Canadian jurist Louise Arbour has won the second biennial Tang Prize in Rule of Law for her contributions to international criminal justice and the protection of human rights.
Arbour has served as President and CEO of International Crisis Group, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1996, she was the Chief Prosecutor for both the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslovia and for Rwanda. She made history with the indictment of a sitting head of state, the late Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic.
Taiwanese Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh, who chairs the Tang Prize Selection Committee, made the announcement on Tuesday. Lee said, "The recipient is Louise Arbour. The award recognizes her great influence and groundbreaking contributions to international criminal justice and protection of human rights. It is also in recognition of her efforts to promote domestic and international peace, justice and security. She insists on using the rule of law to expand freedom in the world."
Hsu Yu-hsiu, a former justice of Taiwan’s Judicial Yuan, also hailed Arbour’s achievements in prosecuting war crimes from the Yugoslav Wars. Hsu said, "She was able to gather solid evidence and establish facts, and then to persuade NATO nations that they had the responsibility to work with the UN Security Council. Then those small countries that had broken away from Yugoslavia began to cooperate with the court. One by one she was able to arrest many war criminals. She had her eyes on the biggest criminals, the biggest of which was the president of Serbia at the time, Slobodan Milosevic."
The Tang Prize was founded by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin to honor people who have made significant contributions in fields not covered by the Nobel prizes – namely sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, Sinology and rule of law.