The Hon. Michael Kirby

2014 The Hon. Michael Kirby Public Lecture

'Will human rights in North Korea change?'

Friday, 1 August 2014 at 12:00pm, JP Belshaw Lecture Theatre (LT1)

Biography:

When he retired from the High Court of Australia on 2 February 2009, Michael Kirby was Australia's longest serving judge.

He was first appointed in 1975 as a Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation & Arbitration Commission. Soon after, he was seconded as inaugural Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission (1975-84). Later, he was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, then President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and, concurrently, President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands. His appointment to the High Court of Australia came in 1996 and he served thirteen years. In later years, he was Acting Chief Justice of Australia twice.

In addition to his judicial duties, Michael Kirby has served on three university governing bodies being elected Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney (1984-93). He also served on many national and international bodies. Amongst the latter have been service as a member of the World Health Organisation's Global Commission on AIDS (1988-92); as President of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva (1995-8); as UN Special Representative Human Rights in Cambodia (1993-6); as a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (1995-2005); as a member of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Judicial Reference Group (2007-) and as a member of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights(2004-).

Following his judicial retirement, Michael Kirby was elected President of the Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia from 2009-2010. He serves as a Board Member of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration. In 2010, he was appointed to the Australian Panel of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank). He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Laws of Australia. He has been appointed Honorary Visiting Professor by twelve universities. And he participates regularly in many local and international conferences and meetings. He has been awarded a number of honorary doctorates at home and abroad.

In 2010, Michael Kirby was awarded the Gruber Justice Prize. He served 2011-12 as a member of the Eminent Persons Group investigating the future of the Commonwealth of Nations. He was appointed as a Commissioner of the UNDP Global Commission of HIV and the Law In March 2011, he was appointed to the Advisory Council of Transparency International, based in Berlin. In 2013, he was appointed Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in North Korea. He was also appointed in 2013 as a Commissioner of the UNAIDS commission on moving from AIDS to the Right to Health (2013-2014).