Downloaded from YTS.MX
- We meet at an important historical
inflection moment today.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
(loud protest chants)
(chanting)
(gunfire)
(loud protest chants)
We are witnessing a resurgent global authoritarianism.
(loud protest)
A massive assault on human rights.
The retreat of democracies and the pain and plight of political
prisoners as a looking glass into this historical moment.
- I'll sacrifice myself; you can shoot me.
(gunfire)
But one bullet would prolong the struggle that will take
place here.
- My father taught me as a young boy that the pursuit of justice
is equal to all the other commandments combined.
(cheers)
But as my mother would say to me, "If you want to pursue
justice, you have to feel the injustice.
(screams and cheers)
(chant)
(loud protest)
Every one of us can make a difference.
I may have told you this story when I set up
the Raoul Wallenberg Centre.
My son, with his cynical sense of humour, he calls me,
he said, "You know, Dad, he's...." He says,
"75-year-olds don't do start-ups; they certainly
shouldn't do human rights start-ups. And they certainly
shouldn't do it pro bono and you're affecting
my inheritance." (Woman laughs in the background)
So, then some months later, I'm going down to speak in Boston.
And he says to me, "You know, Dad, people my age, they've
never heard of Raoul Wallenberg; they don't know who he is.
You might think everybody knows. They don't know Dad;
they don't know. All your message is lost 'cause
I don't even know who you're talking about."
(train whistle)
(dark music)
(dogs barking)
From the end of May to the beginning of July 1944,
440 000 Hungarian Jews were deported to the death camps.
While the international community stood by, not only
as bystanders, but as enablers,
Raoul Wallenberg comes to Budapest and by bluff,
bravado, courage happens to save 100 000 Hungarian Jews.
One person was able to confront evil, prevail and transform
history.
- Okay, so, we're going to convene a meeting, guys.
So Jeremy? Iona?
- So, the situation in China is worsening, in Iran is worsening.
And Venezuela, the perilous situation with regard uh,
to food and medicine and Russia nobody seems to realize, as
we were discussing, a six fold increase in political prisoners
in the last four years alone. So, how do we choose where
we make our stand? And yet, you know, a phone'll ring
and somebody will call. That's not even part
of any of the things we've just talked about.
But it will be a "cri de coeur" that they need help. How do
we choose whose cases and causes we take up
so we can have an impact?
(Joan Baez) ♪ They said everything can be ♪
♪ Replaced ♪
♪ They say the distance is Not near ♪
- (Man): Freedom of expression! - (All): Is a human right!
- (Man): Freedom of expression! - (All): Is no crime!
- (Man): Freedom of expression! - (All): Is a human right!
- (All): Free Raif Badawi!
- One of the things I noticed in my having seen political
prisoners over time, is I can say that every one
of the political prisoners was released
because their spouse was advocating on their behalf.
Ensaf Haider has been travelling to world, becoming the voice,
the face, the expression of Raif Badawi's case and cause.
(call to prayer)
- So, I just spoke to Ensaf. - Yeah.
- And she said she'd be interested in joining on
the 31st. And most importantly, that she has a call
with Raif upcoming and that she will share this with him.
And uh, and feels that it'll mean a lot to him.
- Okay? - Yeah.
Do you need anything here? I don't need this. Give it
to me, I'll carry it around. - Yeah, okay.
- That's for the press conference.
- Yes. - Okay.
- You've never been here? - Um, not to his office.
I met with Patrick downstairs.
- Irwin! (laughs)
- Good to see you. - Good to see you as well.
Come on in. - Oh, no, listen, it's...
It's time we sat down. Here, have a seat.
- Yes. I've been following everything you do; I know
that we're meeting at a sensitive moment.
- Oh no, no, no. Lots going on as always. But uh...
- It's good to see you and the family?
- The family is well, Arielle as well?
- She's well, she sends her best.
- Of course she does, good. good. Even when you're mad
at me, she's happy with me, so it's all good.
- I went to see Pierre Elliot Trudeau's son,
Justin, on the Badawi case.
I said, "Justin, you know, some 40 years ago I was sitting
in this exact same chair in this exact same office,
making representations to your father at which point
we gave the Sharansky brief to your father." After I told
him what his father said, he said, "So did you get
his support?" I said, "Yeah, we got his support and
he conveyed it directly to the Soviet..." I said,
"I'm not saying that brought about Sharansky's release;
I'm saying it contributed to bringing about Sharansky's
release or worse, if he hadn't sent the brief, it would have
hurt the case and cause of Sharansky. I'm saying
the same thing to you with regard to Raif Badawi.
