Professor Claudio Grossman Named 2020 Goler T. Butcher Medal Recipient
Presentation to take place at ASIL Annual Meeting in April
December 19, 2019
Professor and Dean Emeritus Claudio Grossman has been awarded the 2020 Goler T. Butcher Medal by the American Society of International Law (ASIL). The Medal is in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development and effective realization of international human rights law. The Medal will be officially presented to Professor Grossman at the ASIL Annual Meeting on April 2, 2020.
Claudio Grossman is the Raymond Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law at AUWCL, where he served as dean for 21 years. Throughout his academic career, Grossman has contributed to promoting the rule of law, human rights, and legal education in both international and domestic organizations. He was elected to the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) in November 2016 for a five-year term and in 2019 he became Chair of the ILC’s Drafting Committee. In 2019, Grossman was elected to L’Institut de Droit International (International Law Institute) in its session in the Hague. He previously served as member (2003-2015) and chairperson (4 terms, from 2008-2015) of the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT). In May 2009, he was named to the judging panel for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, and in May 2010 he was appointed to the Center's Board of Directors.
As a former chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture and of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, and as a lawyer before international organizations, Grossman – himself a former political refugee from Chile – has made tremendous contributions to the shaping of human rights law and defending the rights of victims. His areas of specialization and influence have included disappearances as a crime against humanity, rejection of discrimination of any sort, the prohibition against torture, full reparations for violations of human rights, protection of freedom of expression, and accountability for human rights violations. Additionally, and as an educator, Grossman has developed programs in human rights law that have benefitted thousands of students including the Inter-American Moot Court Competition and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law. He is currently the President of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.
To read more about the ASIL Annual Meeting visit: https://www.asil.org/annualmeeting.