The ICJ congratulates Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, an ICJ Commissioner and the first UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, on receiving the prestigious “Justice in the World” Award.
He received the prize from the International Association of Judges (IAJ) on 5 June 2003 in Madrid, for his tireless commitment to promoting the rights and duties of judges and lawyers.
Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy is the first lawyer to receive this prize. Previous recipients have been high-ranking members of the judiciary from Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy and Spain.
Mr. Cumaraswamy, whose nine-year mandate as Special Rapporteur will end this year, intervened in more than 100 countries and undertook numerous in situ missions to countries throughout the world. Mr. Cumaraswamy has, most recently, expressed his alarm at how measures taken by some Governments to combat terrorism have compromised the independence of the judiciary.
Acceptance speech: ICJ Commissioner Receives International Justice in World Award (full text, PDF)