(conversation in the background)
(bells ringing)
We met today with the Prime Minister to discuss a number
of issues, including the matter of Canada-Saudi relations
and within it, of course, the case and cause
of Raif Badawi. And what's important to realize is
that when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, it was
also to a thousand lashes.
After the first 50 lashes were administered, there was
a great international outcry in the media and elsewhere.
They then did not continue with any other lashes.
You see, therefore, the important role
of the media in drawing attention to the pain
and plight of political prisoners equally to when
that attention is not addressed.
- (Woman): Is it possible Mrs. Badawi could speak
about the condition her husband is in now?
(ambient conversations)
- Through the case and cause of Anatoly Sharansky,
I developed what was, I would call, an advocacy strategy
for Anatoly Sharansky, which then became the model that
I've used with appropriate variations to release
the political prisoner.
The struggle for Soviet jury ended up having an international
impact which led to, if I may borrow a Marxist metaphor,
"the withering away of the Soviet Union as a whole".
And the most dramatic developments in the field
of human rights.
I was involved in the struggle
for Soviet Jury since my days as a student at McGill University.
The thing that struck me about Sharansky is that he was engaged
almost unlike anyone else in the Soviet Union,
in five human rights movements.
He was involved in the struggle for Soviet Jury,
then the democracy movement.
He was at the forefront of the ethnic and religious
rights movements. And finally, he was involved on behalf
of other political prisoners in the Soviet Union.
- "The flood of applications for immigration to Israel
spawned the refusniks. For every Jew allowed to leave,
many were not. They became known as refusniks and spent
their time agitating for exit visas.
- It's a great deal for anti-Semitism in Russia.
And, uh, ten hundreds refusniks sitting in the Soviet Union
planned to emigrate already for many, many years.
All of them in the great dangers today.
- In 1979, the Canadian Government arranged for me
to appear before a Soviet Court in the case and cause
of Sharansky. Now, that hadn't happened before.
No sooner had we been on our way on the outskirts of Moscow,
we were stopped by the Soviet Militia, pulled over to the side
of the road and then the interrogation began.
I was brought into my hotel room, a woman came in and said,
"Professor Cotler, you have five minutes to pack your bags
and leave the Soviet Union."
- When I returned to Canada, at that point in 1979, suspended
all Helsinki agreements with the Soviet Union.
(chants and screams)
The generic approach was that of the mobilization
of shame against the human rights violator.
- We're trying to show to the Russian government
that we will not remain silent while they are persecuting
our people.
- We had this critical mass, women, students, artists,
scientists, lawyers, not just in Canada, but elsewhere.
So, there's the strategic advocacy model. And I think
it was the critical mass that then became
the tipping point that brought about the release of Sharansky.
(shutter clicks)
- (Reporter): After nine years in a gulag, Anatoly Sharansky is
about to cross Glienicke Bridge to freedom.
The whole world is watching.
- I was on the panel with Gorbachev a few years later, uh,
in New York and I thought I'd ask him, you know, what role did
he have in Sharansky's release. And through translation,
he told me a fascinating story. He said, "You know, this may
surprise you, but when I was the Secretary of Agriculture
in the Soviet Union, I never heard of Anatoly Sharansky.
I come to Canada, my first overseas trip; all of a sudden,
they started to ask me questions about this Anatoly Sharansky.
I left the parliament buildings and there's this big
demonstration on behalf of this Anatoly Sharansky.
And so, I come back to the Soviet Union and some months
later I'm now the President of the Soviet Union,
so I ordered up Sharansky's file. He was a troublemaker,
but the real thing is it was costing us to keep him
in prison. Wherever I went, I would bump into protests
with regard to this Anatoly Sharansky.
So, it was costing us politically, economically,
it was costing us in terms of our image. So, I ordered
his release." And then came the crucial word;
"In our self-interest."
And that's when I learned then, and it became my model,
that the tipping point for the release of political
prisoners is when those who are imprisoning them believe
that it's in their self-interest to release them. That's
what happened with respect to Sharansky and that's what
I'm hoping will happen now with regard to Badawi.
That we are reaching that tipping point.
- Hey, guys! - Good to see you!
- Irwin! - What a pleasure!
- It's so good to see you. - You're looking great, man.
- You are too. - It's terrific to see you!
- I'm following you on Twitter, and you ended up getting
arrested. Thankfully, you were released
at the last minute. - Several times, but yeah.
(laughs)
If there's one sentence to describe me, the answer is
that I'm Putin's number one enemy.
