Thomas Buergenthal: Holocaust survivor to human rights advocate

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 18, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 877-899

  Pasqualucci, Jo M ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 5844371727     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.1996.0047     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. Tom's parents met when his mother came to the hotel for a vacation.
2. Thomas Buergenthal, Address at The George Washington University Law School to the LL.M. students (10 Feb. 1995) (transcript on file with author) [hereinafter Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995].
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. Id.
6. Id.
7. Taped interview with Thomas Buergenthal, conducted for the Holocaust Memorial Museum by Katie Davis at George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. (28 Nov. 1995) (tapes on file with the author) [hereinafter Davis Interview].
8. Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995, supra note 2. Some of Buergenthal's camp experiences are recorded in ODD NANSEN, TOMMY 65-66 (1949), a diary kept by a Norwegian inmate of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Translation from Norwegian on file with the author. Unpublished in English. The Norwegian edition of the book was published in Oslo in 1970 by Gyldendal Nork Forlag.
9. Remarks of Thomas Buergenthal at the US Holocaust Museum's commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Thomas Buergenthal, Remembering the Auschwitz Death March, 18 HUM. RTS. Q. 874 (1996) [hereinafter Auschwitz Death March].
10. Thomas Buergenthal, Address at The George Washington University Law School to the Jewish Law Students Association on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day (6 Apr. 1994) (transcript on file with author) [hereinafter Buergenthal Address 6 April 1994]. Some of Buergenthal's camp experiences are recorded in ODD NANSEN, FROM DAY TO DAY (1949), a diary kept by a Norwegian inmate of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. See note 8.
11. Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995, supra note 2.
12. Id.
13. Davis Interview, supra note 7.
14. Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995, supra note 2.
15. His mother thought that perhaps Tom had forgotten his German and for that reason had someone else write the letter in Polish.
16. Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995, supra note 2.
17. His grandparents died in the extermination camp of Treblinka.
18. Thomas Buergenthal, Acceptance Speech and Lecture, in LAUDATIONES ET GRATIAE, VERLEIHUNG DER EHRENDOKTORWÜRDE AN THOMAS BUERGENTHAL UND ANDRÉ COLOMER ZUM 600 JÄHRIGEN BESTEHEN DER JURISTENFAKULTÄT DER UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG 39, 40 (1986) [hereinafter Acceptance Speech].
19. Id.
20. Id. at 40-41.
21. Id. at 41.
22. Davis Interview, supra note 7.
23. His dissertation (later a book) was, however, THOMAS BUERGENTHAL, LAW-MAKING IN THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (1969).
24. Thomas Buergenthal, Address at George Washington University Law School to a Human Rights Class (22 Sept. 1995) (notes on file with the author) [hereinafter Buergenthal Address 22 Sept. 1995].
25. Judges on the Inter-American Court must be, of the highest moral authority and [be] of recognized competence in the field of human rights [they must] possess the qualifications required for the exercise of the highest judicial functions in conformity with the law of the state of which they are nationals or of the state that proposes them as candidates. American Convention on Human Rights, opened for signature 22 Nov. 1969, O.A.S.T.S. No. 36, at 1, O.A.S. Off. Rec. OAS/ser.L./V./II.23, doc. rev. 2, reprinted in 9 I.L.M. 673 (1970) (entered into force 18 Jul. 1978), reprinted in BASIC DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM, OAS/ser.L./V./II.82, doc. 6 rev. 1, 1 July 1992 at art. 52 (1992) [hereinafter American Convention or Convention].
26. Id.
27. The states parties to the American Convention are Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., at 177-78, OAS/ser.L./III.33/Doc. 4 (1996).
28. Those states are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Id. 29. Judges are elected by a vote of the states parties to the Convention. American Convention, supra note 25, at art. 53(1).
29. A state party may propose up to three candidates for judge, provided that if the state proposes three candidates at least one is a national of another state. Id. at art. 53(2).
30. Thomas Buergenthal, The American Convention on Human Rights: Illusions and Hopes, 21 BUFF. L. REV. 121 (1971).
31. Id. at 134.
32. Buergenthal Address 22 Sept. 1985, supra note 24.
33. Judges are elected to a six year term and may be reelected only once. American Convention, supra note 25, at art. 54(1). Buergenthal was nominated to the Court by both Costa Rica and Colombia for his second term. His election was unanimous. It is traditional for only one state to nominate a judge to the Court, but at the time of Buergenthal's second nomination for the Court, which was again made by Costa Rica, Nicaragua notified Costa Rica that it would not support Judge Buergenthal's candidacy. In fact, Nicaragua was not against Buergenthal's election, the problem was tension in the relations between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the nominating state. When Colombia also nominated Judge Buergenthal, Nicaragua immediately notified Colombia that it would support their candidate. Id.
