International Human Rights’ Law and the Treatment of Prisoners in Canada: A Practitioners’ Perspective
The Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism welcomes former O'Brien Fellow in Residence Vicki Prais for a seminar. Professor Mugambi Jouet will act as moderator.
Abstract
Canada is a country with a strong human rights record and the protection of human rights is deeply woven into its national narrative. Yet, the treatment of people in prison has come under criticism from the UN and domestic human rights organisations. How are soft law human rights standards, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners utilized by national authorities, civil society and criminal law practitioners in Canada ? Are these standards of relevance and value in the domestic context? Vicki Prais explores this issue through research undertaken at McGill CHRLP in June 2018 and published in an article, The Implementation in Canada of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners: A Practitioner's Perspective, Journal of Human Rights Practice, February 2021.
About the speaker
Vicki Prais is an internationally experienced human rights lawyer with recognised expertise in the protection of prisoners’ rights, prison reform, dignity behind bars, the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and fair trial issues. She works with international organisations, academic institutions, non-governmental organisations and governments to research and document human rights violations, design and deliver human rights training and to lobby and advocate on human rights issues.
