Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) is a Canadian non-governmental organization dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of human rights. The RWCHR's name and mission is inspired by Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian legacy.
Abbreviation
RWCHR
2015
Human rights advocacy
Based in Montreal, the RWCHR pursues justice by mobilizing advocacy and advising foreign policy in Canada and around the world. The first Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights was launched in Canada in 2017.[1]
The RWCHR was founded by international human rights lawyer and former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler in 2015.
Activity[edit]
Magnitsky legislation[edit]
The Magnitsky legislation is a series of laws that give governments the power to levy sanctions on corrupt officials who have grossly violated internationally recognized human rights. The legislation is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax accountant who was imprisoned, and later murdered, for uncovering and reporting the theft of $230-million by Russian state officials. The U.S. Magnitsky Act was originally intended to sanction the corrupt Russian officials involved in the wrongful imprisonment and murder of Sergei Magnitsky, it began a global movement to pass similar sanction laws that supports human rights advocates by combating a globally pervasive culture of corruption, criminality and impunity.
The RWCHR and its chair played a relatively significant role in helping create the global movement for Magnitsky legislation. The RWCHR's chair ignited a parliamentary process in 2016 to pass Canadian Magnitsky legislation inviting Bill Browder, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Garry Kasparov to testify before Parliament.[47] This, coupled with a major campaign engaged in by the RWCHR to get the Canadian Foreign Affairs Committee to submit a report calling for a framework for human rights sanctions created enough momentum for the Canadian Magnitsky legislation, officially titled the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, to unanimously pass in the House of Commons.[48] Following this, the Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Bill Browder credited the RWCHR and its chair with the passing of the Canadian Magnitsky legislation.[23][49] On November 1, 2017, the RWCHR, along with Bill Browder and other Parliamentarians held a press conference with Nikita and Natalia Magnitsky, the son and wife of the late Sergei Magnitsky, to celebrate the passing of Magnitsky legislation in Canada.
On December 14, 2017, Bill Browder, Garry Kasparov and the RWCHR's chair testified in Washington before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, to examine the implementation of the Magnitsky Act and its impact on the Russian government and members of Putin's inner circle.[23]
The RWCHR, with the help of their Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights, have been urging the Canadian government to support the global Magnitsky legislation movement by persuading other countries to adopt similar laws.[50][51] The RWCHR has also taken matters in their own hands attempting to use their influence to sway other countries to adopt Magnitsky legislation. To this end, two RWCHR lawyers, Irwin Cotler and Brandon Silver, visited the Netherlands in February to meet with Martijn Van Helvert and other Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee to encourage them to pass Dutch Magnitsky legislation.[52]
Russia[edit]
Much of the RWCHR's work regarding combating human rights violations in Putin's Russia involves promoting the Magnitsky Act, both in Canada and abroad [see above]. The RWCHR also devote significant time to honouring Boris Nemtsov, a hero of humanity who was murdered for his criticism of Putin's corruption and criminality [see above]. In both of these regards, the RWCHR has partnered with Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been de facto exiled from Russia for his promotion of the Magnitsky Act.[53] The RWCHR has also been engaged with the case of Alexey Pichugin, evidenced by his mention in an Op-Ed in The Hill authored by the RWCHR's chair.[54]
Iran[edit]
In 2013, the RWCHR's chair launched Iran Accountability Week, a major advocacy initiative held annually in the first week of May by the Canadian Subcommittee on International Human Rights to highlight the domestic repression and rights-abuses perpetrated by Khamenei's Iran.[55] A centrepiece of Iran Accountability Week is the Global Iranian Political Prisoner Advocacy Project whereby Parliamentarians and Senators “adopt” political prisoners and engage in sustained public advocacy, partly by co-authoring an Op-Ed, on their behalf.[44] The cases of Saeed Malekpour, Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi and the Baháʼí 7 have been advocated for in this regard. The cases of the political prisoners held in Iran's notorious Evin Prison were also highlighted by the RWCHR in a demonstration conducted on Parliament Hill the day before September 1, 2017, a day of solidarity with political prisoners held in Iran officially remembered due to the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, an event that Canada was the first to recognize as a crime against humanity thanks to the leadership of Irwin Cotler, amongst other individuals.[56] At the gathering, RWCHR's chair reminded everyone that there is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity and that, as a result, Canada should push to establish an international tribunal, such as the ones created in response to the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, to bring perpetrators to justice.[57] The case of Saeed Malekpour was further highlighted by the RWCHR in 2017 when staff members spoke alongside Homa Hoodfar and Alex Neve at an event held at the University of Toronto.[58] The RWCHR also uses the media to mount their public advocacy campaign authoring numerous Op-Eds intended to bring attention to the particular cases of political prisoners. For example, Op-Eds written by the RWCHR in the Huffington Post and The Jerusalem Post discuss the imprisonment of Nasrin Sotoudeh, Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi and the Baháʼí 7 respectively.[59][60]
Iran Accountability Week also pays particular attention to the state sanctioned persecution of Baháʼís in Iran. During the 5th annual Iran Accountability Week, the RWCHR's chair personally testified before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights calling the persecution of the Baháʼís in Iran a "litmus test" of the country's human rights violations.[61] During the 6th annual Iran Accountability Week, the RWCHR and RWCHR All-Party Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights hosted a public panel in Canadian Parliament discussing many of the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights abuses, with particular focus on the Baha'is.[62] Participants and attendees at the 6th annual Iran Accountability Week included Payam Akhavan, Maziar Bahari, Mark Dubowitz, Corinne Box, Michael Levitt, Judy Sgro and Marilou McPhedran. The RWCHR also participated with Senators and Parliamentarians in panel discussions hosted by the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran to discuss, among other things, the persecution of the Baháʼí.[63] On November 22, 2017, the RWCHR, the Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís in Canada and the University of Ottawa's Human Rights Research and Education Centre co-hosted a screening of “The Cost of Discrimination”, a documentary which draws parallels between life under Apartheid in South Africa and life for the Baháʼís in today's Iran.[64] An Op-Ed highlighting the plight of the Baháʼí was also written in the National Post by RWCHR staff members.[65]
In attempt to sanction the Iranian officials that have perpetrated, and are complicit in rights abuses, in 2016 and 2017 the RWCHR participated in an event for the Canadian Coalition Against Torture with RWCHR's chair testifying before the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade regarding the need to pass Bill S-219, an Act to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism and human rights violations through the levying of sanctions.[66] In addition to Parliamentary testimony, the RWCHR has used the media to lobby the Canadian and U.S. governments to use the power vested in the Magnitsky Act to sanction Iranian officials complicit in rights abuses.[67]