34. Id.
35. Carlos Roberto Reina, Rodolfo Piza Escalante, Maximo Cisneros, and Thomas Buergenthal. Id.
36. Sonia Picado Sotela, Thomas Buergenthal, in THE MODERN WORLD OF HUMAN RICHTS/EL MUNDO MODERNO DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF THOMAS BUERGENTHAL, 19, 24 (1996).
37. See generally CECILIA MEDINA QUIROGA, THE BATTLE OF HUMAN RIGHTS: GROSS, SYSTEMATIC VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM (1988).
38. See Velasquez Rodríguez Case, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 35, OAS/ser.L./V./III.19, doc. 13 (1988) [hereinafter Velásquez Rodríguez Case]; Godínez Cruz Case, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 15, OAS/ser.L./V./III.21, doc. 14 (1989) [hereinafter Godinez Cruz Case]; Fairén Garbi and Solís Corrales Case, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 69, OAS/ser.L/V./III.21, doc. 12 (1989) [hereinafter Fairén Garbi and Solís Corrales Case]. During Judge Buergenthal's tenure on the Court he also participated in The Matter of Viviana Gallardo et al. (No. G 101/81, Gangaram Panday Case (Suriname), Preliminary Objections, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. OAS/ser.L./V./III.25, doc. 7 (1992); Neira Alegria Case, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 77, OAS/Series C, No. 13 (1991).
39. Velásquez Rodríguez Case, supra note 39; Godínez Cruz Case, supra note 39; Fairén Garbi and Solís Corrales Case, supra note 39.
40. Velásquez Rodríguez Case, supra 39, ¶ 147.
41. Id. at ¶ ¶ 156-57.
42. Id. at ¶ 155.
43. See Thomas Buergenthal, Judicial Fact-Finding: Inter-American Human Rights Court, in FACT-FINDING BEFORE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS 261, 269-72 (Richard Lillich ed., 1991); Jo M. Pasqualucci, The Inter-American Human Rights System: Establishing Precedents and Procedure in Human Rights Law, 26 U, MIAMI INTER-AM. L. REV. 297, 343-44 (1994-95).
44. See Thomas Buergenthal, Judicial Fact-Finding: Inter-American Human Rights Court, in FACT-FINDING BEFORE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS 261, 269-72 (Richard Lillich ed., 1991); Jo M. Pasqualucci, The Inter-American Human Rights System: Establishing Precedents and Procedure in Human Rights Law, 26 U, MIAMI INTER-AM. L. REV. 297, 343-44 (1994-95).
45. Buergenthal, Acceptance Speech, supra note 18, at 42.
46. Id.
47. Neira Alegria Case, Declaration by Judge Thomas Buergenthal, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 75, 85, OAS/ser.L./V./III.27, doc. 10 (1992).
48. Id.
49. The American Convention provides that "[t]he member states of the Organization may consult the Court regarding the interpretation of this Convention or of other treaties concerning the protection of human rights in the American states." American Convention, supra note 25, art. 64(1). Moreover, a member state may ask the Court to provide it with an opinion regarding the compatibility of a domestic law with the American Convention or other human rights treaties. American Convention, supra note 25, art. 64(2).
50. American Convention, supra note 25, art. 64(1). The Court, in its first advisory opinion, has interpreted the term "other treaties" to include any provision dealing with the protection of human rights set forth in any international treaty applicable in the American States, regardless of whether it be bilateral or multilateral, whatever be the principal purpose of such a treaty, and whether or not non-Member States of the inter-American system are or have the right to become parties thereto. "Other Treaties" Subject to the Advisory Jurisdiction of the Court, Advisory Opinion, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 13, ¶ 55, OEA/ser.L./V./III/9 (1983 ) [hereinafter "Other Treaties"].
