In this episode Louise Arbour delivers a passionate speech about Canada’s place and responsibility in the international community. She is introduced by the Hon. MP for Mount Royal; Irwin Cotler.

Louise Arbour, (born February 10, 1947) is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She is slated to become the next president and CEO of the International Crisis Group.

Enjoy!

I’m usually more abreast of such news, but I only just found out about Louise Arbour’s resignation from her post as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which makes me very sad …

Arbour truly is best the Human Rights Council has seen yet in that role. She has made a few slip-ups, granted, but out of any single person working at such a high level in international politics, Arbour has my admiration more than nearly any other figure of similar involvement – though at moment, Ban Ki-Moon does have good standing with me as well, but he still has yet to make his ‘track-record’ more robust as the Secretary-General … this will come with time, and we’ll see how I feel about him in a year or two. However, I digress:

Most HCHR take up two terms, but Louise Arbour is ending at one term. Shame, really and truly. Ban Ki-Moon should be announcing Arbour’s successor soon … the four people that are guessed to most likely to succeed Arbour at this point are not going to be able to fill her shoes well at all, in my opinion.

Arbour is one of the people I admire most – I had at one time aspired to one day fill that same role at the UN with her as my role model (though I quickly decided that field-work and direct contact with people in need was my preferred aim) … but I will leave that role to someone else – perhaps my younger sister, KW? She’s already so close to obtaining her Bachelours, whereas I am not … honestly, I’ve no doubt she probably will end up on the Security Council one day. This sort of activism seems to be a running family passion, you see … and I can assure you that I’ll probably remain an activist and advocate, regardless.

We need more Louise Arbours in the world, desperately so. I only wish I could be one of them.

by matttbastard

“I wonder how long it will take them to figure out that my name isn’t ‘Stephen Lewis’?”

You have got to be shitting me:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today became the first Canadian to receive the B’nai Brith International President’s Gold Medallion, in recognition of the Government’s efforts to fight discrimination and uphold human rights in Canada and around the world.

[...]

In presenting Prime Minister Harper with the award, B’nai Brith International President Moishe Smith, a resident of Ottawa who is the first non-American president of the organization, cited a number of actions the Prime Minister and the Government have taken to advance human rights and oppose discrimination, including:

Unequivocally supporting Canada’s role in the UN-sanctioned mission in Afghanistan;

Refusing to sign a resolution denouncing Israel’s right to self-defence at the 2006 Francophonie Summit;

Suspending relations with the then Hamas-led government in Palestine, for its refusal to renounce terrorism; and

Delivering a heartfelt apology acknowledging the overtly discriminatory Indian Residential Schools program.“Prime Minister, whether in opposition or in government, you have always portrayed a leadership style that speaks of principle and honesty,” said Mr. Smith.

Y’know why irony was unavailable for comment, Alison? Because it just committed suicide.

Related: Bob Hepburn on how certified humanitarian Stephen Harper is “snubbing” a true Canadian human rights icon, the *ahem* “disgraceful” (hey, wasn’t irony’s festering corpse lying face down a moment ago?) outgoing UN Human Rights Commissioner (and former Supreme Court of Canada justice) Louise Arbour.

When [Arbour] announced her resignation, diplomats from across Europe and other parts of the world sang her praises. Some presented her with flowers. Canadian diplomats, though, barely acknowledged her presence, issuing only a bland, terse statement acknowledging that Canada would continue to support human rights.

Later, then foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier tried to assuage the outrage from human rights groups over Canada’s dismissive response by issuing a short statement praising Arbour for “expanding the concepts of human rights and fundamental justice.”

Since then, Harper and his government have remained silent, except for Toews’ ugly outburst.

Is Harper so small-minded that he cannot speak for himself about Arbour and her accomplishments?

Is such pettiness a sign that Harper is once again out of step with most Canadians, this time when it comes to recognizing the need for a progressive, courageous champion for human rights?

Yes and yes.

Simple answers to simple questions.

But hey, at least Uncle Steve has a shiny medal from B’nai Brith to ease his (non-existent) conscience.

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers

The great, the wonderful Louise Arbour, one of my teachers and, obviously, one of my heroines, has left her position as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.  It was expected that Arbour would continue in this position.  Officially, her four year term was up, but it is generally acknowledged that she was pushed out (sorry Louise, but I don’t believe you gave up a position as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada for a four-year stint at the UN and then ended your career because you wanted to “come home”).  You can see why no one pressed her to continue.  For starters, here’s a report on Arbour’s speech upon leaving office:

GENEVA (Reuters) – Outgoing United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour hit out on Monday against mistreatment of women and gays in many countries and called for equal condemnation of rights violations wherever they happen.

In a farewell speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, she also urged it to condemn anti-Semitism as well as Islamophobia, and to speak out against abuse of minorities, immigrants and people from perceived lower castes.

