Representatives from the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) will receive the 2023 Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law during a ceremony at Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art on March 1, 2023.
The ceremony and presentation of the prize will recognize the organization’s remarkable efforts to evacuate, support, and resettle Afghan women judges who, because of their gender and work as judges, have faced persecution and violence since the Taliban took control of the country in late 2021.
Speakers at the ceremony will include Dean Kerry Abrams of Duke Law School, Chief Justice Paul M. Newby of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, David F. Levi, director emeritus of the Bolch Judicial Institute, Judge Allyson K. Duncan (ret.) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit & regional vice president of the International Association of Judges, and Susan Bass Bolch, who together with her husband, Carl Bolch Jr., founded the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School and established the prize. Paul W. Grimm, director of the Bolch Judicial Institute, will present the prize, and Justice Susan Glazebrook will deliver a keynote address accepting the award on behalf of the IAWJ. The program will also include a short documentary film by American filmmakers Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt of Incite Pictures/Cine Qua Non.
In addition, the following members of the IAWJ’s Afghan support committee will be present to accept the award: Justice Mona Lynch of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Judge Vanessa Ruiz of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Judge Robyn Tupman of the District Court of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and Judge Patricia Whalen (ret.) of the Vermont State Court.
A conversation with the IAWJ judges on March 2
On Thursday, March 2, 2023, all five of the visiting IAWJ judges will take part in a lunch-hour panel discussion, Afghan Women Judges in Crisis: A Discussion with IAWJ Judges. The session will be held at 12:30 p.m. in Room 3041 of the Law School and will offer attendees an opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of evacuation efforts and ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. IAWJ Executive Director Christie Jones will moderate the discussion. Students, faculty and staff of the Law School and Duke University communities are invited to attend; seating and lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Susan and Carl Bolch Jr. Prize for the Rule of Law is awarded annually by the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School to an individual or organization who has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the rule of law and advancing rule of law principles around the world. By honoring those who do this work, the Bolch Prize draws attention to the ideals of justice and judicial independence and to the constitutional structures and safeguards that undergird a free society. The first prize was awarded in April 2019 to retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court at a ceremony held on Duke University’s campus.
If you are interested in attending the ceremony on March 1, click here to view the invitation and RSVP. (RSVP is required to attend; space is limited.) A recording of the program will also be made available on Duke University’s YouTube channel. To receive a link, sign up here.