What Justice for Syria and ISIS?
The Faculty of Law welcomes His Excellency Christian Wenaweser for the 2017 Proulx Roundtable Conference.
Syria has become the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. Millions of refugees have fled the war, and tens of thousands have become victims of crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian Government. 聽The so-called "Islamic State" has also committed genocide and other crimes against聽minority groups such as the Yazidi Kurds in neighbouring聽Iraq. Yet despite widespread outrage at these atrocities, the international community has done little to hold the perpetrators accountable.
The search for justice in Syria has been elusive, but it remains a vital ingredient of a sustainable peace in the region. Given the political constraints within the UN, what justice聽can we realistically聽achieve for the people of Syria?聽
Keynote speaker:
础尘产补蝉蝉补诲辞谤听Christian Wenaweser, Representative of Liechtenstein to the United聽Nations and former President of the聽International聽Criminal聽Court Assembly of States Parties, will discuss the UN鈥檚 new International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to investigate these atrocities, and other initiatives for justice in聽Syria.
He will be joined by a roundtable consisting of:
- Betsy Apple: Advocacy Director for the Open Society Justice Initiative
- Fannie Lafontaine: Professor of Human Rights law at Laval University
- Sarwat Bashi: McGill O'Brien Fellow and Syrian human rights activist
- Barzan Barzani: McGill Post-Doctoral Fellow and Iraqi Kurdish human rights activist
With Introductory remarks by former UN prosecutor聽Professor Payam Akhavan and former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada Professor Irwin Cotler.
The Michel Proulx Memorial Lecture Fund
The Michel Proulx Memorial Lecture Fund was established by family, friends and alumni, to honour the memory of Michel Proulx: lawyer, judge and dedicated teacher of criminal law at McGill.His commitment to the Faculty was constant and devoted, providing counsel and encouragement to students, teachers and deans. As a result, he left his mark upon generations of students at McGill.