- During today's meeting, I addressed directly
with President Putin the issue of Russian interference
in our elections.
- At the press conference at the end of the Summit...
...says Putin, "Are you going to hand over the 12 GRU
officers?" And Putin says, "Uh, yes, as long as President
Trump hands over Bill Browder."
After Putin mentioned me at the Summit, the whole
world wanted to know, who is Bill Browder?
(protest chants)
My grandfather was the General Secretary of the American
Communist Party. He ran for President twice in the Communist
ticket against Roosevelt.
(protest chants)
I graduated business school in 1989, which was the year
that the Berlin Wall came down. One day, I had this epiphany
which is that if my grandfather was the biggest communist
in America, I'm going to try to become the biggest capitalist
in Eastern Europe. And that's what I set out to do.
(propellers)
I got there just as they were starting to privatize
their industries and the decision that they made
in Russia was to go from communism to capitalism,
they wanted to give away all the State property away for free
to create a whole class of capitalists.
The crucial job that I got that really set me into motion
was a job on the investment banking team at the Solomon
Brothers in London. One day a very, very small assignment
came in to advise the management of a fishing fleet in Murmansk.
And I went down to the docks with the head of the fishing
fleet, and he showed me one of their ships and it was
this enormous vessel, like, 400 feet long and all
these different stories. And I asked him, "How much does
one of these things cost?" And he said, "20 million dollars
new." And I asked him, "At what price is the government selling
the fleet?" And he said, "Two- and-a-half million dollars."
(laughs)
Let me repeat the math for you. (laughs)
There's a billion dollars' worth of ships and they can buy
fifty-one percent for two and-a-half million dollars.
I became the king of the Russian Stock Market at the age
of thirty.
At this point, the real trouble began. At the end of 2003,
Putin arrested the richest oligarch in Russia; a guy
named Mikhail Khordorkovsky and then allowed the television
cameras to come in and film the richest man in Russia
sitting on trial in a cage.
And so, one by one by one the oligarchs went to Putin
and said, "Vladimir, what do we have to do to not sit
in a cage?" And, uh, he said, "Fifty percent."
Not fifty percent for the Russian Government or fifty
percent for the Presidential Administration of Russia,
fifty percent for Vladimir Putin.
(Russian)
In order for Putin to stay in power, he's got to make sure
that there's enough people who are feathering their nests so,
there's no chance they're going to turn on him and organize
a coup or be disloyal.
On June 4th, 2007, 25 police officers raided my office
in Moscow and the next thing we knew we no longer owned
our investment holding companies.
And this was the moment I hired Sergei Magnitsky.
Sergei Magnitsky was a young lawyer; the best lawyer I knew
in Russia. And he investigated it and he came back,
and he said, "I figured out what they were trying to do."
These people stole our companies and they applied for
a 230 million-dollar illegal tax refund two days before
Christmas. It was approved and paid out the next day
with no questions asked.
Sergei goes to the Russian State Investigative Committee;
their version of the FBI and gives sworn testimony against
the police officers who had been at the raid. And then we sit
back and wait for the good guys to get the bad guys.
Well, it turns out that in Putin's Russia there are
no good guys.
Five weeks after Sergei testified against the police
officers, the same police officers came to his home,
arrested him and put him in pre-trial detention where
he was then tortured to withdraw his testimony. And what
they didn't understand about Sergei Magnitsky is he's
one of the most principled people in the world. And
for him, the idea of bearing false witness and perjuring
himself was a greater pain than any of the physical torture
he was being subjected to and he refused to sign it.
They put him in an isolation cell, they chained him
to a bed and eight riot guards with rubber batons beat
Sergei Magnitsky to death.
I decided to put aside everything else I was doing
and devote all of my time, all of my resources to going after
the people who killed him to make sure they face justice.
(church bells)
- (Journalist): Across London there are pockets where Russia's
billionaires have their homes. That's Roman Abramovich's
house. There's one of Andrey Goncharenko's
four homes in the middle of the capital.
- If you're after a castle in Scotland, or, I don't
know, want to rent a flat in Paddington, you must
just let me know.
- Fifty years ago, the regime would do the terrible things
at home and stay at home, but now we're in a world where
they want to send their wives on shopping trips to Miami
and their kids to boarding schools in the U.K and
Switzerland. And it's opened up an opportunity for human rights
defenders, which is that if they covet the west, we can take
that away from them.
And the beautiful thing about Magnitsky sanctions is
it doesn't punish the population back home who are oftentimes
victims as well, it just punishes the human rights
abusers themselves.
