By Rashika Kumar in Suva
Fijian national, jurist and lawyer Imrana Jalal has been awarded the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Medal of Honour by the World Jurists Association.
The award is given in recognition of inspiring women jurists who fight to defend and strengthen the rule of law, and to consolidate society’s advances in gender equity.
She is the first woman from the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island region to receive the award.
Jalal said she was stunned to receive the news, and that she was deeply honoured to be one of the recipients.
She said Justice Bader Ginsburg was her hero and one of her dreams was to meet her while she worked in the US at the World Bank but owing to covid that did not happen.
Jalal added that to receive this award in Justice Bader Ginsburg’s name was personally and deeply moving for her.
She will be one of eight women jurists to receive the award in a ceremony in Madrid, Spain, on May 8 and will be hosted by King Felipe VI of Spain at the Rule of Law Centre of the World Jurist Association.
The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Medal of Honour is a new international recognition, established by the World Jurist Association and presented for the first time in 2021.
It will be the second time since the death of the iconic Justice Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2020 at the age of 87 that the award will be presented.
Jalal was selected by an eminent jury comprising members of the World Jurists Association, including the daughter of the Justice Bader Ginsburg, Professor Jane Ginsburg of Columbia Law School, New York, who was the president of the jury.
In 2021, the Medal of Honour was bestowed on eight distinguished female jurists and leaders from around the world including Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank and former IMF head; Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, vice-president of the International Criminal Court; Maite Oronoz, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico; Navi Pillay, judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa; Rosario Silva de Lapuerta, vice-president of the European Court of Justice; Sujata Manohar, retired judge of the Supreme Court of India; and Young Hye Kim, senior judge, Commissioner at National Human Rights Commission.
Rashika Kumar is a FijiVillage News reporter.
