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 says she was stunned to receive the news, and that she was deeply honoured to be one of the recipients of this award.
She says 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 adds to receive this in Justice Bader Ginsburg’s name is personally and deeply moving for her.
She will be one of eight women jurists to receive the prestigious award in a ceremony in Madrid, Spain on 8th May this year 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 Honor is a new international recognition, established by the World Jurist Association and presented for the first time in 2021.
This will be the second time, since the death of the iconic Justice Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States, that the award will be presented.
Jalal was selected by an eminent Jury consisting of some 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 Honor 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.
