Law students enrolled in the Faculty of Law's International Human Rights Law course with Professor Joanna Harrington had the pleasure of having one of Canada's most prominent practitioners of international human rights law as a guest speaker today, with Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada presenting on the topic: "Confronting a Human Rights Scourge: Canada and the Global Struggle to End Torture".
As Neve explained to the packed class of students and guests: "Around the world the scourge of torture continues to be a global human rights crisis. Governments deny it exists; cover it up; excuse it in the name of security; use it to terrorize opponents and minorities; brutally rely on it in fighting crime; and pretend it only occurs in isolated cases. Amnesty International's research points to torture in close to ¾ of the world's states over the past five years. While torture is obviously not rampant in Canada, that does not mean we are off the hook. There are many ways in which Canada is complicit in torture that has occurred in other countries. As well, Canada falls short in ensuring justice for torture survivors and accountability of torturers. And Canada inexplicably has not yet signed up to a 12-year old UN treaty dealing with torture prevention." Neve's lecture surveyed the state of the world and the state of the nation when it comes to combatting torture.
Named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2007, Alex Neve became Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada in January 2000 and serves as the primary spokesperson for the Canadian Branch of an organization active throughout the world. Among his many duties, he has carried out numerous human rights research missions throughout Africa and Latin America, and closer to home to such locations as Grassy Narrows First Nation in NW Ontario and to Guantánamo Bay. He speaks to audiences across the country about a wide range of human rights issues, appears regularly before parliamentary committees and UN bodies, and is a frequent commentator in the media.
Alex Neve holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie University and an LL.M In International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. He has served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, taught at Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Ottawa, been affiliated with York University's Centre for Refugee Studies, and worked as a refugee lawyer in private practice and in a community legal aid clinic. He is on the Board of Directors of Partnership Africa Canada, the Canadian Centre for International Justice, and the Centre for Law and Democracy. For 2008-2009, he served as a Trudeau Foundation Mentor, and in 2009, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick.