It is appropriate at the outset to pay warm tribute to Whitney Harris who played a key role in establishing the initiative on a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity. Whitney was one of the leading prosecutors at Nuremberg and worked closely with U.S. Chief Prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson. It was my distinct privilege to have met Whitney in Nuremberg and hear him deliver the opening address in 1995 at a seminar to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials against the major Nazi leaders. His voice resonated in the very courtroom where that trial was held, as the immortal words of Justice Robert Jackson took on a new and urgent meaning.

The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis functions as a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law. It is the home of the project. Those of us involved with the project rejoiced in having the support and advice of Whitney and we are sad that he passed away before the completion of the project. We console ourselves with the knowledge of how much a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity meant to him and how much satisfaction he received from it.