The RWCHR participated in Liberal International’s conference on “ Responsibility to Protect: Ten Years on – what next”, where Chair Irwin Cotler contributed a paper.

The RWCHR and Chair Irwin Cotler held meetings with Canadian Parliamentarians to explore the founding of an All-Party Parliamentary caucuses for human rights.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler met with Prime Minister Trudeau to discuss Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative activities. The Prime Minister released a statement marking Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Day on January 17th.

The RWCHR participated in the Annual Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Day at Tel Aviv University, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler engaged in meetings with Mutassim Ali and other African asylum seekers in Israel, and made representations on their behalf regarding their refugee status.  Mutassim later became the first asylum seeker to receive refugee status in Israel.


The RWCHR initiated the launch of the Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights – in Ottawa on February 17-18, 2016.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the Catherine H. MacLean Lecture at the University of Ottawa on "Towards a Human Rights Foreign Policy for Canada”.

The RWCHR co-sponsored the 2016 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy held in Geneva on February 23 – which highlighted the plight of political prisoners and dissidents – some of whose cases and causes are being championed by the RWCHR.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva to discuss the case and cause of political prisoners.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered a lecture on “Fighting Oppression and Defending Human Rights” at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
 


The RWCHR co-sponsored the Boris Nemtsov Memorial Russia Freedom Forum held in Toronto on March 9, 2016, which also highlighted the case and cause of Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

The RWCHR co-sponsored the Conference on Global Anti-Semitism hosted by Kean University, New Jersey on March 13, where RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.
 
The RWCHR participated in the  Inter-Parliamentary Conference for Combating Anti-Semitism, held in Berlin on March 14-15, where RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler Chaired the Justice Minister’s Forum.
 
The RWCHR co-sponsored “Unlikely Heroes: From Wallenberg to Today,” a panel discussion on the legacy and lessons of Raoul Wallenberg, and their relevance to today’s Syrian refugee crisis, held at the University of Ottawa on March 16. The keynote address was delivered by Ingrid Carlberg, author and journalist from Sweden, who wrote “A room is waiting for you here” about the life of Raoul Wallenberg.

The RWCHR co-sponsored with the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism the 2016 Wallenberg Lectureship, held at the McGill University Faculty of Law, March 17. The Lecture was given by Professor Harold Koh, former Dean of Law at Yale University and Former Legal Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State.

The RWCHR co-sponsored on March 17, 2016 the opening of the Museum of Polish Peoples who saved Jews during WW2.

The RWCHR was featured, and Chair Irwin Cotler honoured, at the March 31 “Pursuing Justice” event held by the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy, where co-chairs for the evening were Right Honourable former Prime Ministers John Turner, Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. 



The RWCHR participated in the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism Conference held at Indiana University on April 2-6, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the 2016 Hart and Simona Hasten Keynote Lecture. 

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler spoke at the Annual Washington Forum of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler, international counsel to imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi joined Ensaf Haidar, Badawi’s wife, in Washington D.C. to make representations to U.S. administration officials, Members of Congress and Senators, as well as civil society leaders to champion the case and cause of Badawi, also taken up by the RWCHR.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler, international counsel to imprisoned Venezuelan Democratic Opposition Leader Leopoldo Lopez, joined Lopez’s U.S. lawyer Jared Genser and Lilian Tintori, wife of Lopez, in Washington D.C. to make representations to U.S. administration officials, Members of Congress and Senators, as well as civil society leaders to champion the case and cause of Lopez, also taken up by the RWCHR.

The RWCHR co-sponsored with the March of the Living and Jagiellonian University the historic International Nuremberg Legal Symposium held at the University (Krakow, Poland) on May 4, 2016, under the theme “The Double Entendre of Nuremberg: The Nuremberg of Hate and the Nuremberg of Justice,” on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg Race Laws and the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials. Canadian Supreme Court and RWCHR Honourary Co-Chair Justice Rosalie Abella was keynote speaker. The Symposium unanimously adopted the “Never Again Declaration”. 

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler received a special award from the Venezuelan National Assembly on May 11, recognizing his work on behalf of political prisoners in general and wrongfully imprisoned Venezuelans in particular, causes championed by the RWCHR.

The RWCHR co-sponsored the Raoul Wallenberg International Roundtable which was held in Budapest, Hungary, on May 20-21, under the theme “The Art of the Impossible”. 

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler Delivered keynote lecture on “Pursuing Justice: Defending Political Prisoners” at the Wallenberg International Roundtable.

The RWCHR participated in the the Oslo Freedom Forum on May 23-25 2016, where Chair Irwin Cotler spoke on the defense of political prisoners.
 
The RWCHR was featured and Chair Irwin Cotler was honoured for his human rights work at a tribute held by the Lord Reading Law Society on May 25. Speakers included the Hon. Justice Rosalie Abella, Professor Alan Dershowitz, and Quebec Appeal Court Justice Nicholas Kasirer.



The RWCHR participated in the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) Professional Training Program on the Prevention of Mass Atrocities, where Chair Irwin Cotler spoke on June 1st.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler Received an honourary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University.
 
RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the Kreitman Memorial Lecture on “Defending Political Prisoners – from Sharansky, to Mandela, to Badawi” at Ben-Gurion University.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler participated in the 16th annual Herzliya Conference on Global Policy.



