Description: To honor outstanding efforts in the areas of international law and affairs.
Presented by: International Section
Date Presented: Annual Meeting in January
It has become traditional for the presentation of the award to be made in person during the luncheon of the International Law and Practice Section held during the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association, and for the recipient to deliver accepting remarks immediately after the presentation.
Award Criteria: A major contribution during the year (or during an entire career) to the global development of international law or the rule of law; and a willingness to speak or send a suitable alternate to accept the award at the Annual Meeting.
2024 Award Recipient
Becca Heller
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
International Refugee Assistance Project
Learn more: https://refugeerights.org/people/becca-heller
Past Recipients:
| YEAR | RECIPIENT | TITLE / AFFILIATION/ CONTRIBUTIONS | COUNTRY OF ORIGIN |
| 2023 | Anna Ogrenchuk | President of the Ukrainian Bar Association; Managing Partner of LCF Law Group; Ukraine Chapter Co-Chair of NYSBA’s International Section | Ukraine |
| 2022 | Dennis W.H.Kwok | Founding member of the Civic Party in Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 2021 | United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) | Represented by Hon. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs | |
| 2020 | Kenneth Standard | NYSBA Past President (2004-2005) | United States |
| 2019 | Charles E. Ramos | Senior Justice for the Commercial Division in New York County | United States |
| 2018 | Judge Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar | Former president of one of Guatemala’s High Risk Tribunals; She was the presiding judge in the case of Efraín Ríos Montt, a former dictator of Guatemala. In that trial Montt was found guilty of the genocide of indigenous Ixil Mayans; the verdict came in 2013. | Guatemala |
| 2017 | Loretta A. Preska | Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York | United States |
| 2015 | Judith S. Kaye | Former Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals | United States |
| 2013 | Fiona Simpson | Executive Director of Equality Effect | Canada |
| 2012 | Peter Ackerman, Ph.D. | In 2005 Ackerman became a director of the Institute for Strategic Studies’ IISS-US office; Founding Chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict; Co-wrote a study showing that non-violent action had been instrumental in 50 of 67 transitions to democracy since 1972, including in Chile, the Philippines and Poland. | Britain |
| 2011 | Geoffrey Robertson QC | Been on several human rights missions on behalf of Amnesty International, such as to Mozambique, Venda, Czechoslovakia, Malawi, Vietnam and South Africa; Sat as an appeal judge at the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (until 2007) | Australia |
| 2006 | Nicolas Michel | United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel | Switzerland |
| 2005 | Lauren D. Rachlin, Esq. | Served by appointment of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Customs and Trade Policy and was a U.S.-designated panelist on the NAFTA Chapter 19 Dispute Resolution Panel | United States |
| 2004 | Hon. Thomas Buergenthal | Former Judge of the International Court of Justice (2000-2010) | Czechoslovakia |
| 2003 | Professor Eric E. Bergsten | United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Secretary, UNCITRAL and Chief, UN International Trade Law Branch 1985-1991 | United States |
| 2002 | Arthur C. Helton, Esq. | Founded and then directed the Forced Migration Projects at the Open Society Institute (1994) ; Served as program director of peace and conflict studies and senior fellow for refugee studies and preventive action at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City (1999) | United States |
| 2001 | Alice H. Henkin, Esq. | United Nations Human Rights Committee | United States |
| 2000 | Professor Ruth G. Wedgwood | U.S. member of the United Nations to Human Rights Committee | United States |
| 1999 | Peter H. Pfund, Esq | Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law in the US Department of State (1979-1997) | United States |
| 1998 | Albert H. Kritzer, Esq | An authority on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) | United States |
| 1997 | Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Gali | Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-1996) | Egypt |
| 1995 | Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjold | Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961) | Sweden |
| 1994 | Hon. Johan Jorgen Hoist | Minister of Foreign Affairs in France (1993-1994) | France |
| 1993 | Hon. Cyrus R. Vance | United Nations Special Envoy to Bosnia (1993) ; United States Secretary (1977-1980) | United States |
| 1992 | President Carlos Salinas de Gortari | President of Mexico (1988-1994) | Mexico |
| 1991 | President Lech Walesa | President of Poland (1990-1995) | Poland |
| 1990 | Mikhail S. Gorbachev | President of the Soviet Union (1990-1991) | Russia |
| 1989 | Javier Perez de Cuellar | Secretary-General of the United Nations (1982-1991) | Peru |