Founded by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1958, the prize is awarded to “persons or institutions which have demonstrated their great influence on and charisma within European society and may thus be perceived as having been formative of the image of European culture”.
The prize was awarded to the ICJ because of its work to strengthen the rule of law through its protection of the independence of judges and lawyers, its legal training of persons in developing countries, its role in the drafting of international treaties, and its monitoring through fact-finding missions. In giving the award, the Foundation stressed that “the quality and objectivity of the ICJ is beyond all doubt” and that “of special importance is the influence exercised by the Commission in recent years on the rule of law in countries becoming independent in the course of the decolonization process”.