Leading experts in international human rights law, law students to gather at York U
A live Webcast of the symposium will be available on the Osgoode and York Web sites starting at 8.50 a.m. on Monday, January 17 at http://www.yorku.ca/osgoode/wallenberg .
TORONTO, January 10, 2005 -- From January 17-18, 2005, York’s Osgoode Hall Law School will host a major international human rights symposium that will bring together some of the world’s foremost international human rights law experts to discuss pressing human rights issues and to educate the next generation of law students. (PDF link to full symposium details at bottom of release.)
Law students from across Canada have received travel bursaries in order to attend the symposium.
Included in the line-up of more than 30 speakers at the symposium will be:
The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
(Jan. 17, 9:15 a.m.)
Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Dean Harold Koh, Yale Law School
Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario
The Honourable Allan Rock, Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations
Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (former political prisoner)
York University will be represented by the Honourable Peter Cory, Chancellor of York University and Justice (retired), Supreme Court of Canada; President and Vice-Chancellor Lorna Marsden; Dean Patrick Monahan, Osgoode Hall Law School; Osgoode Professor Sharon Williams, formerly of the International Criminal Court; and Professor Irving Abella, Department of History.
Also among the participants will be five Chief Justices of Canadian Superior Courts, as well as prominent media representatives, including Tony Burman, Editor-in-Chief of the CBC (English Services Division); Edward Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail; and Robert Prichard, President & Chief Executive Officer, Torstar Corporation.
Topics for discussion will include methods of combating mass atrocity, international and national response to and prevention of human rights violations, balancing national security interests with human rights, war and terrorism, war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court, and the role of media.
The event, coinciding with Canada’s official Raoul Wallenberg Day, will draw on the experience of participants from government, academia and the law to discuss the principles of international human rights law, in keeping with Wallenberg’s legacy. Wallenberg was an outstanding humanitarian who saved more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps during World War II.
The year 2005 marks important milestones for human rights. It commemorates the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the Nazi death camps, as well as the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Helsinki Monitors. It is also the 20th anniversary of the date on which the equality guarantee in s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force.
WHEN: Monday, January 17, 2005 (Raoul Wallenberg Day)
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
WHERE: Osgoode Hall Law School (Moot Court Room)
York University
4700 Keele Street, Toronto
ORGANIZER: Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
AGENDA: See attached PDF for a complete list of speakers and program details. Symposium details are also available in French.
REGISTRATION: Media are required to register for the symposium. Please provide your name, media outlet, telephone number and e-mail to Jeannine Flint in Media Relations at York University, media@yorku.ca / 416 736 2100 x22094.
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For further information, please contact:
Nancy J. White
Director, Media Relations
York University
416-736-5603
Melissa Hughes
Media Relations Officer
York University
416-736-2100 x22097
mehughes@yorku.ca
