The WILIG Prominent Women in International Law Award honors those who have advanced women, gender, and women’s rights in international law.  Since 1993, the American Society of International Law’s Women in International Law Interest Group has selected awardees who:

• Employ international law to advance women and women’s rights — awardees need not be attorneys, though most are;
• Break through glass ceilings for women in international law;
• Promote women and women’s voices in the field;
• Contribute substantively to advancing, researching, advocating for, or promoting women’s rights and/or gender justice;
• Are considered prominent in the field of international law – or whose accomplishments merit further recognition through this prestigious award.

The founders of this award aimed to highlight the accomplishments of women in international law, to demand recognition for their work, and to amplify their demands for women’s rights and gender justice.  Thanks to IntLawGrrls, this cohort of talented legal minds now have a home in cyberspace:

Awardees: Prominent Women in International Law Award

2018: I. Maxine Marcus, Director, Transitional Justice Institute,Institute for International Criminal Investigations

2017:  Judge Rosemary Barkett, Judge, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal

2016:   Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative

2015:   Anne-Marie Slaughter, President & CEO, New America Foundation

2014:

Judge Joan Donoghue, International Court of Justice

Judge Julia Sebutinde, International Court of Justice

Judge Xue Hanqin, International Court of Justice

2013:   Diane Marie Amann, University of Georgia School of Law

2012:   Mireille Delmas-Marty, Chair of Comparative Legal Studies and Internationalization of Law at College de France

2011:   Lucy Reed, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Former President, ASIL

2010:   Dinah Shelton, Commissioner, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Professor, George Washington University Law School

2009:   Unity Dow, Justice, High Court of Botswana

2008:   Graciela Dixon, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Panama

2007:   Taghreed Hikmat, Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

 

 

 

 

2006:   Rosalyn Higgins, President, International Court of Justice

2005:

Regan Ralph, Executive Director, Fund for Global Human Rights

Kelly D. Askin, Senior Legal Officer for International Justice, Open Society Justice Initiative

Lea Browning, President, W.E.A.R.E. for Human Rights

2004:   Cecelia Medina, Judge, Inter-American Court of Human Rights

2003:

Hauwa Ibrahim, Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, American University Washington College of Law; Defense Counsel to Nigerian defendant Amina Lawal

Sujata V. Manohar, Member, National Human Rights Commission of India; Former Judge, Supreme Court of India

2002:

Patricia Wald, Former Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Marcia A. Wiss, Partner, Hogan & Hartson

2000:   Ruth Lapidoth, Professor, Hebrew University Faculty of Law

1999:   Patricia Viseur Sellers, Legal Advisor for Gender Related Crimes and Senior Acting Trial Attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

1997:

Lea Browning, Hogan & Hartson

Sujata V. Manoha Director, International Centre for Ethnic Studies

Ricki Helfer, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Sonia Picado, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States

1996:

Patricia Schroeder, Member, U.S. House of Representatives

Geraldine A. Ferraro, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission

Edith   B. Weiss, President, American Society of International Law; and Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

Diane  P. Wood, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit

1995:

Cynthia C. Lichtenstein, Professor, Boston College of Law

Laura Bocalandro, Inter-American Development Bank

Rita E. Hauser, President, The Hauser Foundation

Arvonne S. Fraser, U.S. Representative, UN Commission on the Status of Women

1994:

Jamie  S. Gorelick, General Counsel, U. S. Department of Defense

Rosalyn Higgins, Professor, London School of Economics

Madeleine E. Wall, Group Director, Legal Services Cable & Wireless PLC

1993:

Charlene Barshefsky, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative

Carol   F. Lee, General Counsel, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Elizabeth R. Rindskopf, General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency

A history of the Prominent Women in International Law Award and of the Women in International Law Interest Group of ASIL is available here.

Professional affiliations listed here reflect those that were current at the time the award was granted.  WILIG welcomes updates or corrections to this list, as some of the awardees were unavailable for comment.

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