The RWCHR Co-Sponsored the Montreal memorial for Elie Wiesel.

The RWCHR participated in the Rescate Venezuela humanitarian initiative, where Chair Irwin Cotler spoke at a flagship event.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler engaged in ongoing advocacy and representations to the department of global affairs and the Minister with respect to the case and cause of Venezuelan political prisoners in general, and democratic opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in particular. The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs issued an important statement in this regard.

The RWCHR participated in a memorial for the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, where Chair Irwin Cotler spoke.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler continued to press for protective action on behalf of besieged Syrian civilians, calling for the implementation of R2P on their behalf.

The RWCHR held its Board of Directors Meeting.

The RWCHR and Chair Irwin Cotler campaigned on behalf of those demanding freedom for political prisoners in Venezuela. Our statement of solidarity engaged close to 45 000 people.

The RWCHR participated in the Counter-Terrorism World Summit in Herzliah, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.
 
The RWCHR was featured and Chair Irwin Cotler honoured by the Baha’I community of Canada at a tribute to his work defending Baha’is.

The RWCHR Co-Sponsored the Moscow Roundtable on the Fate of Raoul Wallenberg.
 
RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address at the Osgoode Hall Law School symposium on “Institutions, Constitutions”.
 
The RWCHR participated in the University of Saskatchewan Law School Conference on human rights, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.
 
RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler received the first-ever University of Saskatchewan Sallows Human Rights Award.
 
RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler received the first-ever Tikkun Olam award of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.

The RWCHR participated in the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists conference, held in Paris, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.



RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address to the Forum 2000 Conference in honour of Vaclav Havel, held in Prague.
 
The RWCHR held a major event on Parliament Hill, bringing together leading human rights activists, the families of political prisoners, and the Co-Chairs of the Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights. The RWCHR, together with the UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation called for the release of political prisoners while shining a spotlight on the human rights violator countries seeking re-election to the UN Human Rights Council. The RWCHR called on Canada to mobilize the community of democracies to expose and unmask this culture of impunity at the UN, and end the moral and legal charade of rewarding rights violators with a seat on the Human Rights Council – a situation that is as outrageous as it is absurd.

The RWCHR hosted a press conference at the United Nations with a coalition of likeminded NGOs and leading human rights activists, the culmination of the international campaign to oppose the re-election of human rights violating countries to the UN Human Rights Council.  Following the campaign Russia lost its bid for a seat on the council, a major rebuke to its human rights record in general and actions in Aleppo in particular.  
 
RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler met with Minister of Citizenship and Immigration John McCallum and parliamentarians from all parties with regard to the mass atrocities against Yazidis and the protective action to be taken on their behalf.

The RWCHR participated in advocacy on behalf of victims of illegal organ harvesting, including an appearance before a parliamentary committee.

The RWCHR was featured at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Conference, where RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.
 


The RWCHR participated in a major event for the Canadian Coalition Against Torture, where RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.

The RWCHR participated in the Mosaic Institute’s Citizen Summit on Refugee Responsibility, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler participated in the Canadian Science Policy Conference, on threats to academic freedom, together with recently released Iranian-Canadian prisoner Dr. Homa Hoodfar and Viviana Fernandez of Scholars at Risk Network.

The RWCHR participated in the Teacher’s Workshop of Carleton University’s Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the Keynote address at the Annual General Assembly of Jspace Canada.

The RWCHR co-sponsored an event with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Canadian Law Students’ Association of Harvard University, where Chair Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote lecture.



The RWCHR participated in the Scholars at Risk Conference at the University of Ottawa, where Chair Irwin Cotler moderated a panel featuring Dr. Homa Hoodfar and Syrian academics Dr. Hanadi Ibrahim and Dr. Nael Yasri.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler testified in support of Global Human Rights Accountability Legislation before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler testified on the subject of Defending Human Rights Defenders before the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

Through a digital campaign the RWCHR and Chair Irwin Cotler called for the release of imprisoned Saud Blogger Raif Badawi. Reaching close to 1.5 million people on social media, the call was joined by the European Parliament, the U.S. Congress Human Rights Commission, the Co-Chairs of Canada’s Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights, Australian MPs, the Liberal International, and was underpinned by the support of civil society leaders and NGOS from both here in Canada and across the globe. This included, among others, Reporters Without Borders, PEN, Gulf human rights groups, Human Rights Foundation, Amnesty International Chapters, Mohamed Fahmy Foundation, and the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom. The international campaign for Badawi’s release continues to grow, with Badawi most recently receiving the distinguished Liberal International Award for Freedom. The award is another rebuke for Saudi Arabia, which recently lost its bid for observer status at La Francophonie, with both Prime Minister Trudeau and Quebec Premier Couillard referencing Badawi’s continued imprisonment as the reason for Saudi Arabia’s exclusion.

The RWCHR and Chair Irwin Cotler issued a statement on International Human Rights Day in support of the case and cause of political prisoners championed by the Centre and Cotler.

RWCHR Chair Irwin Cotler is testifying on Global Human Rights Accountability Legislation before the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The RWCHR is participating in the Yad Vashem international educator’s conference, where Chair Irwin Cotler is delivering the keynote address.