Former IAMA President and keynote presenter at the upcoming AMINZ - IAMA Conference in August 2010, Hon. Michael Kirby, retired judge of the High Court of Australia, has this month been named as the co-winner of the Gruber Justice Prize for 2010. The announcement was made in New York by the Gruber Foundation, a philanthropic organisation that awards the Gruber Prizes annually.

Each Gruber Prize is valued at $US500,000. It is awarded annually by an independent jury which ordinarily includes previous Gruber Prize winners. The jury that selected the 2010 Justice Prize winners was chaired by Justice Arthur Chaskalson, a past Chief Justice of South Africa. He was himself a co-winner of the Gruber Justice Prize in 2004. He played a leading role in the transition of the legal system of South Africa from the apartheid regime to multi-party democracy. The jury’s award of the 2010 Gruber Justice Prize was unanimous.

Michael Kirby will share his 2010 Gruber Justice Prize with two co-winners. These are:

• Professor John Dugard of South Africa, who played a key role in drafting the human rights protections in the post-apartheid South African Constitution; and

• The Indian Law Resource Center, an organisation established in the United States to promote the use of law to champion the legal interests of indigenous people in the United States and Latin America. The Center was a leading actor in securing the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2008.

Gruber Prizes are awarded to the recipients without preconditions. A ceremony to confer the Prize and to present a medal and a citation to the winners will be held at the George Washington University in Washington DC on Monday October 11, 2010.

On the announcement of the award to him of the Gruber Justice Prize, Michael Kirby said that he was proud to be named. He said: “I am conscious of the many people with whom I have worked over the years on human rights and justice who are equally deserving of recognition”. He went on: “There is also probably a need for a special Gruber Prize for the spouses and partners of Gruber Prize winners. My partner of 41 years, Johan van Vloten, definitely deserves a Prize for putting up with me. Probably the Victoria Cross”, Michael Kirby said.

Michael Kirby will not only speak at our conference, but will also speak at an AMINZ sponsored breakfast, open to the public, in Christchurch on 5 August 2010 and at another AMINZ sponsored event, for students, at Canterbury University, the same day.