And so, I began a campaign to impose visa sanctions
and asset freezes on the people who killed Sergei Magnitsky.
I started the campaign in Washington where I met
a Democratic Senator named Benjamin Cardin and Republican
Senator John McCain and I told them the same story I just
shared with you tonight. And I said, "Can we ban the visas
and freeze the assets of these people? And they said,
"Yes, we can."
And they introduced in 2010 the Sergei Magnitsky Act.
- This bill is not simply about the case of Sergei Magnitsky;
it applies to all those who engage in gross human rights
violations or corruption.
It is precedent-setting human rights legislation.
- This legislation is one of the most important things
that in years to come we can be proud we were a small part of.
- For a long time, Putin got rich; everybody around him got
rich, then all of a sudden, Bill Browder comes along and
he creates this legislation which freezes the assets
of people who work for Putin.
And it changes the whole equation because before,
Putin could ask them to go do a killing and they'd say,
"Sure, boss." They know that nothing would happen to them,
and they'd get rich afterwards. And all of a sudden,
their money's at risk and their travel's at risk.
The whole quid pro quo of how he was running his country has
been put in disarray.
Vladimir Putin got really mad, made all sorts of threats
to other governments not to pass it and then went after me,
personally.
♪ Oh, can't keep movin' on ♪
♪ When we've got So much work to do ♪
♪ Ain't no evolution ♪
♪ We are noticing Many, many times before ♪
♪ And here we go again It's the same old ♪
♪ Song and dance we do ♪
♪ We gotta make a change Or it all stays the same ♪
♪
This process was initiated seven years ago with me
and Irwin Cotler, your former Justice Minister.
The night that Canada voted on the Magnitsky, it was like
this human wave. I could kind of feel the momentum building
as I'm watching all stand up one after another after another,
after another, and they said the law is unanimously passed.
♪
- Global justice for Sergei Magnitsky legislation now allows
us, not only to sanction human rights violators coming out
of Russia, but human rights violators in other countries.
(chants)
♪ Here we go again ♪
♪
All those who have some connection with the Magnitsky
case have found themselves poisoned.
- I mean, if they decide to kill me, they could kill me, but
I'm not gonna...I'm not gonna back down.
♪ Stand up ♪
- So, where do we take it from here now, Bill?
- Um, well, now the big challenge and the big prize is
Europe. We get it done in Europe. The European
Parliament is gonna be hosting a Magnitsky event in April.
It would be good if you guys could be there, being the father
of the Canadian Magnitsky Act, I think you have a lot to say.
- Human rights must be sacred everywhere, from Belarus
to Syria, from Myanmar to Venezuela, from Russia
to China. If there is a crime, Europe must have the tools
to act.
(shutter clicks)
- (Journalist): Navalny was detained on arrival at a Moscow
airport. He had just returned from Berlin where he was being
treated after being poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent.
- I think we continue that way.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we continue that way
and then make a left. I'm not sure.
Hard to say...
Because here, if you look at the map...
- Don't ask me, I can't help.
- So, we're able to go down; there's a side street there,
it's probably better.
Although I think we should cross here. We should probably cross
here and then walk, yeah, sorry.
The State should use international human rights law
to guide their interpretation application of such regimes.
Five. States should make either sanctions as policy at
targeting of journalists, in particular, as a threshold,
trigger. Six.
- No officials here at the Saudi Embassy in London are commenting
publicly about this case, but the line from Riyadh is that
they have nothing to do with Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance.
- It's a five-minute walk, so we'll get there.
- And in our story that Jamal Khashoggi wrote,
he lamented the fact that the vast majority
of countries in the Arab world lack a free press and that
as a result, millions of Arabs are, either uninformed,
or misinformed.
- We still hear cases such as the case of Raif Badawi,
the blogger who was sentenced to ten years, a thousand lashes
just for being critical.
- This is true in other parts of the world as well, meaning
democracy cannot work, meaning progress is restrained
or thwarted. And human rights abuse, any abuse, can occur
in the dark.
So, it is clear that the challenges to media
freedom are urgent, and they are global.
But my message to all the ministers who are here is
that they must make sure that their laws respect media freedom
and they impose targeted sanctions on states that try
to silence critical speech by detaining or killing
journalists.
- Hi, Amal, how you doing? Good to see you!
- And I hope they will support the work of the new independent
international legal panel that I will introduce tomorrow.
(chatting) How are you? Good to see you.
Oh, I'm glad you're both here. It's the first draft, but...
