ICJ lawyer Philippe Sands to receive Peace Prize of German Book Trade

French-British author and human rights lawyer Philippe Sands will be awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his "unwavering defence of international law," the German Publishers and Booksellers Association announced on Thursday.

Sands, 65, regularly serves as counsel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

He was chosen as the winner for his efforts to champion "justice, peace and the unwavering defence of international law," the jury said in a statement, describing Sands as "one of the most important intellectual voices of our time."

"Descended from Holocaust survivors, he draws on his own family history to trace the emergence of this body of law, illuminating the experiences that lie behind the legal concepts of 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity'," the jury said.

The prestigious award, which carries a prize of €25,000 ($28,382), honours individuals who have contributed to the realization of the idea of peace through literature, science or the arts.

Last year the prize went to historian Karl Schlögel. One of the most prominent recipients in recent years was the writer Salman Rushdie.

The German Publishers and Booksellers Association - the professional organization representing the trade - has awarded the prize since 1950. 

This year's award ceremony will take place on October 11, at the close of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Sands was born in London in 1960. Besides working as a lawyer, he is a professor of international law at University College London as well as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

He has worked on "several landmark cases in international law," including regarding former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, according to the jury statement.

He has also advocated for the rights of Palestinians and the Rohingya, a persecuted ethnic minority in Myanmar. 

Together with other legal experts, he campaigned to "establish ecocide as a criminal offence before the International Court of Justice," to classify the destruction of ecosystems as an offence punishable under international law.

Besides legal literature, Sands has also published an array of literary non-fictional works which link personal life stories to the big questions of international law, the foundation said.

Two criminal cases in which he was involved at the ICJ form the basis for "The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy" (2022) and "38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia (2025)."