UW Center for Human Rights 5th Anniversary Celebration
On May 5, UW CHR marked its 5th anniversary by hosting esteemed jurist Thomas Buergenthal for a lecture, followed by a reception to celebrate the accomplishments and excitement that have characterized the Center’s first five years.
Professor Buergenthal gave an inspirational speech about his steps to becoming an international judge through his experience with the Holocaust. He is one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, having spent the first 11 years of his life in various German camps. His memoir A Lucky Child recounts how he survived the Holocaust, eventually reuniting with his mother and arriving to the U.S. in 1951 to start a new life. Today, Prof. Buergenthal is considered one of the world’s leading international human rights experts. Among other accomplishments, he has served as a judge of the International Court of Justice, judge and president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and as a member of the UN Truth Commission for El Salvador. The author of more than a dozen books, he is currently Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at The George Washington University Law School. His visit to UW was sponsored by the School of Law’s Gates Public Service Law Program.[…]