(ambient conversations)
(tapping on glass)
- Hello everybody, I'm David Neuberger; I was President
of the U.K Supreme Court.
- Hi, I'm Amal Clooney; I'm a barrister and the Deputy
Chair of the panel.
- Hina Jilani; I practice in the Supreme Court
in Pakistan, but I like to describe myself more
as a human rights defender. - Here, here!
(laughs)
- I like to describe myself as a human rights defender too.
Helena Kennedy; I'm the Director of the IBA's Human Rights
Institute.
- Irwin Cotler; a member of the panel from Canada.
- Karunda Nundy; I'm a lawyer in the Supreme Court and I'm so
delighted to be here and I'm really going to make it count
'cause I left my baby behind. (laughs)
(bells chiming)
(knock knock)
- Ah, good! - Hello, Professor!
- Lots to talk about. - Yeah.
- You know, post-panel debrief.
- The report that Amal gave on Magnitsky sanctions is probably
the most comprehensive that I've seen in terms of following up on
the global movement with regard of justice for Sergei Magnitsky.
And in terms of the targeted sanctions with respect to,
you know, journalists that are being imprisoned and where
this can leverage for their release.
- Yeah. The response is to Saudi human rights abuse is that,
let them feel that they can go ahead and just start
assassinating journalists. And this response, um, through
Magnitsky could...could help curtail that.
- Because the whole idea is global justice
for Sergei Magnitsky movement sanctions and then to have
the countries come together, it could be a very powerful
advocacy instrument.
(police sirens)
- Well, we are not going to, uh, forget about your husband.
And we are going to work with you to continue to elevate
this case and to demand that he be released. And, um,
we're not going to give up. You know,
as the co-chair of the Human Rights Commission,
I think we ought to do it here. We need to do a hearing on Saudi
human rights, and we could highlight Raif's case
in that hearing. And what I want to do is I don't want to do
anything that you don't think is appropriate.
I want to do things that are constructive that will help
increase pressure, so your husband is released.
- You know, the United States without the Magnitsky sanctions
for the seventeen involved in Khashoggi's murder, um, might
want to think about Magnitsky sanctions for those who have
been involved in Raif and the imprisonment of the other
human rights defenders.
- We need to identify the right people and we will make that
request to the Administration. Secondly, um, we will do
a hearing in collaboration with you to talk about who we should
have as witnesses. And then third, I think we might want
to draft a resolution, uh, to try to get Congress
on record as voting to urge the Saudi Government
to release your husband.
- Merci. - She says, "Thank you
very much." - But, uh...but this is...
this is outrageous. It is clear the Crown Prince will not do
the right thing unless, uh, international pressure is
maintained. And, uh, we will make sure that international
pressure, at least pressure from the United States Congress,
is maintained.
- (Journalist): So, you're optimistic?
- (Irwin Cotler): I'm more optimistic because I believe
that there's a convergence of dynamics in this regard that
will bode well for, hopefully, bringing about Raif's release.
- Great. So, you're off to another meeting? Rushing.
- Off to another meeting. And, uh, it's been non-stop,
you know? One meeting after another. And so, if we're late,
then we're in trouble. So, we got to rush.
- You've got to rush! Which way are you going?
- One floor up.
- (Irwin Cotler): Okay.
Yeah, no, no absolutely. I think that what happened is
it just, like everything else, just fell off their radar
screen for a while and you revived it with the call.
That's what it is.
- We are told that the IRTC had sent assassins; that they were
hunting her down and that she would have to go from friends'
houses night to night and with her eight-year-old son.
So, we agreed to try to help, and Professor Cotler and
the team was in touch with every influential parliamentarian,
every person in the government we could reach out to.
- Security? - Yes, Irwin Cotler,
Brandon Silver meeting with the Prime Minister?
- Yes, come on in. - Thank you.
- When we walked into the meeting, the Prime Minister
looked at him and said, "Irwin, I know you've been championing
this cause. I want to let you know that I've signed off on it
and that they're going to be on their way to Canada
very shortly."
- How are you? - Hey!
Hi, guys! - Thank you for yesterday!
- Of course! Why don't you come in? Do you want to come in?
- Thank you.
- Thank you, nice to... - Nice to see you!
- You too! - Yeah! Welcome back
to Montreal! - Thank you!
- Every time we take up the case and cause of a political
prisoner, then we're shining a search light on the assaults
on human rights in that country.
But we're also showing with each of these individuals how one
person can make a difference.
- For me, as a teenager, it was odd to take a look at my mom's
photo. She had school uniforms with a big white ribbon
on her head.
