Former ABA President Shestack recognized for human rights contributions

The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation honors former ABA President Jerome J. Shestack of Philadelphia as one of its 2008 Justice Award recipients for his longtime leadership in the struggle against race and gender discrimination in the United States and ethnic cleansing abroad.

Shestack’s commitment to human rights began early in his career. While at Harvard Law School, he launched a movement to enable women to enroll in the school. Later during the 50’s and 60’s, Shestack led several civil rights efforts, including one that successfully abolished segregation in places of public amusement in Philadelphia.

Shestack’s work in the civil rights movement led to his involvement in international human rights. Through the International Criminal Court, which he helped to create, and the International League of Human Rights, which he chaired, Shestack mobilized world opinion against human rights abuses on several continents. He successfully defended dissidents in the former Soviet Union and South Africa. And as a former member of the Executive Council of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, he helped marshal protests against the genocide in Sudan.

Shestack has been active in the ABA for more than 40 years. He was Pennsylvania’s delegate to the House of Delegates for many years and served on the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. Additionally, Shestack is past chair of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities and started the first ABA committees on women’s rights, legal services to the poor, Native American rights and international human rights. He also served on the ABA’s Board of Governors before becoming ABA president in 1997.

In addition to Shestack, the Gruber Foundation recognizes Judge Thomas Buergenthal with its 2008 Justice Award. The award ceremony takes place Thursday at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.

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