CLAUDIO GROSSMAN AND WILLIAM SCHULZ JOIN JUDGING PANEL FOR RFK HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jeffrey Buchanan buchanan@rfkcenter.org

(202) 463-7575 ext 241

WASHINGTON, DC, May 13, 2009 - Claudio Grossman, dean of American University Washington College of Law, and William Schulz, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former executive director of Amnesty International USA, have been named to the judging panel of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.  

Grossman and Schulz join current judges Gay McDougall, United Nations independent expert on minority issues, Makau Mutua, dean of Buffalo School of Law at the State University of New York, and Sushma Raman, president of the Southern California Grantmakers, on this distinguished panel. 

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was established in 1984 to honor courageous and innovative human rights defenders throughout the world who embody Robert F. Kennedy's belief in the power of individual efforts to overcome injustice. There have been 39 RFK Human Rights Winners from 23 countries to date. The award includes a cash prize of $30,000 and on-going legal, advocacy and technical support through a partnership with the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Grossman is the current chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture and was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from 1993-2001, where he served in numerous capacities including president (twice, first in 1996 and again in 2001), special rapporteur on the rights of women (1996-2000), and special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous populations (2000-2001). 

Grossman, a widely published human rights scholar, has received numerous awards for his work with human rights and international law, including the "Outstanding Dean of the Year" award from the National Association for Public Interest Law (subsequently known as Equal Justice Works), the Harry LeRoy Jones Award from the Washington Foreign Law Society, and the Chapultepec Grand Prize from the Inter American Press Association. 

Dr. Schulz served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA from 1994 to 2006. Currently, he is a senior fellow at Center for American Progress, and he works in the areas of human rights and religion and public policy. He is the contributing editor to a book published in 2008 by the University of Pennsylvania Press in collaboration with CAP, The Future of Human Rights: U.S. Policy for a New Era, that lays out recommendations for the Obama administration in all areas of human rights policy.

During his 12 years at Amnesty, Dr. Schulz led missions to Liberia, Tunisia, Northern Ireland, and Sudan and traveled tens of thousands miles in the United States, spreading the human rights message from campuses to boardrooms to civic organizations. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Schulz came to Amnesty after serving for 15 years with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the last eight (1985 to 1993) as president of the association.

The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center) was founded in 1968 by Robert Kennedy's family and friends to carry forward his vision of a more just and peaceful world. Today the impact of the RFK Center extends around the globe, through cutting-edge programs promoting human rights and social justice and empowering new generations of leaders.