But my school photos are... were like this.
(chants)
- (Reporter): Khomeini promises political and economic freedom
to all, unless they undermine the Islamic Republic.
Sexual and family matters are to be ruled by Islamic law.
That at least does not outlaw kissing; kissing
the Ayatollah's hand.
(chanting)
- Having nail polish is against the law, or having makeup.
For them, everything is seductive and it's not the man
who has to be, I don't know, healthy and control themselves.
It's the women.
The women should cover their bodies so men don't get tempted.
(screams)
They call it morality police.
(screams)
You can see their vans in the city.
(screams)
Like having a shadow of fear on our shoulder.
- Welcome to Concordia and welcome to Montreal.
It really is...I'm really very deeply honoured to be able
to speak with you. - Thank you, it's a pleasure.
- Many of us have seen the images of young women
with their hijabs attached to sticks and waving them and...
tell us a little bit about where this movement has come from?
- It was in the first movement against compulsory hijab.
After the revolution, there was a big protest in Iran.
(chanting)
But the government easily oppressed the demonstration.
- (Female voice): If you don't have a hijab, they watch you
a lot, they think you are a whore or you are crazy.
From the age of seven, all day and all night, everywhere you go
you must wear it.
I am hopeful that there will be change in the future.
- Before the whole thing, I knew a little bit about suffragettes,
and I was following our influential women.
And it was like; I wish I was like them.
Showing your opposition was a little bit scary.
Because you knew it's gonna be dangerous.
My husband was very scared; my family, they were very
scared. But...it was our demand and I...I couldn't stop.
You cannot imagine what, what's going on inside prison.
There's no law inside.
From the moment I got beaten up, it was...it was very horrifying;
it was very, uh, I don't know...when...when that lady was
on top of me, she was bouncing my head on the...on the floor
like a ball. I could hear the sound of my hair
plucking out of my head. It was like I could hear
my hair.
(keys rattling)
(A door unlocks and closes.)
The first thing I told my husband was "I cannot stay."
I knew if I stay, I have to be silent and I knew I couldn't
be silent.
- What do you think of your mom being so courageous?
What do you think of what she did?
- Uh, I think she did...I think she did a great job and
she needed to do that.
People need to be free, and she wanted to be free.
And other people want to be free.
Any more questions?
(French)
- Welcome! In 2018, the assault on human rights in Iran has been
relentless.
Fortunately, we have today, I believe, the best array
of witness testimony that has ever been gathered
on Parliament Hill. The first is Masih Alinejad; a renowned
Iranian journalist and was a founder of the White Wednesday
Campaign for women's freedom in Iran.
- Hi everyone.
I launched a movement five years ago, "My Selfie Freedom" and
I asked women to take off their white head scarf and walking
unveiled, which is a punishable crime. But they risked
their lives because they know freedom is not free.
When right now, four activists and their lawyer are in prison
just because of protesting against hijab, then there is
no justice in Iran, it's the responsibility of all
the international communities to stand up for freedom of choice.
(applause)
- Irwin, it's your weight!
(elevator alarm)
- Canada adopted the Magnitsky Sanctions in October 2017.
Since then, we've sanctioned a number of people and
increasingly so from Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
but not Iran. - (Woman): Not Iran!
- (Man): Okay. - I think, Irwin, with regards
to Magnitsky, I would be glad to go court if we had
the evidence to support accusations against them,
but we need very tightly documented evidence.
- I'm making a speech today in the House on Iran
on something called The Late Show. And I will name
all nineteen of these people in that speech. Um, and I will
mention the IRTC issue as well.
- Thanks everyone.
- Thank you! We appreciate your time.
- Being a woman in Iran means that you have to fight every
day. This is how you gain your freedom back.
- I'm Shaparak, one of the women who, uh, follow Masih's
campaign and got arrested.
- Blame goes on me. - No!
(laughs)
- She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- I was waiting for ages to do something, but I didn't have any
clue; I wasn't a journalist; I wasn't an activist, but with
this campaign it was like that's...that's the time
I can do something.
- The time when Shaparak got arrested, she went to prison,
the same day three female politicians from Netherlands,
they went there obeying compulsory hijab without even
challenging it. And I criticized them, they said, "Look, this is
just like wearing a hat, don't make it a big deal."
And I wrote a column and I said, how many times have you got
beaten up because of wearing a hat, an inappropriate hat?
- But the problem I can see is that in Canada, we can't even
identify those people. But that's the challenge we're
having in terms of being able to apply sanctions and ensure
that we are talking to the right people.
