On Aug. 18, 2012, Dr. Cyril Karabus -- a 77-year-old oncologist from South Africa -- was arrested during a stopover at Dubai International Airport, as he was returning from his son's wedding in Toronto. Formerly the senior pediatrician at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Capetown, Dr. Karabus had last...

On April 17, Canadians commemorate and celebrate the thirty-first anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is an opportunity to reflect and act upon the importance of this revolutionary constitutional document, which has had a transformative impact not only on our laws but on our lives....

This week we remember and commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide -- an unspeakable atrocity where one million Rwandans were murdered in a three-month genocidal onslaught that began April 7th, 1994. Indeed, what makes the Rwandan genocide so unspeakable was not only the horror of the genocide itself,...

When writing on the Holocaust, I am reminded of the early teachings of my parents -- the profundity and pain of which I realized only years later -- that there are things in Jewish history (in human history) too terrible to be believed, but not too terrible to have happened.

With Xi Jinping assuming the Presidency of China, some have expressed hope that his tenure will bring reform and change, particularly in the promotion and protection of human rights. At the same time, China's most recent Nobel Peace Prize winter -- Liu Xiaobo -- languishes in prison, and has yet...

Today -- as though more evidence were required to demonstrate the upside-down state of human rights and the rule of law in Russia -- the country's prosecutors resume their efforts to convict a dead whistleblower of the very corruption he exposed. The posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky has...

Last night the House of Commons passed C-279, a bill that provides human rights protections to transgendered Canadians. Since its introduction over a year ago, critics have reduced it to the "Bathroom Bill," a distorted characterization of what is truly important domestic human rights legislation.

C-279 adds protections...

Section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act used to be little known outside constitutional law circles, but it has recently received significant attention both in Parliament and in the media. This is a welcome development because it is this provision that requires the Government to...

Nasrin Sotoudeh may not yet be an international household name -- but she deserves to be. An Iranian political prisoner now in her third year of imprisonment (much of which has been spent in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin prison), she is the embodiment of the struggle for human...

Today the House began debating C-54, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act. From the Prime Minister's recent announcement of the legislation, one could easily get the impression that Canada is overrun with dangerous psychopaths and that Canadians should be fearful.

Yet, the available evidence indicates that very few mentally-ill...

January 17 -- Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Day -- marks an important moment of remembrance and reminder, wherein Canadians are invited to learn about, reflect upon, and act upon the incredible humanitarian legacy of Canada's first honorary citizen. He was a Swedish diplomat who saved some 100,000 Jews in...

Governments around the world -- along with the United Nations and other international bodies -- were quick to respond to North Korea's recent rocket launch with warranted condemnation and concern about the country's nuclear weapons program. It is regrettable, however, that while rocket launches make headlines, the deplorable state of...

On Tuesday, the Canadian Parliament will hear testimony concerning the torture and tragic death in detention of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered the largest corporate tax fraud in Russian history, identified the senior Russian perpetrators, and paid for it with his life. His story is one of great moral...

Today the House continues its debate on Bill C-37 -- the "victim surcharge bill" -- Government legislation that doubles the amount of the victim surcharge -- money collected from convicted offenders to support victims of crime -- while also removing the ability of judges to waive the surcharge when undue...

C-43: The Government Gets it Wrong, and Immigrants Pay the Price

In introducing Bill C-43 -- the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act -- the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration offered several justifications for this legislation, including, first, that the bill "would narrow the breadth of the...

The recent repatriation of Omar Khadr has demonstrated yet again that serious concerns remain about Canada's approach when its citizens are detained abroad. The rights of too many Canadians have been or continue to be violated in foreign countries, and Canadian governments have regrettably been inconsistent defenders of...

This coming week, Parliament will vote on my amendments to Bill C-299, Conservative legislation that would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years on people who kidnap children. There is, of course, no question that the kidnapping of children is a reprehensible crime, and that our justice system must...

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York to address the UN General Assembly, a man who should be in the docket of the accused will instead be given an international podium -- a cruel parody of law and justice that will put us on the wrong...

Dear Madame Secretary:

As you know, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next Wednesday. While he is not the first war criminal to seek the world stage and will not be the last, the US has the...

The grisly reports of the latest Syrian mass atrocity in Darayya -- reflect the all too horrific Syrian depravity pattern: First, laying siege to the city -- denying its inhabitants food, water, electricity, medical assistance, and communications of any kind; second, launching a sustained, intensified, and indiscriminate...