Justice Richard Goldstone
Retired South African judge
Justice Richard Goldstone is a retired South African judge whose legal career spanned several significant roles in the judiciary. He began his legal practice in Johannesburg in 1963, taking silk in 1976. His judicial service included roles in the Transvaal Provincial Division from 1980 to 1989, followed by a tenure in the Appellate Division from 1990 to 1994. Goldstone served on the Constitutional Court of South Africa from July 1994 to October 2003. His expertise and influence were demonstrated through his work on major national transitions and international law. During the transition from apartheid to multiracial democracy in the early 1990s, he headed the Goldstone Commission, which investigated political violence in South Africa between 1991 and 1994. This work was credited with enabling multi-party negotiations to proceed despite outbreaks of violence.
His international legal career included serving as the first chief prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, a role he held from August 1994 to September 1996. In this capacity, he prosecuted key war crimes suspects, notably Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. Later, in 2009, Goldstone led a fact-finding mission commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the Gaza War. This mission concluded that both Israel and Hamas potentially committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. His work also involved advising on the Group Areas Act, where his rulings restricted evictions and rendered the act virtually unworkable, leading to a cessation of prosecutions under the law.
Goldstone’s contributions to law and human rights have been widely recognized. His work investigating violence and his subsequent international roles established him as a prominent figure in global legal discourse, particularly concerning transitional justice and international criminal law.