51. American Convention, supra note 25, art. 64(1). The Court, in its first advisory opinion, has interpreted the term "other treaties" to include any provision dealing with the protection of human rights set forth in any international treaty applicable in the American States, regardless of whether it be bilateral or multilateral, whatever be the principal purpose of such a treaty, and whether or not non-Member States of the inter-American system are or have the right to become parties thereto. "Other Treaties" Subject to the Advisory Jurisdiction of the Court, Advisory Opinion, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 13, ¶ 55, OEA/ser.L./V./III/9 (1983 ) [hereinafter "Other Treaties"].
52. "Other Treaties," supra note 50, at ¶ 25.
53. Thomas Buergenthal, The Advisory Practice of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, 79 AM. J. INT'L L. 1, 25 (1985).
54. The Effect of Reservations on the Entry into Force of the American Convention, Advisory Opinion, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 36, ¶ 29, OEA/ser.L./V./III/9, doc. 13 (1982). The Advisory Opinion maintained that [m]odern human rights treaties in general, and the American Convention in particular, are not multilateral treaties of the traditional type concluded to accomplish the reciprocal exchange of rights for the mutual benefit of the contracting States. Their object and purpose is the protection of the basic rights of individual human beings irrespective of their nationality, both against the State of their nationality and all other contracting States. In concluding these human rights treaties, the States can be deemed to submit themselves to a legal order within which they, for the common good, assume various obligations, not in relation to other States, but towards all individuals within their jurisdiction. Id.
55. Compulsory Membership in an Association Prescribed by Law for the Practice of Journalism, Advisory Opinion, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. 19, arts. 13, 29, OEA/ser.L./V./II.12, doc. 13 (1985).
56. American Convention, supra note 25, art. 63(2).
57. Id. at art. 63(2).
58. See Jo M. Pasqualucci, Provisional Measures in the Inter-American Human Rights System: An Innovative Development in International Law, 26 VAND. J. TRANSNAT'L L. 803 (1993); Thomas Buergenthal, Interim Measures in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in INTERIM MEASURES INDICATED BY INTERNATIONAL COURTS 69 (R. Bernhardt ed., 1994).
59. See Jo M. Pasqualucci, Provisional Measures in the Inter-American Human Rights System: An Innovative Development in International Law, 26 VAND. J. TRANSNAT'L L. 803 (1993); Thomas Buergenthal, Interim Measures in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in INTERIM MEASURES INDICATED BY INTERNATIONAL COURTS 69 (R. Bernhardt ed., 1994).
60. Chunima Case, Provisional Measures Requested by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with Regard to Guatemala, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., 52, OAS/Ser.L./V./III.25, Appendix VII. (1991) [hereinafter Chunima Case].
61. In 1988, several hundred villagers from Quiche province, founded the Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Juman (CERJ), the first organization established to defend the rights of Guatemala's Maya population. Status of Human Rights in Several Countries including Guatemala, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/ser.L./V./II.79 rev. 1, doc. 12, 444, 447-48 (1990-1991).
62. Also known as the civil defense guard. The Civil Patrols were established by the Guatemalan government in 1982 ostensibly to protect the highland villages from guerrillas. The Civil Patrols "are military structures established by the military." Id. at 446.
63. Chunima Case, supra note 58, Appendix V, at 42-43.
64. Id.
65. Pasqualucci, supra note 57, at 809.
66. Pedro Nikken, Presentation, XIV, in THE MODERN WORLD OF HUMAN RIGHTS/EL MUNDO MODERNO DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS, ESSAYS IN HONOR OF/ENSAYOS EN HONOR DE THOMAS BUERGENTHAL (1996) (translation from Spanish by author).
67. Davis Interview, supra note 7.
68. See Jo M. Pasqualucci, Sonia Picado, First Woman Judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 17 HUM. RTS. Q. 794, 797-98 (1995).
69. CAPEL is the Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Electoral (Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion).
70. Picado Sotela, supra note 37, at 27.
71. Id. See also THOMAS BUERGENTHAL & JUDITH TORNEY, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (1976).
72. See BUERGENTHAl & TORNEY, supra note 69, at 152.
73. For the final text, see UNESCO Executive Board Decision 104, EX/3.3 (1978), reproduced in CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, UNITED NATIONS ACTION IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS 322 (1994).
74. See Philip Alston, UNESCO Procedures for Dealing with Human Rights Violations, 20 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 665 (1980).
75. Copenhagen Concluding Document, 11 HUM. RTS. L.J. 232 (1990).
76. WILLIAM KOREY, THE PROMISES WE KEEP: HUMAN RIGHTS, THE HELSINKI PROCESS AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY 312 (1993).