“A key aspect of women’s legal disenfranchisement in many countries is the limitation placed on their ability to own or manage property, including through unjust divorce or inheritance laws,” she told the 47-nation body, where Islamic countries have a strong hold on the agenda.

The “perpetuation of prejudices continues to deny equal rights and dignity to millions worldwide on the basis of nothing more innocuous than their sexual identity or orientation, or their ancestry in the case of caste discrimination,” she said.

Some Islamic and African countries in the Council, which have a majority when backed by their frequent allies Russia, China and Cuba, have frequently been angered by Arbour’s views, although she has also often spoken out against Israeli policies.

Many countries in the majority group have made little secret of their wish to bring the high commissioner’s office under the control of the Council. The post is currently responsible to the U.N. Secretary-General, who nominates its occupant.

Arbour, who on Monday also criticised prejudice and actions against illegal immigrants in Europe, especially in Italy, recognised that there was still scepticism about the Council, set up two years ago to replace a discredited predecessor.

Independent human rights groups complain that major abuses — especially in developing nations — are ignored because groups of states in the Council block discussion or action on complaints that might embarrass their members.

Arbour herself warned that “regional or communal positions” or “narrow parochial political agendas” in the body could prevent it from ever becoming effective.

Western diplomats say that countries that in the past benefited from U.N. pressure on their governments over rights — like South Africa — are now among the first to reject what they regard as interference in internal affairs.

In her farewell address, Arbour suggested that the failure to bring the Yangon regime to book over long-term rights violations had encouraged it to refuse to allow in most outside help after last month’s devastating hurricane.

Myanmar’s government has since responded to international outrage by saying it will admit all “legitimate” foreign aid workers, but several aid workers are still complaining that red tape is hampering their efforts.

And a bit of an interview with Amy Goodman:

AMY GOODMAN: It’s very good to have you with us. The state of human rights in the world today, can you talk about it?

LOUISE ARBOUR: You know, we will begin the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We’ll start celebrating it towards the end of this year. 2008 is the target date. And the Universal Declaration, by definition, is meant to express universal ideals, and I think this concept is very much under attack.

There are claims all over the world that the human rights agenda is a carrier of Western values. It’s manipulated in the pursuit of Western-read US-interest. That’s one discourse. The discourse we hear, on the other hand, in America is that the human rights agenda has been hijacked by the bad guys, by those who don’t believe in human rights and who are trying, for instance, to hijack the Human Rights Council to totally undermine the human rights values. So we see this very, very severe, profound attack on the very concept of universality of rights.

AMY GOODMAN: You came into office soon after the US invaded Iraq. Do you see the world as a more or less dangerous place today? This is more than, what, close to five years later.

LOUISE ARBOUR: I think it is a very unstable world. I think we see the emergence and the recurrence of conflict everywhere. We know, for instance, that the best predictor of whether conflict will erupt is whether there was conflict in the previous five years. So we’ve been extremely poor, I think, at managing post-military intervention in Iraq. We’re not even in that phase yet. But I think everywhere else we have an enormous challenge in managing stability, which I think is because we’re never addressing the very profound root causes of conflict.

AMY GOODMAN: Which are?

LOUISE ARBOUR: I think, not to over simplify the issue, it’s clearly linked to the very severe inequalities in access to wealth or wealth distribution between states and within states. And I think this exacerbates-and that’s easily manipulated then by political agenda that prey on people’s faith or religious beliefs, values. But at the end of the day we have a very unjust, very unfair world and very few institutions that permit a peaceful forum to address these issues.

Arbour never did pull her punches.  Canadians can be proud of this straight talking woman who said things that UN officials really do need to say, but usually don’t.  Stephen Lewis too.  It’s well known that the Canadian delegation at the UN did not honour Ms Arbour upon her resignation, as is traditional.  Thanks again Steve.

Given her work as chief prosecutor of war crimes for the international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, during which time she indicted Slobodan Milosevic for genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as her more recent work, I think that Louise Arbour should get a Nobel Peace Prize.  But then I’m biased.

Here’s a video of CBC’s interview with Ms Arbour on As it Happens with Carol Off.

BTW, Arbour also submitted an amicus brief to the SCOTUS on the Boumediene case. Here’s what she had to say about that:

June 12, 2008 – GENEVA – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, welcomed Thursday’s decision by the United States Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush that the U.S. Constitution extends to foreign detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that they have the right to challenge their detention by habeas corpus in the civilian courts.

“The Supreme Court has sent a vitally important message that the protections afforded by fundamental human rights guarantees extend to these individuals and that effective remedies must be available to them. After up to six years in detention in Guantanamo Bay without satisfactory review of the reasons for their detention, these detainees have the right to prompt review in the civilian courts,” Arbour said.

