Loyola's Center for the Study of Law & Genocide (CSLG) honored legendary war-crime prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz with its 2015 Raphael Lemkin Award. Ferencz was the youngest of the lead prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals, and in the 1948 proceedings was the first-ever prosecutor to use the term "genocide" in his case.
Professor Stan Goldman, CSLG founding director, travelled to Ferencz's home in Delray Beach, Fla. to bestow the award on Ferencz, who was a U.S. Army general at the time of the 1948 trial. Ferencz's most recent international prosecution was the successful 2012 International Criminal Court (ICC) conviction of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for war crimes committed in the Congo.
"Ben Ferencz is the most respected living legend among international human rights lawyers," said Goldman.
Goldman conducted an interview with Ferencz about his experiences prosecuting high-visility genocide and international human rights cases. [View here.]
The Lemkin Award is given to those with a demonstrated commitment to social justice and international human rights within the genocide context. Previous award recipients include Gabriel Bach, the deputy prosecutor in the 1961 trial of Nazi leader Adolph Eichmann. Goldman traveled to Israel to interview Bach. [View here.]
About the Center for the Study of Law & Genocide (CSLG)
The CSLG couples research and practical advocacy to help victims of genocide achieve justice. It aims to promote legal scholarship on genocide and mass violations of human rights with a particular focus on improving and making more accessible and effective legal resources and remedies both in the U.S. and internationally. It also seeks to train current and future legal practitioners on using existing remedies to help victims of genocide and mass violations of human rights achieve a measure of justice.