Rwanda flag with statue of lady justice and judicial scales

Reconsidering Rwanda’s National Commission for Human Rights

The year 2024 marked three decades since the end of the Rwandan genocide. The United Nations designated April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and this annual point of reflection provides an opportunity to look back and assess the transitional period in Rwanda (1999-2004), a critical juncture in the country’s development. The 1993 Arusha Accords would underpin the country’s Fundamental Law during the transitional period after the Rwandan genocide. The protocols provided for the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), both of which would play important roles in rebuilding Rwanda. Despite their importance, these national institutions are understudied. This article invites readers to differentiate between the two commissions. The article compares the two institutions and set outs reasons for a differentiated approach based on public reports from the two commissions, international human rights organizations and material from the author’s files that was publicly available during missions to Rwanda from 2000-2003 while working with both commissions.
Tree Photo

Converging Standards? Ecocide Laws & Proposals in Comparative Perspective

Legal experts have engaged in a flurry of activity to define the crime of ecocide at national, regional and international levels in the last few years. This issue surveys the various legislative approaches to defining ecocide and compares how these instruments approach the key elements of the crime of ecocide. As the authors assert, the recognition of ecocide as a crime promotes accountability for large-scale and serious environmental harm and can bolster efforts to protect the planet's ecological integrity.
Jan. 2009 displacement in the Vanni. trokilinochchi. cc-by-2.0

Special Issue: Navigating the Complex Terrain of Accountability in Sri Lanka

This special issue explores the complex nature of accountability in Sri Lanka, bringing together perspectives on the legal, political, and societal dimensions of justice. It provides a multifaceted analysis of the ongoing efforts to hold perpetrators accountable for atrocities committed during the war, while also critically examining the challenges in achieving meaningful justice and reconciliation into the future. The articles in this volume highlight the centrality of victims’ voices, the roles of international law, the political dynamics that shape the accountability process, and the importance of institutional reforms in ensuring that such atrocities are not repeated. The authors’ contributions offer invaluable insights into the complexities of the Sri Lankan context and the broader implications for justice in post-conflict societies.
The Case for Reform of Canada’s Extradition System

Special Issue: The Case for Reform of Canada’s Extradition System

Extradition is a critically important legal process that helps ensure that criminals, including individuals accused of responsibility for grave human rights violations, are not able to evade justice by escaping to another country. However, with a view to processing extradition requests quickly and efficiently without mounting a full-fledged criminal trial, the potential for unfair proceedings that deprive individuals of essential due process and other legal protections, leading to wrongful or unsound decisions to extradite, is very real.
Image: Two traffic signs - Freedom of Speech and Censorship

Special Issue: Humour, Hate and Harm: Rethinking Dignity, Equality and Freedom of Expression in Ward v Quebec (Commission de droit de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse)

This special issue explores the implications of the Court’s decision based on Quebec and Canadian human rights law with respect to freedom of expression, hate speech, and the right to safeguard dignity in the context of equality rights claims. It also addresses the implications for international human rights law, and the impact on human rights commissions, as institutions with a statutory mandate to ensure the respect, protection, and fulfillment of human rights. 
Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park

Voiceless and Silenced: Animals in Armed Conflict

Dogs returning from military service in Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, just like human soldiers. Camels were seen abandoned and fleeing from burning oil wells in the 1991 Gulf War. Dolphins were recruited by the United States to detect underwater mines in Iraqi ports. The war crimes regime in international criminal and humanitarian law suffers from anthropocentric bias, resulting in a legal framework which systemically inflicts violence against non-human animals.
Migrants walking towards Turkey-Pazarkule border

Refugee "Responsibility Sharing" - Challenging the Status Quo: A Special Issue of the PKI Global Justice Journal

Facing unprecedented numbers of people fleeing violence and persecution, refugee receiving states are increasingly relying on what are euphemistically termed refugee responsibility-sharing agreements. The earliest incarnation was the Dublin Convention, implemented as an arrangement between 12 EU member states in 1997. Since then, these pacts have proliferated – often accompanied by other unilateral measures predicated on a concept of “safe country of arrival” or “country of first entry.” Broadly, these agreements and policy tools bar entry to asylum seekers who, prior to their arrival in the country where they are seeking asylum, have travelled through a “safe” country that could have adjudicated their asylum claim.
The IRPP Study Report Cover

A Federal Human Rights "Moon Shot"? Reviewing Alex Neve's Closing the Implementation Gap

Like all romantic ideals, human rights are more appealing in the abstract than in practice. Feel-good platitudes are effortless, whereas building robust institutions and transforming cultures requires genuine commitment and hard work. This is the challenge that Alex Neve, a distinguished Canadian human rights lawyer and activist, seeks to address in his report Closing the Implementation Gap: Federalism and Respect for International Human Rights in Canada.
ITLOS

The Contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to the Protection of Human Rights and the Public Interest at Sea

Forty years after the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and over twenty years of subsequent jurisprudence, to what extent has the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) contributed to the protection of human rights and the public interest at sea? The answer to this question is not as obvious as it might seem for at least two important reasons.
Human Rights and Citizenship Abandoned in NE Syria: A special issue of the Global Justice Journal

Human Rights and Citizenship Abandoned in NE Syria: A special issue of the Global Justice Journal

When we put plans in place for this issue of the Global Justice Journal focused on the many human rights and international legal concerns arising from the Canadian government’s refusal to facilitate the repatriation of Canadian citizens detained in dangerous conditions in NE Syria, we knew that the topic was timely and urgent. We did not anticipate that when we came to the point of finalizing the tremendous articles written by our contributors, the context would be changing literally daily, including a groundbreaking Federal Court ruling.
Balance, two dolls and money

Inaccessibility in International Human Rights: The Requirement to Exhaust All Domestic Remedies

The UN individual communication procedures under various treaty bodies provide a relatively affordable and straightforward mode of redress for individuals whose rights have been violated by their state. However, for an adjudication on the merits, each communication must meet certain admissibility requirements, one of which is the exhaustion of domestic remedies.
Freedom Convoy 2022 truck lineup

The Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act Forgets about Human Rights

What lessons have we learned from the debacle as to how police and governments responded to the occupation, blockades and protests associated with the self-styled Freedom Convoy earlier this year? Is there an appreciation of the range of human rights concerns that were in play and sold short; and are any reforms being guided by a clear human rights framework?
A group of armed Ukrainian soldiers near the flag of Ukraine

Foreign Fighters, Mercenaries and the Ukraine Conflict

The reaction by the international community to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been unprecedented and multi-faceted extending to action taken by both States and private corporations. States have condemned Russia in the United Nations General Assembly, imposed significant sanctions, provided humanitarian aid to neighbouring countries and Ukraine, as well as ship armaments and other military supplies to Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court in Hague

Canada joins in the referral of the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court

On March 2, 2022, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he had received a coordinated referral from 39 States Parties to investigate the recent military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. Canadian observers will recall that Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly had announced, a few days earlier, that Canada intended to request an investigation from the Court. This is only the second time that States Parties have exercised the State referral power to initiate an investigation under the Rome Statute.