Richard Anderson Falk (born November 13, 1930) is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor's Chairman of the board of trustees. In 2004, he was listed as the author or coauthor of 20 books and the editor or coeditor of another 20 volumes.Dean's Open Forum, Richard Falk, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, November 4, 2004. Falk has published extensively, with multiple books written about international law and the United Nations.
In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
Early life and education Falk was born into a New York Jewish family. Defining himself as "an American Jew", he says that having an outsider status, with a sense of not belonging, may have influenced his later role as a critic of American foreign policy.Richard Falk, On Jewish Identity, Falk blog entry, January 15, 2011:'In my case I have at various times been inspired and enlightened by the practices and wisdom of Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Taoist, and indigenous peoples. And in a more mundane sense, I think that the future of humanity will be greatly enhanced if these various religious and wisdom traditions are ecumenically and inclusively embraced by more and more people throughout the world, providing a thickening societal and civilizational fiber for human solidarity. this sense, I want to say, yes I am Jewish, and proud of it, but I am equally indigenous, Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian to the extent that I allow myself to participate in their rituals, partake of their sacred texts, and seek and avail myself of the opportunity to sit at the feet of their masters.' His being Jewish signifies above all for Falk, "to be preoccupied with overcoming injustice and thirsting for justice in the world, and that means being respectful toward other peoples regardless of their nationality or religion, and empathetic in the face of human suffering whoever and wherever victimization is encountered."
Falk obtained a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1952 before completing a Bachelor of Laws degree at Yale Law School. He obtained his Doctorate in Law (SJD) from Harvard University in 1962. His early thinking was influenced by readings of Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse, and C. Wright Mills, and he developed an overriding concern with projects to abolish war and aggression as social institutions.
Professional career Falk began his teaching career at Ohio State University and Harvard in the late 1950s. In 1961, he moved to Princeton University, which served as his academic affiliation for over thirty years. He was appointed Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice in 1965, a position he retains as emeritus professor. In 1985, he became a Guggenheim Fellow. He retired from teaching in 2001.
Since 2002, he has been a research professor at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. As of 2013, he was director of the Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy project.
Falk is a critic of the Westphalian system of nation states, which he argues must be transcended by a more international institution to control the resort to force by nations. As Falk sees it, the world is moving toward a global ethos under which states renounce their boundary-obsessed territorialism in exchange for a regime of consensually negotiated aims, in which national leaders must be subject to accountability.Thomas C. Heller, Abraham D.Sofaer,'Sovereignty: The Practitioners' Perspective,' in Stephen D. Krasner (ed.) Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities, Columbia University Press 2001 pp.24-52, p.42. With regard to specific geopolitical situations, he has published books and essays analyzing the ideological aspects of the American Human Rights Debate,Richard A. Falk, 'Ideological Patterns in the United States Human Rights Debate, 1945-1978,' in Natalie Kaufman Hevener (ed.) The Dynamics of Human Rights in United States Foreign Policy, Transaction Publishers (1981) 1983 pp.29-52. the legality of the Vietnam War and other military operations. With regard to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he wrote that it is "inescapable that an objective observer would reach the conclusion that this Iraq War is a war of aggression, and as such, that it amounts to a Crime against Peace of the sort for which surviving German leaders were indicted, prosecuted and punished at the Nuremberg trials conducted shortly after the Second World War.", Volume 20, Issue 08, April 12–25, 2003.
Activism
Falk's engagement with politics began at Ohio State University, where in the 1960s as a member of the faculty of law he was a witness to racism targeted at black students. His move to Princeton University, where the teaching of law was linked to politics, international relations and other social sciences allowed Falk to integrate his professional expertise in international law with his ethical and political values. Falk aimed to combine his academic work with political activism in a role he described as a "citizen-pilgrim".
