Confronting a Human Rights Scourge: Canada and the Global Struggle against Torture

Une conférence d'Alex Neve, Secrétaire général d'Amnistie Internationale Canada, sur la grave question de la torture à travers le monde.

Résumé

(En anglais seulement) Around the world the scourge of torture continues to be a global human rights crisis.  Governments deny it exists; cover it up; excuse it in the name of security; use it to terrorize opponents and minorities; brutally rely on it in fighting crime; and pretend it only occurs in isolated cases.  Amnesty International’s research points to torture in close to ¾ of the world’s states over the past five years. While torture is obviously not rampant in Canada, that does not mean we are off the hook. There are many ways in which Canada is complicit in torture that has occurred in other countries. As well, Canada falls short in ensuring justice for torture survivors and accountability of torturers.  And Canada inexplicably has not yet signed on to a 12-year old UN treaty dealing with torture prevention. Alex Neve will survey the state of the world and the state of the nation when it comes to combatting torture.

Le conférencier

(En anglais seulement) Alex Neve believes in a world in which the human rights of all people are protected. He has been a member of Amnesty International since 1985 and has served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada since 2000. In that role he has carried out numerous human rights research missions throughout Africa and Latin America, and closer to home to such locations as Grassy Narrows First Nation in NW Ontario and to Guantánamo Bay. He speaks to audiences across the country about a wide range of human rights issues, appears regularly before parliamentary committees and UN bodies, and is a frequent commentator in the media.

Alex is a lawyer, with an LLB from Dalhousie University and a Masters Degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. He has served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, taught at Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Ottawa, been affiliated with York University's Centre for Refugee Studies, and worked as a refugee lawyer in private practice and in a community legal aid clinic. He is on the Board of Directors of Partnership Africa Canada, the Canadian Centre for International Justice and the Centre for Law and Democracy. Alex has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Trudeau Foundation Mentor and has received an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick.