Attorney
from Malaysia
Wins International Justice Prize
Peter Gruber Foundation Honors Param Cumaraswamy
St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. September, 2005 –
In his native Malaysia and in various of the world’s hot
spots, attorney Param Cumaraswamy, at considerable risk to himself,
has stood up for human dignity and the independence of the judiciary.
His courage has garnered world respect and this year earned
him the Peter Gruber Foundation’s Justice Prize.
He receive the Foundation’s $200,000 award and gold medal
during a ceremony at Columbia University Law School in New York
City on September 19th.
Cumaraswamy’s now-famous public statement calling on the
Pardons Board of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, not to discriminate
against a poor laborer’s petition for commutation of a
death sentence landed him in court in 1985, fighting a charge
of sedition. Regional and international bar associations sent
representatives to observe the trial. His acquittal was hailed
as a landmark victory for freedom of expression in Malaysia.
In 1988 he was one of the few at the forefront of the defense
of six Supreme Court judges whose independence apparently threatened
executive powers. His efforts on their behalf earned him the
title “Dato” conferred by a Sultan in the Malaysian
state of Kelantan.
Despite such favorable recognition at home and numerous important
international appointments, Cumaraswamy has been the victim
of harassment and intimidation. For six years, he lived under
the cloud of multi-million dollar defamation actions brought
against him for public comments about the existence of outside
influence on the Malaysian judiciary. Eventually the International
Court of Justice in The Hague ruled he had immunity from legal
process since he made the comments as the UN Special Rapporteur.
The suits were withdrawn in 2001, but by that time he had resigned
from his law firm in order to protect it from embarrassment
and financial loss.
Born in 1941, Cumaraswamy received his early education in Kuala
Lumpur and his law training in London. He began his practice
in 1967 and, until his resignation, spent much of it with one
of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Malaysia.
He served in various leadership positions on the Bar Council
of Malaysia from 1974 to 1998 and was a founding member of the
Malaysian Bar Council Human Rights Committee and Legal Aid Committee.
From 1986 to 1989 he was chairman of the Human Rights Committee
of the International Bar Association. He was a commissioner
of the International Commission of Jurists from 1990 to May
2000. In 1994 the UN Commission on Human Rights appointed him
the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and
Lawyers.
He has undertaken missions to Colombia, Northern Ireland, South
Africa, Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and many other countries,
to report to the Commission on Human Rights. For his UN role
protecting the independence of judges and lawyers, he has intervened
in cases of reported violations in more than 100 countries.
He has traveled the globe as a guest speaker on human rights
and judicial independence. And he maintains a one-man legal
practice, devoted in large part to the pursuit of a just rule
of law.
A distinguished Advisory Board selected Cumaraswamy as the Justice
Prize recipient for 2005 after a worldwide solicitation of candidates.
Current members of the Advisory Board are: the Honorable
Rosalie Silberman Abella, Justice
of the Supreme Court of Canada and Justice Prize laureate; Dennis
Archer, Esq., former mayor of Detroit and immediate
past president of the American Bar Association; the Honorable
Christine Chanet, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee
of the United Nations; Sir Anthony Gubbay,
former Chief Justice of Zimbabwe and Justice Prize laureate;
and Jerome J. Shestack, Esq., former president
of the American Bar Association.
The official citation honoring Cumaraswamy reads:
The 2005 Justice Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation is
hereby proudly presented to Param Cumaraswamy whose voice has
been heard around the world for the independence of judges who
are the ultimate custodians of the just rule of law that is
the foundation for human rights. In a life dedicated to the
defense and affirmation of justice, his fearless advocacy for
judicial independence has often been at great personal risk
and cost. His record serves as a call and as an inspiration
to all.
“Justice prevents the exercise
of arbitrary power,” said Peter Gruber, chairman
of the Peter Gruber Foundation. “We are extremely
pleased to honor Param Cumaraswamy for standing for justice
in his own country and around the world.”
Previous winners of the Justice Prize are: retired Chief Justice
Arthur Chaskalson and current Chief Justice Pius Langa of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa (2004); Justice Bertha
Wilson, retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and
Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, Justice of the Supreme Court
of Canada (2003); Fali Sam Nariman, President of the Bar Association
of India (2002); and Sir Anthony Roy Gubbay, former Chief Justice
of Zimbabwe, and the Law Society of Zimbabwe (2001).
The Peter Gruber Foundation
The Peter Gruber Foundation was founded in 1993 and established
a record of charitable giving principally in the U.S. Virgin
Islands, where it is located. In recent years the Foundation
has expanded its focus to a series of international awards recognizing
discoveries and achievements that produce fundamental shifts
in human knowledge and culture. Further information about the
Peter Gruber Foundation and its awards is available from www.petergruberfoundation.org.
JUSTICE
NEWS - 2006 RECIPIENT: AHARON BARAK