In media Falk is a member of the Editorial Boards of The NationRichard Falk page at The Nation and The Progressive. He has spoken on college campusesMarwa Farag, UN representative challenges Middle East peace process, The Stanford Daily, February 7, 2012 Envisioning a Different Future for U.S. Relations with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan Part 1 "How Did We Get Here?", University of California TV, April 5, 2010 and for organizations.* At the Nuclear Precipice: Nuclear Weapons and the Abandonment of International Law 2006 , International Law Symposium, Public Forum, February 23, 2006. KIRO-TV event announcement, June 2012; Annie Roberts, Richard Falk: No issue needs more open debate than moral and political cost of I/P policy, Mondoweiss, June 11, 2012.
Former activities Falk is a former advisory board member of the World Federalist Institute and the American Movement for World Government,Richard A. Falk Papers biography, Syracuse University website accessed June 12, 2013. as well as a former fellow at the Transnational Institute. During 1999–2000, Falk worked on the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, an initiative of the Prime Minister of Sweden Göran Persson.Report on Kosovo, Independent International Commission on Kosovo, 2000, accessed December 23, 2012.
For several years Falk served on the Santa Barbara, California local committee of Human Rights Watch (HRW). In December 2012, he was asked to resign from the local committee, which Falk said he believed was due to his work for the United Nations, which was contrary to HRW's policy.Richard Falk removed from Human Rights Watch committee, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 18, 2012.Human Rights Watch boots UN Palestinian rights official from one of its panels, The Times of Israel, December 19, 2012. The lobbying group UN Watch noted that Falk had been asked to resign after UN Watch had sent an open letter to HRW listing off issues they had with Falk and asking for his removal, and drew the conclusion that the timing was no accident. Later that month, forty representatives of major international human rights organisations worldwide signed a letter to HRW urging it to "clarify that he was not 'expelled' as an enemy of human rights' as UN Watch claimed."Phyllis Bennis, Human Rights Watch: Time to stand with human rights defenders, Al Jazeera, January 9, 2012.Letter to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch , from various human rights groups, December 27, 2012, at National Lawyers Guild website. Phyllis Bennis, a signer of the letter, wrote that HRW stated in a reply on January 1, 2013, that the UN Watch's statement was filled with inaccuracies and falsehoods and that Falk was asked to resign from HRW to comply with long-standing HRW policy.Human Rights Watch Expels Top U.N. Official Richard Falk, UN Watch website blog, December 18, 2012. According to UN Watch, their complaint to HRW "not[ed] he has been condemned for spreading antisemitism and 9/11 conspiracies by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay"; the very next day Falk was gone, months after had joined the UN, calling into question the official explanation.
Appointments at the United Nations United Nations Human Rights Inquiry Commission for the Palestinian territories In 2001, Falk served on a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Inquiry Commission for the Palestinian territoriesHarpreet Kaur Paul interviewing Richard Falk, Global Policy Forum, June 2, 2011 with John Dugard, a South African based in Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Kamal Hossain, former foreign minister of Bangladesh. Falk stated the two main issues: "One is evaluating whether the conditions of occupation are such as to give the Palestinians some kind of right of resistance. And if they have that right, then what are the limits to that right?" "The other issue at stake in this current inquiry is to evaluate how Israel as the occupying power is carrying out its responsibility to protect the society that is subject to its control." After its investigation the commission issued a report, "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine."
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 On March 26, 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Falk replaced South African international law professor John Dugard, who left his post in June 2008 after seven years.UN envoy hits Israel 'apartheid', BBC, February 23, 2007 Falk's appointment expired in May 2014. , International Law Journal of London, June 30, 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
Response to appointment The appointment of Falk was made by a consensual decision by the 47 members of the UN's Human Rights Council. Although Jewish groups tried to persuade the European Union and Canada to oppose Falk's appointment, the EU did not intervene, and Canada did not oppose although it distanced itself via a statement.
According to a UN press release, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Itzhak LevanonStatement by H.E. permanent resident Ambassador to the United Nations Itzhak Levanon, March 22, 2007 strongly criticized the appointment stating that Falk had written in an article that it was not "an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with the criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity" and argued that "someone who had publicly and repeatedly stated such views could not possibly be considered independent, impartial or objective.", United Nations press release, March 26, 2008.