JULY-AUGUST 2024
LAUREATES OF THE 2024 HE JUDGE CG WEERAMANTRY INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AWARD AND 2024 HE JUDGE CG AND MRS ROSEMARY GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCED
Judge Kathy-Ann Brown WIJA (Jamaica), Professor Damilola Olawuyi, SAN, WIJA (Nigeria), and Professor James Bacchus WIJA (United States of America) have been named as the distinguished global laureates of the International Justice Award in honour of His Excellency Judge CG Weeramantry.
Adv Eeshan Chaturvedi (India) has been recognised as recipient of His Excellency Judge CG and Mrs Rosemary Global Fellowship for International Law On Sustainable Development, with Dr Godwin Dzah (Ghana) and Adv Smriti Pokhrel (Nepal) awarded Silver Fellowships.
On 26 July 2024 during the CISDL Biennial Symposium “The Natural World, Sustainable Development Goals and the Law”, the Weeramantry International Memorial Commission, with the blessings of the Weeramantry family was delighted to announce the Laureates of the prestigious International Justice Award in honour of His Excellency Judge CG Weeramantry.
The laudatios read as follows:
Judge Kathy-Ann Brown (Jamaica), Member of the International Tribunal of the Sea (ITLOS), whose leadership amidst the triple planetary crisis and consistent contributions to sustainable development through a long and distinguished career as judge and practitioner is inspiring;
Professor Damilola Olawuyi, SAN (Nigeria), Professor and Associate Dean for Research, UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University, recognized for his pioneering scholarship on sustainable development in the Middle East and North Africa;
Professor James Bacchus (United States), Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs and Director of the Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida, whose work as a founding judge and as Chairman of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization and former US Congressman and whose ongoing scholarship and global activism aligns with Justice Weeramantry’s legacy.
The Weeramantry International Justice Award is granted to distinguished senior-level jurists whose lifeworks, intellect and character offer the highest possible credit to the memory of his Excellency the late Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, recipient of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, Right Livelihood Award Laureate and former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice. They honour his Excellency’s international legacy, including his concern for the interests of current and future generations, his commitment to international law, peace and sustainable development, and his global humanism and leadership in the law.
The ceremony was followed by the announcement of the first laureate of the Global Fellowship for International Law on Sustainable Development, open to graduate students and recently graduated scholars studying international law and governance. The 2024 Global Fellow is Adv. Eeshan Chaturvedi (India), alongside Silver Fellowship awardees, Dr. Godwin Dzah (Ghana) and Adv. Smriti Pokhrel (Nepal) whose research agenda, with the support of the Global Fellowship, promises to be groundbreaking.
NOTE: For further questions/quotes prior to press release/blog post, please contact Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Chair, Weeramantry International Memorial Commission at fellowship@cisdl.org; and Adv. Susan Ann Samuel, CISDL Fellowship Officer, at ptsas@leeds.ac.uk
ANNEX I: 2024 WEERAMANTRY INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AWARD LAUREATES
Kathy-Ann Brown WIJA is a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. She previously served as the Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the International Seabed Authority and as Deputy Solicitor General of Jamaica, in addition to numerous high-profile roles, such as serving as the Chief Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister of Jamaica. She provided technical assistance to vulnerable developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific for a number of years. In 2019, in recognition of her significant contributions to international law, Judge Brown was inducted into the Hall of Eminent International Caribbean Jurists.
Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN, WIJA is UNESCO Chair in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at the College of Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and Vice Chair of the International Law Association. He is the Chairperson of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (AAG-SEERIL), and Chair of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North Africa Universities (ASSELLMU) where his books on natural resources, environment, poverty eradication and sustainable development have won impressive accolades.
Professor James Bacchus WIJA is the Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs and Director of the Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida, and a Visiting Fellow of Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. He was a founding judge and was twice the Chairman of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization, as well as serving as a Member of the Congress of the United States, from Florida. His books on international trade, international economic law, and sustainable development have been highly praised worldwide.
ANNEX II: HE JUDGE CG WEERAMANTRY LEGACY
HE Judge CG Weeramantry International Justice Award
- Previous recipients of this Award include the Hon Justice Antonio Benjamin UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema Prof. Dr. Nicolaas Jan Schrijver (2022), the Hon Judge and Professor Marcel Szabo, Advocate Neshan Gunasekara, and Professor Dr Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (2020).
- The HE Judge CG Weeramantry International Justice Award is granted to distinguished international jurists whose lifeworks, intellect and character offer the highest possible credit to the memory of His Excellency the late Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, recipient of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, Right Livelihood Award Laureate and former Judge and Vice- President of the International Court of Justice.
- The Award recipients honour his Excellency’s international legacy, including his concern for the interests of current and future generations; his commitment to international law, peace and sustainable development; and his global humanism and leadership in the law.
- This Award is supported by partnerships with experts and professors from academic institutions deeply linked to HE Judge CG Weeramantry’s legacy, including the University of Cambridge, McGill University, Universiteit Leiden, University of Colombo and Monash University, and was launched in 2020 by the Weeramantry International Centre for Peace, Education & Research (WICPER) and the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), with blessings of the Weeramantry family.
- Laureates of the Weeramantry International Justice Award support the Global Fellowship for International Law on Sustainable Development, advancing the legacy of HE Judge CG Weeramantry through their world-class professional and academic endeavours, guiding the selection of future laureates, and providing mentorship to new and emerging scholars over time.
His Excellency Judge CG and Mrs Rosemary Global Fellowship For International Law On Sustainable Development
- The HE Judge CG and Rosemary Weeramantry Global Fellowship is open to graduate students and recently graduated scholars studying international law and governance related to sustainable development and to early-career professionals working in relevant fields;
- Nominations for the fellowship can be made by any senior scholar, professor or practitioner in the fields of international law, governance and sustainable development, from any country worldwide;
- The maximum term of the HE Judge CG and Rosemary Weeramantry Global Fellowship shall be twenty-four (24) months and the fellowship shall be tenable in any country in which the selected global fellow is based.
- During their tenure, the HE Judge CG and Rosemary Weeramantry Global Fellowship shall write a 500-word blog, to be published online by CISDL and shared internationally by the commission members’ institutions, every four months on pressing global issues relating to international law and sustainable development. Over the course of the fellowship the award holder shall produce two original works on international law and sustainable development, peer reviewed by the commission and published first as legal working papers in honour of the Judge’s legacy, then in a law journal, periodical, book or other independent publication, crediting and acknowledging the support of the global fellowship.
His Excellency the late Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry
- In his early career as an advocate and professor, he dedicated his time to defending the voiceless and teaching young minds, including as a professor of public international law in Australia and Sri Lanka.
- In 1988, he became President of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA).
- He was appointed as a Judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hauge in 1991 and later became its vice-president in 1997.
- He was founder of the Weeramantry Centre for Peace Education Research, and Patron Emeritus of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL).
- He was awarded the UNESCO Prize Winner for Peace Education in 2006.
- He was awarded the Sri Lankabhimanya, the highest National Honour of Sri Lanka, in 2007.