Thomas Buergenthal

Thomas Buergenthal
Buergenthal in 2010
President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
In office 1985–1987
Preceded by	Pedro Nikken
Succeeded by	Rafael Nieto Navia
Personal details
Born	(1934-05-11)11 May 1934 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Education	Bethany College (BA) New York University (JD) Harvard (LLM, SJD)

Thomas Buergenthal (11 May 1934 – 29 May 2023) was a Czechoslovak-born American international lawyer, scholar, law school dean, and judge of the

On 4 December 1951, he emigrated from Germany to the United States. He studied at Bethany College in West Virginia (graduated 1957), and received his J.D. at New York University Law School in 1960, and his LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in international law from Harvard Law School. Judge Buergenthal is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees from American, European and Latin American Universities, including the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, the State University of New York, the American University, the University of Minnesota, and the George Washington University.^[4]

Career

Buergenthal was a specialist in international law and

Buergenthal served as a judge on the

Buergenthal was the author of more than a dozen books and a large number of articles on international law, human rights and comparative law subjects. He was member of a number of editorial boards of law journals, including the American Journal of International Law. He also served as a member of the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee.^[10]

On 9 July 2004, Judge Buergenthal was the sole dissenter in the

Judge Buergenthal was a co-recipient of the 2008 Gruber Prize for Justice for his contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights in different parts of the world, and particularly in Latin America.^[13] He was also a recipient of the following awards: Goler T. Butcher Medal, American Society of International Law, 1997; Manley O. Hudson Medal, American Society of International Law, 2002; Elie Wiesel Award, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, 2015; and Olympic Order, International Olympic Committee, 2015.

Buergenthal strongly supported the creation of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy in Nuremberg, Germany, and became the first President of its Advisory Council in 2014. From 2016 until his death in 2023, he served as its Honorary President.^[14]

His memoir, A Lucky Child, which describes his experience in various German concentration camps, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, including German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish.

Death

Buergenthal died on 29 May 2023, at the age of 89.^[15]

Selected works

• Law-making in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Syracuse University Press. 1969.
  ISBN 978-0815621393
  .
• Sohn, Louis B.; Buergenthal, Thomas (1973). International Protection of Human Rights. Vol. 1. Bobbs-Merrill.
  ISBN 9780672842276
• Buergenthal, Thomas; Shelton, Dinah (1995). Protecting Human Rights in the Americas: Cases and materials (4th ed.). N.P. Engel.
  ISBN 978-3883571225
  .
• Kokott, Juliane; Buergenthal, Thomas; Maier, Harold G. (2003). Grundzüge des Völkerrechts (in German) (3rd ed.). UTB Uni-Taschenbücher Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3825215118
  .
• ISBN 978-1-61523-720-3
  .
• Buergenthal, Thomas; Thürer, Daniel (2010). Menschenrechte: Ideale, Instrumente, Institutionen (in German). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
  ISBN 978-3832951252
  .
• Buergenthal, Thomas; Shelton, Dinah; Stewart, David; Vazquez, Carlos (2017). International Human Rights in a Nutshell (5th ed.). West Academic Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1634605984
  ., Thomas, Shelton, Stewart, 4th ed. (2009)
• Buergenthal, Thomas; Murphy, Sean D. (2018). Public International Law in a Nutshell (6 ed.). West Academic.
  ISBN 9781683282396
  ., 5th ed. (2013), 4th ed. (2007)