Cotler Named Human-Rights Critic

“I was very honoured and touched by that nomination by Mr. Dion, particularly for the importance that it shows for the priority of human rights in our framework of policies and principles,” declared Cotler at a press conference at his local riding office.

As the first person to hold that post for the Liberals, it’s a natural fit for Cotler. He has spent most of his adult life upholding human rights as a McGill law professor, defending political prisoners such as Andrei Sakharov and Nelson Mandela, as a backbencher, and finally as Justice Minister and Attorney-General before being relegated to the opposition benches after last January’s federal election.

In his new position, Cotler listed six priorities that he has worked on in recent years. They include: stopping the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and the prevention of genocide by Iran; fighting racism, hatred, and anti-semitism; promoting women’s rights domestically and globally; defending political prisoners; advancing indigenous rights; pushing a human-rights foreign policy; and linking the protection of security and that of individual rights.

Even before he was officially named, the local MP travelled to Geneva where he was the keynote speaker at the United Nations’ first anniversary of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Speaking before an audience that included many survivors, he concluded: “May this day be not only an act of remembrance, which it is, but let it be a remembrance to act, which it must be.”

Cotler described it as “among the most moving experiences of my life.” That International Day was adopted by the UN in November 2005 and first held in New York last January.

That same week, he met a gathering of British MPs, legal scholars, and human-rights activists to present his initiative to bring Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to justice for his incitement to genocide for his declaration that Israel should be wiped off the map. At an international conference on the same issue a few days later in Herzliah, Israel, Cotler again put forth his plan.

The good news from Iran, he reported, is that the president faces growing popular opposition, but the regime is still going ahead with its plans to acquire nuclear weapons and advancing its development of missile-delivery systems. Pressure could also be brought against the Islamic regime with a student-led “divestment from genocide” campaign – much like the anti-apartheid movement conducted during the 1980s.

He also keeps busy with issues of concern to his constituents, such as health care, seniors, and the environment that is of particular concern among people in TMR.