77. Theodor Meron, Democracy and the Rule of Law, 153 WORLD AFF., 23 (1990).
78. See Jo Pasqualucci, The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth: Truth Commissions, Impunity and the Inter-American Human Rights System, 12 B.U. INT'L L.J. 321, 322 (1994).
79. El Salvador Agreements: The Path to Peace (Department of Public Information), U.N. Doc. DPI/1208-92614 (1992).
80. See Thomas Buergenthal, The United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador, 27 VAND. J.TRANSNAT'L L. 497 (1994 ) [hereinafter Truth Commission]. The other two commissioners were Belisario Betancur, former President of Colombia, and Reinaldo Figueredo Planchart, former Foreign Minister of Venezuela.
81. See Thomas Buergenthal, The United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador, 27 VAND. J.TRANSNAT'L L. 497 (1994 ) [hereinafter Truth Commission]. The other two commissioners were Belisario Betancur, former President of Colombia, and Reinaldo Figueredo Planchart, former Foreign Minister of Venezuela.
82. Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador: From Madness to Hope, U.N. SCOR, at 11, U.N. Doc. A/25500, Annexes (1993) [hereinafter Report].
83. Id. at 19.
84. Id. at 115-21. For a well-written account of the massacre, the events which preceded it, and the denial and cover-up, see Mark Danner, The Truth of El Mozote, THE NEW YORKER, 6 Dec. 1993, at 50.
85. Davis Interview, supra note 7.
86. Report, supra note 79, at 176. See also Buergenthal, Truth Commission, supra note 78, at 520-22.
87. Report, supra note 79.
88. Individual complaints are authorized under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976), G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 16) 59, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966).
89. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976), G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16), at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966). The United States ratified the Covenant on 8 June 1992.
90. Thomas Buergenthal, Panel Presentation to Washington College of Law, The American University, 9 Apr. 1996.
91. While Buergenthal was the Dean of the Washington College of Law at American University from 1980 to 1985 he established a graduate international studies program, bringing in lawyers from throughout the world who studied for Master's Degrees in Law (LL.M.). Under Buergenthal, American initiated a humanitarian law training program, a training program in civil liberties for Israeli lawyers, and a women's law program. He also awarded an honorary doctorate to Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her outstanding work on behalf of women's rights long before she was appointed to the US Supreme Court. Thomas Buergenthal, A Law School With A Heart, 45 AM. U.L. REV. 47 (1996).
92. LOUIS SOHN & THOMAS BUERGENTHAL, INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1973).
93. THOMAS BUERGENTHAL, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN A NUTSHELL (2d ed. 1995).
94. Buergenthal was awarded the following: 1990 Harry Leroy Jones Award for Outstanding Achievements in Foreign and International Law, Washington Foreign Law Society; 1989 Wolfgang G. Friedmann Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Law, Columbia University Law School; 1987 Distinguished Service in Legal Education Award, New York University Law School Association; 1982 Book Award (First Prize) of the Inter-American Bar Association for PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AMERICAS: SELECTED PROBLEMS (1982); 1978 UNESCO Human Rights Prize (first Honorable Mention); Pro-Humanitas Prize, West-Ost Kulturwerk (Federal Republic of Germany) 1978.
95. Buergenthal was awarded the following: 1990 Harry Leroy Jones Award for Outstanding Achievements in Foreign and International Law, Washington Foreign Law Society; 1989 Wolfgang G. Friedmann Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Law, Columbia University Law School; 1987 Distinguished Service in Legal Education Award, New York University Law School Association; 1982 Book Award (First Prize) of the Inter-American Bar Association for PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AMERICAS: SELECTED PROBLEMS (1982); 1978 UNESCO Human Rights Prize (first Honorable Mention); Pro-Humanitas Prize, West-Ost Kulturwerk (Federal Republic of Germany) 1978.
96. Buergenthal Address 10 Feb. 1995, supra note 2.
97. BUERGENTHAL, supra note 90, at VII.
98. Buergenthal, Acceptance Speech, supra note 18, at 39.
99. Davis Interview, supra note 7.
100. Buergenthal, Acceptance Speech, supra note 18, at 42.
101. Id. at 44.
102. Id. at 42.
103. Buergenthal Address 6 Apr. 1994, supra note 10.
104. Id.
105. Buergenthal, Auschwitz Death March, supra note 9.