Robert Badinter passes away

It was with deep emotion and personal sadness that we all learned of the death of Robert Badinter, who was an eminent member of the Honorary Committee of the René Cassin Foundation. He had taken part in several of the Foundation’s colloquia, culminating in his final testimony last December, at the international day organized by the AFNU and the René Cassin Foundation to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The International Institute of Human Rights supported his tireless fight for the universal abolition of capital punishment, and took part in the tribute paid to him at the Institut de France in 2021 to mark the 40th anniversary of the “Badinter Law”. But we must also highlight the European dimension of Robert Badinter’s commitment, who contributed to the full acceptance of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in 1981, as well as to the drafting of Protocol n°6 to the Convention to abolish the death penalty on a continental scale. In his Mélanges en l’honneur de Robert Badinter L’exigence de justice, Jean-Paul Costa himself highlighted the relationship between “Robert Badinter and the European Convention on Human Rights”. This commitment also had a pan-European dimension, with the creation of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE, of which Robert Badinter was the founding father, after his experience at the head of the Arbitration Commission for Peace in Yugoslavia, never failing to encourage his successors with benevolence and lucidity. To the very end, he questioned the future of a war-torn continent, publishing with Bruno Cotte and Alain Pellet a dark indictment: Vladimir Poutine, l’accusation. A man of the Enlightenment, a biographer of Condorcet, an intellectual in politics, with Elisabeth Badinter, marked by the tragedies of the last world war, he was against all odds a fervent defender of a humanist and universal conception of Human Rights. Robert Badinter emphasized the fight against all forms of discrimination, from anti-Semitism to homophobia, the protection of victims and the rights of detainees, and above all, to the very end, respect for the inherent dignity of every person. In the face of ideological excesses and political violence, he never ceased to call for law and justice. We may miss his unique voice, deep and warm, but his incomparable example has left an indelible mark on generations of jurists, academics, lawyers and magistrates. His works and struggles live on. The René Cassin Foundation sends its deepest condolences to his family and friends.