- It's been an excellent day and we're not over yet.
- And so, I'll then begin with you, of course, Masih.
- I strongly believe that, if we want to challenge
this oppressive regime, the Government, then every
individual woman has to launch her own revolution because
the revolution-was a revolution against women.
So, this is what I did; I was not always looking like that.
(laughing)
Yeah, I had to cover this big hair. I never had a clue about
feminism, equality, never had a clue about discrimination,
never. But I had a little brother who was the most visible
example of freedom, all the freedom that I wanted
to have. I wanted to sing, it was forbidden.
I wanted to dance; it was forbidden.
If there's rape in Iran, it's my fault because I don't
cover myself. Sanction all those oppressors and their relatives.
When we see those and live here, safe in Canada, but human rights
activists go to jail or taken hostage like now.
(applause) Then this is your
responsibility. Thank you so much.
- The genocide in Rwanda. 10 000 Tutsis were murdered
every day for three months.
- I thought we got the guys out, but you came back in?
- I came back. - Oh shit!
(laughs)
(applause)
- I will begin with Esther.
I've heard you very often speaking about what it feels
when people say 'what lessons have you learned about Rwanda?'
What do you think? What, if anything, do you want people
to learn from what happened 25 years ago?
- That the world 'stand' by and let that scenario play out
in front of them day after day and refuse, either by decision
or not taking a decision to go in, the international community
nurtured the destruction of the Tutsis by an extremist
group. I made mistakes in Rwanda. The Secretary
of the U.N. made mistakes in Rwanda. But the odious
of the abandonment and particularly the odious
of not recognizing that this thing was going to be
catastrophic is in every national capital of the world
that abandoned Rwanda and abandoned humanity.
I couldn't keep 450 soldiers in Rwanda where there were
more people killed, displaced, refugeed and raped in all
of the campaign in ex-Yugoslavia and yet we put 67 000 troops
in ex-Yugoslavia. It begs another question and that is:
Are all humans human? Or are some humans more human
than others?
The lessons of Esther and General Dallaire really underpin
what I'd like to share with you. As Ester put it, the genocide
did not occur all at once; there were stages; stages
of discrimination, of exclusion, of stigmatization.
And in particular, that the genocide of the Tutsis occurred
because of state-sanctioned incitement to hate and
to genocide. It was this teaching of contempt,
this demonizing of the other, this is where it all began.
We have to create a situation where the promotion and
protection of human rights is, in fact, implemented
by those entrusted to do it. We have a shocking situation
today where the United Nations Council on Human Rights,
where the human rights violators themselves are sitting
on that Human Rights Council, where Saudi Arabia is elected
to the U.N Commission on the Status of Women;
Syria is elected the U.N. Committee on Disarmament?
Unbelievable. Iran is elected to also to the U.N.
In other...the major human rights violators have been put
in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights.
That Orwellian situation must change. So, may this coming
together today be not only an act of remembrance, which
it is, but it must always be a remembrance to act
individually and collectively.
(applause)
- Today we're focusing on the commemoration
of Nelson Mandela's 100th anniversary and the arrival
of Justice Dikgang Moseneke to Canada; we're honoured
to have him. One of Professor Cotler's
greatest heroes was Nelson Mandela.
- So, I see that you're expecting.
- Yes. - Are you hopeful for your sake
and your children's sake? - About the future in human
rights? I am. I am. I think hope is the number one ingredient.
- Good afternoon, everyone. I'm delighted to welcome you all
to the inauguration of the Nelson Mandela
Lectureship in Human Rights. Named in remembrance of a hero
of humanity. It is only fitting that our inaugural lecture be
delivered by Justice Dikgang Moseneke who was
a young political prisoner together with Nelson Mandela
on Robben Island.
(applause)
- In 1948, the National Party took over power in South Africa
and expanded segregation by introducing apartheid
legislation. The young and angry Nelson Mandela vowed
to combat apartheid oppression.
The apartheid regime chose to end his public activism.
Around 1955, he was arrested and indicted for high treason.
While facing the death penalty, instead of pleading for mercy
from this trial court to save his life, Nelson Mandela burst
into these memorable lines; - I have fought against white
domination, and I have fought against black domination.
(cheers)
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society
in which all persons live together in harmony and
with equal opportunities.
It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
(chanting)
- In 1981, I was invited to South Africa as a guest
of the anti-apartheid movement.
And they organized this lecture that I gave; "If Sharansky,
why not Mandela"? At the end of the lecture, I got arrested.
