THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian-born international law professor who teaches in the United States and has previously been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was awarded the Hague Prize on Thursday.
Bassiouni, a professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and President Emeritus of the university s International Human Rights Law Institute, was given the award for his work distinguished contribution in the field of international law, organizers said.
Bassiouni was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Hague-based International Criminal Court and also wrote a key report on atrocities committed in the Bosnian war.
He has served as a U.N. human rights expert in Afghanistan.
He is without peer when it comes to the advocacy of international criminal justice and his promotion of the establishment of an International Criminal Court, said Judge Fausto Pocar, president of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.
Accepting the award at a ceremony in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace in The Hague, Bassiouni said international criminal law was an idea whose time has come.
Impunity can no longer be tolerated, he said.
Bassiouni is only the second winner of the award, which includes a $67,000 prize.
The first recipient was Israeli law professor and diplomat Shabtai Rosenne, who won in 2004.
