Visiting Professor Albie Sachs to Receive Tang Prize in Rule of Law

Visiting Professor Albie Sachs, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, will be awarded the 2014 Tang Prize in the Rule of Law.

The Tang Prize Foundation said in its announcement about Sachs that he is being recognized “for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally through an understanding of the rule of law in which the dignity of all persons is respected and the strengths and values of all communities are embraced, in particular through his efforts in the realization of the rule of law in a free and democratic South Africa, working as activist, lawyer, scholar, and framer of a new Constitution to heal the divisions of the past and to establishing a society that respects diversity and is based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.”

Sachs has a long history in human rights activism in South Africa, and was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the country’s Constitutional Court from 1994 to 2009. He continues to write, speak, and teach around the world, sharing the South African experience of healing a divided society.

The biennial Tang Prize is awarded in four categories (Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and the Rule of Law) and provides a substantial cash award and research grant to a winner in each category.