“I welcome the Court’s recognition that security and liberty are not trade-offs, but can be reconciled through the framework of the law, and that it is the courts that apply that law,” she said. “This has long been the hallmark of American constitutionalism.” 

The High Commissioner expressed the hope that, now that these legal issues have been clearly and definitively settled, the civilian courts will be able to move promptly to assess the situation of individual detainees. 

The High Commissioner submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court. In it, she argued, as a matter of international law, for the same conclusion the Court reached today.  

Here’s a bunch more stuff on Louise, Arbour if you’re not impressed yet. 

La bella protesta

In questa Italia, sempre pronta a manifestare contro le democrazie americana e israeliana, a bruciare le loro bandiere e a tirar sassi contro le loro ambasciate, è una notizia, davvero una buona notizia, che ci sia chi si è mobilitato per protestare pacificamente contro le violazioni dei diritti umani in Iran, le deliranti affermazioni del suo presidente, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad «Israele sarà presto cancellato dalle carte geografiche» e i suoi programmi nucleari. In questa Roma ancora turbata dalle ultime vicende della sua maggiore Università dove il corpo accademico, in nome dell’antifascismo (?), ha espresso la sua solidarietà al preside della Facoltà di Lettere sequestrato dai collettivi studenteschi di sinistra – ciò che, infatti, resterà della visita del presidente iraniano in occasione del vertice della Fao (l’Agenzia dell’Onu per l’agricoltura e l’alimentazione), sarà la manifestazione di ieri sera organizzata dal Riformista e dalla comunità ebraica.

Non ha tutti i torti, allora, la stampa iraniana che se la prende anche con il direttore del Riformista, Antonio Polito, per il clamoroso insuccesso della visita di Ahmadinejad, che né papa Benedetto XVI né il presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, né quello del Consiglio, Silvio Berlusconi, hanno ricevuto. Questa è la forza dell’informazione indipendente e della libera opinione pubblica in un Paese di democrazia liberale. Si è trattato di un evento nell’evento che ha fatto onore al nostro Paese. Ma la singolare eccezionailtà dei due eventi romani e della loro concomitanza la riunione della Fao e le manifestazioni di ieri presso il Campidoglio e a pochi metri dalla sede della stessa Fao non si arresta qui. Va oltre.

La presenza a Roma, oltre che di Ahmadinejad, del dittatore dello Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, ha coinciso, infatti, con la presa di posizione delle Nazioni Unite contro il decreto del nostro governo che sancisce, a meno di ripensamenti preannunciati dallo stesso nostro presidente del Consiglio, il reato di immigrazione clandestina. Ha detto l’alto commissario dell’Onu per i diritti umani, Louise Arbour: «Le politiche repressive e gli atteggiamenti xenofobi sono una seria preoccupazione. Ne sono esempi la decisione del governo italiano di rendere reato l’immigrazione illegale e gli attacchi ai rom».

Ora, che a una riunione sull’Alimentazione abbia partecipato Robert Mugabe un despota che affama il suo popolo sarebbe già un curioso paradosso. Che, poi, l’alto commissario dell’Onu abbia accusato l’Italia di razzismo, mentre l’antisemita Ahmadinejad partecipava anch’egli alla riunione, indetta dalla stessa agenzia dell’Onu, è qualcosa di più di un paradosso. E’ – quale che sia il giudizio sull’operato del governo Berlusconi in tema di immigrazione – un tragico esempio di quel «mondo alla rovescia» che sono ormai diventate da tempo le Nazioni Unite. Un dato di fatto sul quale la nostra diplomazia dovrebbe, forse, riflettere.

Piero Ostellino – Corriere della Sera – 4 giugno 2008

UN Criticizes Canada Twice in One Day

A good rep gone bad.

By Rob Annandale
Published: October 22, 2007
TheTyee.ca

Canada’s treasured self-image as a land of wealth and justice took a hit on Monday when two UN officials separately blasted the country’s recent social and human rights record.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour said Canada’s decision last month not to support a declaration on indigenous rights suggested her compatriots had an “unduly romantic” view of their country. And UN housing envoy Miloon Kothari wrapped up a two-week Canadian tour by releasing a highly critical preliminary report.

But the international organization has not soured entirely on the country that used to top its lists of the world’s best places to live. On the heels of last week’s survey suggesting the majority of Afghans approve of a continued foreign presence on their territory, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes praised Canada’s role in Afghanistan and expressed hope its troops would stay as long as necessary.

A new study puts Canada’s military budget at around $18 billion annually, its highest since World War II and more than 100 times higher than federal spending to combat homelessness. And while two out of three UN officials may disapprove, it doesn’t take a political scientist to know which of these issues – Afghanistan, aboriginal rights or homelessness – is most likely to be a major election issue next time around. No wonder Arbour aimed her barbs not at Stephen Harper, but at all Canadians.