Justice Richard Goldstone was born on the 26 October 1938.He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a BA LLB in 1962. He than practised as an Advocate at the Johannesburg Bar.
Im 1976 he was appointed as SC (Senior Counsel).
And in in 1980 was made Judge of the Transvaal Supreme Court.
Goldstone served as chairperson of the South African Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, later known as the Goldstone Commission. Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections, and concluded that political violence was fueled by a "third force".He also served as national president of the National Institute of Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO); chairperson of the Bradlow Foundation, a charitable educational trust; and head of the board of the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA).THen he was appointed judge of the constitutional court of South Africa.
He was entrusted with the task of interpreting the new South African Constitution and supervising the country’s transition into democracy. he held this possition from 1994 till 2003.
After he retaired from the possition of justice he served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda from 15 August 1994 to September 1996.
n April 2004, he was appointed by Kofi Annan, the than Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the Independent International Committee, chaired by Paul Volcker, to investigate the Iraq Oil for Food program.
On the 3 April 2009, Goldstone was named as the head of the independent United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, which was established by Resolution S-9/1 of the United Nations Human Rights Council.During his five day trip to Gaza, Israel refused to cooperate. orcing Goldstone to enter Gaza through Egypt and refusing his team access to military sources and victims of Hamas rockets. Hamas security often accompanied his team, including during interviews with possible witnesses of the militant group's actions. Citing legal and political impediments to war crimes trials, Goldstone said "From a practical political point of view, I wish I could be optimistic. He said that he was shock by the destruction in gaza strip.Justice Richard J. Goldstone was named the 2007 Weissberg Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Beloit College, in Beloit, Wisconsin. Justice Goldstone continued teaching at Harvard University until the end of the Spring 2007 semester, after he leaves Beloit College. In Fall 2007 he was made William Hughes Mulligan Professor of International Law at Fordham University School of Law, giving a seminar on "Laws of War and International Criminal Courts."
A remarkable career.
