special Exhibit of Select Artifacts from the Museum Collection to Celebrate the 2016 Tang Prize.”