Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo

On May 8, 2017, we awarded our ‘Outstanding Upstander’ award to Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.

Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. Left to right: Randi Markusen, World Without Genocide Board of Directors, State Senator Sandra Pappas, World Without Genocide Board of Directors Vice-Chair, and Dr. Ellen Kennedy, Executive Director.

From 1998 to 2002, Judge Kuo prosecuted war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Judge Kuo was one of three prosecutors for the Foča ‘rape camp’ trial. In July 1992, Foča, a town in Bosnia, was overrun by Serb paramilitary forces. They separated the women and girls, took them captive in various locations throughout the town, and subjected them to rape and sexual violence over a period of many weeks. Kuo and the other female attorneys prosecuted three of the Serb leaders. The men were found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity for their use of sexual violence. This was the first time that rape was labeled as a crime against humanity.

Today, Judge Kuo serves as magistrate judge at the Eastern District of New York courts. She is the first Taiwan-born judge in the United States.

Judge Kuo spoke about the Tribunal case.

Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Kevin Lindsey, member of the Advisory Board, with Dr. Ellen Kennedy, Executive Director.

Former U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, who introduced         Judge Kuo.

Right: Dr. Friedrich Kustaa, Herero descendant, with World Without Genocide delegation to Namibia, Summer 2017.

Video remarks from Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar