Dear David,

These past two weeks were yet another intensive set of involvement by the RWCHR-and myself as International Chair-both domestically and internationally, including:

• Celebration of February as Black History Month (see below) first inaugurated by my then Cabinet colleague and friend Jean Augustine-where we remember and recognize the extraordinary contributions of Black Canadians, while recognizing also the systemic racism endured by them that inhibits further contributions. The combatting of systemic racism against the Black community must be a priority not only as a proclamation during Black History Month but as a foundational principle and policy every day thereafter.

• The opening of the Winter Olympic “Games of Shame” in Beijing, China where, as co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, I co-signed a letter (see below) regarding the actions to be taken to hold Beijing accountable for its ongoing atrocity crimes, while supporting and protecting our Canadian athletes competing in the games themselves.

• As an anti-apartheid activist who was arrested in South Africa for my anti-apartheid advocacy and support of Nelson Mandela, I found the Amnesty International report indicting Israel as an Apartheid State demeaning to the real struggle against the real apartheid in South Africa; And the repudiation of the legacy of Nelson Mandela, who, while a strong advocate for Palestinian rights and an independent Palestinian state-which I share- also affirmed Israel’s right to live in peace and security. Regrettably, this report not only critiques Israeli policy and practice-which is legitimate-but Israel’s very essence and existence as a Jewish state.

• Our Senior Fellow, Vladimir Kara Murza-leading Russian historian, author, and public intellectual-and regular columnist for the Washington Post-is one of the world’s authorities on Putin's Russia, and the Russian threat to Ukraine. His most recent exemplary contribution appears in the newsletter below.

• I participated in several international fora, including the International Bar Association Forum on the Global Assault on The Rule of Law; the OSCE Conference on Combating Antisemitism; the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom; and the Indiana International Scholars Conference-all of which are summarised below.

• In the various international fora in which I participated, I had occasion to highlight the cases and causes of major political prisoners whom we represent, and the action needed to help secure their release.

Best,
Irwin Cotler, International Chair of the RWCHR

RWCHR Statement on Black History Month
In celebrating Black History Month – inaugurated by Jean Augustine P.C., C.M., O.Ont., C.B.E., Canada’s first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons and also former Cabinet colleague of Professor Cotler – the RWCHR honours the significant contribution of Black Canadians to the well-being and advancement of Canadian society. This month embodies the need to act against systemic racism and hate in all its manifestations – both here in Canada and across the globe – and the struggles for equality, human dignity, justice, and our common humanity.

Professor Cotler Addresses OSCE Forum re Combatting Antisemitism
Special Envoy Irwin Cotler represented Canada in addressing a conference on combatting antisemitism convened by the Polish Chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and set forth an action plan for participating states.

Meeting of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom
This week’s “Global Conference for Media Freedom”, hosted by the Media Freedom Coalition and the Estonian Institute of Human Rights, opened with a  meeting of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, of which Professor Cotler is a member. Other participants in the Conference included Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dmitry Muratov, and RWCHR International Legal Advisory Board Member Baroness Helena Kennedy. 

International Bar Association’s “Rule of Law Forum” Featuring Professor Cotler
Professor Irwin Cotler joined the International Bar Association’s Conference, “Threats to the Independence of Lawyers and Judges”, as part of the “IBA Rule of Law Forum”. Also in attendance were global legal and subject-matter experts, including Federica D'Alessandra, Executive Director of the Oxford Programme on International Peace and Security; Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Diego García-Sayán, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers; The Rt Hon. the Baroness Hale, former President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; and Neri Colmenares, Filipino politician, lawyer and human rights advocate. 

Professor Cotler’s Statement on the Trucker Convoy
Professor Irwin Cotler affirmed the right to protest as a cornerstone of democracy, but condemned the use of Nazi symbolism,  racist imagery, and the desecration of war memorials calling it “an insult to memory and truth”, a statement which was quoted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

RWCHR Continues Advocacy for Women Rights Defenders in Iran
RWCHR Legal Counsel Yonah Diamond was interviewed by the Independent on the beheading of a child bride in Iran, Mona Heydari, for seeking a divorce from an abusive marriage. “This is not an isolated murder in Iran, nor did it happen in a vacuum,” he said. “It occurred under a legal system and officials targeting women rights defenders, including those who educate women on their rights in marriage like Hoda Amid and Najmeh Vahedi, with harsher sentences - lengthier prison time, lashes, solitary confinement and abuse - than the men who brutally murder their wives or daughters.” The RWCHR has documented and pursued justice for the pattern of intensifying persecution and prosecution of women's rights defenders in Iran in a comprehensive report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in August of last year. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights (ABC) in Iran and PEN America joined the RWCHR in our joint submission.

Meeting with Marie-Claude Landry and Canadian Human Rights Commission 
Professor Irwin Cotler, as part of his mandate as Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, met with Marie-Claude Landry, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), and other CHRC members, during which they discussed working in common cause “to fight hate and promote human rights for all.”  

Professor Cotler Participates in Ontario Public Service Discussion
Special Envoy Irwin Cotler participated in the Ontario Public Service discussion on antisemitism. Hosted by the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs Anti-Racism Working Group, the conversation also featured Artur Wilczynski, founder of the Jewish Public Service Network and Senior Advisor for People, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at the Communications Security Establishment.

In Conversation with a Survivor Hosted by the RWCHR and FSWC
The RWCHR, in partnership with Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC), hosted “In a Conversation With a Survivor”, featuring guest speaker, Dr. Karen Devon sharing the testimony of her father, Holocaust survivor Morris Devon. Join us every two weeks to listen to the testimony of, and speak with, Holocaust survivors and survivors of genocide. 

RWCHR Chair of the Board Jay Rosenzweig Headlines Lord Reading Law Society Event
RWCHR Chair of the Board Jay Rosenzweig was the special guest speaker at the Lord Reading Law Society’s annual student dinner, “Leveraging Your Law Degree for Social Impact”, which also featured introductory remarks by Professor Irwin Cotler. 

Professor Cotler Delivers Keynote Lecture at Indiana University’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Professor Irwin Cotler delivered a lecture, chaired by RWCHR Senior Fellow Alvin Rosenfeld, on “Antisemitism: Assault on Human Rights and our Common Humanity” before an international scholars forum at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University.

RWCHR Canadian Co-Chair Professor Payam Akhavan Continues Flight PS752 Justice Efforts
RWCHR Canadian Co-Chair Professor Payam Akhavan met with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly this week to discuss ongoing justice efforts related to Flight PS752. Last year, Professor Akhavan was named Senior Advisor to Global Affairs Canada on the matter. In addition, RWCHR Legal Counsel Yonah Diamond has been leading the RWCHR’s advocacy efforts to the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, to secure justice for the victims of the downing of PS752 in Iran last year, including the 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents on board. The RWCHR also filed a submission with the UN, calling for an impartial, international fact-finding mission into the downing.

IPAC Statement on Beijing Olympics
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) published an open letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet and a statement on the Beijing Olympics, signed by IPAC Co-Chairs, including Professor Irwin Cotler. In particular, IPAC urged the community of democracies to: “Demand the urgent release of the report into violations in the Uyghur Region conducted by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Place import bans on all goods from the Uyghur Region  unless it can be credibly demonstrated that they are free of forced labour; Block firms from investing in entities perpetrating abuses in the Uyghur Region, and Impose sanctions on Chinese government officials responsible for violations in China and Hong Kong.”  

Article by RWCHR Senior Fellow Professor David Crane Concerning the Beijing Olympics
RWCHR Senior Fellow Professor David Crane, who leads the Global Accountability Network, a close partner of the RWCHR, published an article just before the start of the Beijing Olympics on the state-orchestrated mass atrocities, and genocide, being committed against the Uyghurs, and the complicity of the IOC. 

Article by RWCHR Senior Fellow Anastasia Lin on the Beijing Olympics and Chinese Government Oppression
RWCHR Senior Fellow Anastasia Lin published an article in the Wall Street Journal on the Beijing Olympics, as they related to increased oppression at the hands of the Chinese government against “those who dare to speak out against the Communist Party ahead of the Winter Games.”

Natan Sharansky Joins Calls for Olympics Boycott
Chair of ISGAP and RWCHR Political Prisoner Advisory Group Member Natan Sharansky, alongside Elisha Wiesel, the son of RWCHR Honourary Co-Chair (in memoriam) Elie Wiesel, and leading French public intellectual Bernard Henri Lévy,  called for “athletes and the sponsoring corporations to walk away from these games unless Beijing takes steps to reunite Uyghur families” in an ad in the New York Times.

Yeshiva University unveils  “Sacks Book Prize”
Yeshiva University recently unveiled the “Sacks Book Prize” in honour, and in memory, of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, RWCHR Senior Fellow, which “will be awarded to an author of a recently published or about to be published work of Jewish ideas deeply sourced in Jewish texts, with broad appeal within and beyond the Jewish community.” 

Solidarity for RWCHR Senior Fellow Tamara Sujú
Forum 2000, founded by RWCHR Honourary Co-Chair (in memoriam) Elie Wiesel and Czech dissident and President Václav Havel, published a statement in solidarity with Venezuelan criminal lawyer, human rights activist and RWCHR Senior Fellow Tamara Sujú. The statement condemned the ongoing persecution and prosecution of Tamara Sujú as an assault on the rule of law in Venezuela. 

Op-Ed by RWCHR Political Prisoner Advisory Group Member Wai Wai Nu
Founder of Women’s Peace Network and RWCHR Political Prisoner Advisory Group Member Wai Wai Nu published an important article on the one-year anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar, in which she writes that “[e]nding the military’s decades-long impunity is the only way Myanmar can realize a democratic system rooted in justice and equality.”

ISGAP Event Featuring RWCHR Senior Fellow Professor Gil Troy
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) hosted a lecture, as part of its “Historical Tropes in Contemporary Antisemitism International Seminar Series”, featuring RWCHR Senior Fellow Professor Gil Troy.

RWCHR Senior Fellow Cindy Blackstock Named to “Top 25 Women of Influence”
Congratulations to RWCHR Senior Fellow and Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Cindy Blackstock on being named to this year’s “Top 25 Women of Influence”. We are honoured to have her as a Senior Fellow and look forward to continuing to work together in common cause.

The West has enabled Putin long enough. It is time to stop. - Washington Post

As Russia and Ukraine tensions escalate this piece from RWCHR Senior fellow Vladimir Kara-Murza shines a looking glass into Putin's actions.

Impose sanctions on Russia 'NOW' to stop war in Ukraine, UK warned - Express

RWCHR engaged with Global Magnitsky Justice founder Bill Browder to enhance the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions targeting Putin’s Oligarchs.

Regarding Canada’s move, alongside the U.S. and UK, to implement targeted sanctions in Myanmar.

Five-Minute Trial Resulted in Narges Mohammadi’s Eight-Year Prison Sentence - Center for Human Rights in Iran

The RWCHR continues to champion the case and cause of Narges Mohammadi, prosecuted on trumped-up charges for her work as a human rights advocate.

'Same old, same old': Why Canada has so few female CEOs - BNN Bloomberg

Quote from Jay Rosenzweig, founder of Rosenzweig & Company and Chair of the RWCHR Board, re gender equality and Canadian executives. 

Misogyny is set to become a criminal offence in Scotland - The Times

Featuring RWCHR International Legal Advisory Board Member and Director of IBAHRI Baroness Helena Kennedy.

'My work is not done': jailed Duterte critic runs for Senate - France 24

The RWCHR acts as international legal counsel to Senator Leila De Lima, a leading voice seeking justice for victims of the crimes against humanity committed under Duterte’s “War on Drugs” that has killed an estimated tens of thousands.

February 15, 2022 - CIJA Legal Conference “Legal Perspective on Rising Antisemitism”, speakers include Minister of Diversity and Inclusion, Ahmed Hussen; Fernando Lottenberg, OAS Commissioner to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism; Katharina Von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism; and Special Envoy Irwin Cotler.

February 16, 2022 - International Human Rights Law Networking Event, hosted by the McGill International Law Society, featuring RWCHR Legal Counsel Yonah Diamond as guest speaker.

February 17, 2022 - The Politics of Human Rights, hosted by Northumberland Learning Connection, featuring RWCHR International Chair Irwin Cotler.

February 17, 2022 - Liberal International Human Rights Committee (HRC) Meeting, convened by Liberal International, featuring RWCHR International Chair, and LI HRC member, Professor Irwin Cotler.

February 23, 2022 - The IHRA Definition - Origins, Nature, and Impact, hosted by UKLFI Charitable Trust, featuring Special Envoy Irwin Cotler.