Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
| Gabrielle Kirk McDonald | |
|---|---|
| Arbitrator: Iran-United States Claims Tribunal | |
|
In office 2001–2013 |
|
| Succeeded by | Rosemary Barkett |
| President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) | |
|
In office 1997–1999 |
|
| Preceded by | Antonio Cassese |
| Succeeded by | Claude Jorda |
| Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) | |
|
In office 1993–1997 |
|
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas | |
|
In office May 11, 1979 – August 14, 1988 |
|
| Appointed by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | New seat authorized by 92 Stat. 1629 |
| Succeeded by | John David Rainey |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 12, 1942 Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Nationality |
 American
|
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
Howard University School of Law Boston University and Hunter College |
| UN Security Council Resolution 808 |
|
|---|---|
ICTY, The Hague
|
|
| Date | 22 February 1993 |
| Meeting no. | 3,175 |
| Code | S/RES/808 (Document) |
| Subject | Tribunal (Former Yugoslavia) |
|
Voting summary
|
15 voted for None voted against None abstained |
| Result | Adopted |
| Security Council composition | |
|
Permanent members
|
|
|
Non-permanent members
|
|
Gabrielle Anne Kirk McDonald (born April 12, 1942) is an American lawyer and jurist who, until her retirement in October 2013, served as an American arbitrator on the Iran – United States Claims Tribunal seated in The Hague. She is a former judge at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). McDonald was one of the first eleven judges elected by the United Nations to serve on the Yugoslav Tribunal and went on to become its President between 1997 and 1999, the only woman to occupy the position since its founding in 1994. As the presiding judge in Trial Chamber II, she issued the tribunal's verdict against Duško Tadić, the first international war crimes trial since the Nuremberg Trials and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. The Tadić case was also the first international war crimes trial involving charges of sexual violence.
McDonald was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 12, 1942 to her late mother Frances Retta English and late father, James G. Kirk, Jr. In her September 1998 interview with St. Paul Magazine, McDonald remembered her mother as an ambitious woman with dreams of pursuing a career in acting and writing. Her father was a World War II veteran and like his father, worked as a dining car waiter for the Northern Pacific Railway. Her parents divorced in 1944, shortly after McDonald's brother, James G. Kirk III was born. Frances English Kirk soon thereafter moved to New York with her two children. Living in East Harlem, Frances Kirk worked as a secretary for various newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses. When McDonald was eight years old, she and her mother moved to Riverdale, New York. McDonald has often spoken about her mother's refusal to accept prejudice and discrimination, which include her confrontation with a racist landlord who wanted to evict Frances from her apartment when he learned that her children were Negro. Frances Kirk refused to budge. Born of a Swedish mother and an African-American father, Frances was light-complected and many believed she was Caucasian. In the 2004 Horatio Alger Award short biographical film, McDonald also spoke about an incident where a taxi driver apologized to her mother for the unpleasant smell in his car because a previous passenger had been an African-American. Seeing her mother challenge these incidents taught McDonald early in her life that "you just don't sit back quietly . . . you say something."
...
Wikipedia