And the prison guard comes over to me and he says, "You know,
the Foreign Minister of South Africa, has asked us
to bring you to see him." And I come in and he says,
"Look at that picture on the wall. Who is that?"
I said, "That's Anatoly Sharansky."
And he said, "Right." He said, "I could not understand how
somebody like you, who could defend this great human rights
hero, Anatoly Sharansky, can speak in the same breath
about Nelson Mandela." So, I then said, "Mr. Minister,
both Sharansky and Mandela are fighting for the same thing;
they're both fighting for democracy; they're both
fighting for freedom."
- I said, "South Africa is the only post-World War II
country that has institutionalized racism
as a matter of law. And for so long as it takes, from wherever
I am, I will fight against this racist legal regime
until it is dismantled."
As a result of all of that, I was approached by
Isie Maisels, the leading lawyer for Mandela who said we need
someone to do like you've been doing with regard to Sharansky,
with regard to Mandela. So that's how I became,
you know, what I call a cameo shot involved in Mandela's
case and cause.
♪
- Never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land
will again experience the oppression of one by another.
(chanting)
♪
(bells)
♪
- Hi! - Oh my God! Hi!
- Hi, darling! How are you? It's nice to see you in person.
♪
- First of all, I want to thank you for your support toward
Raif Badawi and Ensaf. And I really like to see her
in person because I admire her courage and I thought we have
the same cause; women in those countries, that they are
living under repression in those dictatorship regimes have
to get together and be the voice of the ones who are inside
prison. That's my mission and thank you for your support.
Thank you, it's amazing.
(applause)
- Merci beaucoup! Thank you very much!
- Thank you! - Thank you so much!
- We will continue our fight.
- It's all you can do, you know?
- Yeah, yeah.
♪
- We want this be a good event! (laughs)
♪
- What's happening tonight?
- Well, Professor Cotler is receiving an honorary doctorate
from Tel Aviv University.
- At the session on the 13th day of June, 2018, the senate
of Tel Aviv University resolved to honour the Honourable
Irwin Cotler in recognition of his influential role
as a champion of justice.
(applause)
- I'm particularly delighted to receive this honorary
doctorate of Tel Aviv University and a special thanks to my wife,
Ariella who has always been there in the trenches with me,
though not always on the same side.
(laughter)
In the summer of 1962, I was one of a group of Canadian students
who received a world university service with scholarship and
it was called, to visit Poland for three months.
But the experience, the painful experience, that I remember most
and will never forget, was the one day that we spent
at the oswiecim, the Auschwitz death camp. Of horrors
too terrible to be believed, but not too terrible to have
happened. And then I went to Israel, and I recall writing
that it's not the case that if there had been no Holocaust,
there would not have been a State of Israel, but that it's
the other way around. That if there had been a State
of Israel, there would not have been a Holocaust or the horrors
of Jewish history.
(applause)
The Holocaust and the genocide, for example, in Rwanda where
one million Tutsis were murdered in three months. What makes
it so unspeakable is that these genocides were
preventable.
And so, may I close with the words from the "Never Again
Declaration" that we adopted a little over two years ago
on the occasion of the March of the Living in Poland.
We remember and pledge that never again will we be
indifferent to incitement and hate. That never again will
we be silent in the face of evil, but we will speak up
and act against indifference, against racism, against hate,
against anti-Semitism, against mass atrocity, against injustice
and against the crime of genocide, as I said,
whose name we should even shudder to mention.
That is what the pursuit of justice is all about
and that is our individual and collective responsibility.
Thank you.
(applause)
♪
- It's hard to get into the heads of killers and
torturers because we don't share the same values.
One of the reasons why these people can get away with it is
because of the inaction of almost everybody else.
Most people are good people by nature, but everybody is also
risk averse, and it requires taking risk to stop
these people.
- I couldn't be silent.
I don't know, it's just something inside you.
And...I always was a very stubborn person.
(laughs)
I don't know, if me being stubborn or it was another
thing, I...I never doubt giving up.
- We said after seeing the Nazi concentration camps,
"Never again."
There are now Chinese concentration camps
for a religious minority where millions of people are being
killed and that needs to be reacted to in the most
profound and serious way.
- We get the U.K involved, get the French involved, get Sweden
involved, that's Wallenberg's country of citizenship, so
we can really internationalize the advocacy.
- These political prisoners, if they could stand up and run
the risk of torture and imprisonment, we, living
in a free democracy, can certainly stand up and do
our little bit to make this a better place and
better the human condition.