A Special Interview with IFC’s New Executive Director, Dr. Sousan Abadian

Because poetry conveys in a way that prose cannot, I’ll answer the questions with poems (or one quote from a previous professor), followed by some of my own words. 

1/ What initially drew you to interfaith work?

Come, come, whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.

It doesn’t matter

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times.

Come, yet again, come, come.

― Jelaluddin Rumi

I don’t have to tell you that we live in especially polarized times: there are loud cries to stand for something and against something else, as if justice calls for taking sides. Interfaith work elevates our conversations by providing a more nuanced, integrative, “both, and” stance: for example, we are both for the flourishing of this community and for the flourishing of that community—for the flourishing of all peoples regardless of religion, nationality, color, race, gender. We endeavor to find ways to call people in and only call people out as a last resort. Interfaith work provides the reminder, that even with our differences, we are still one human family, no one more or less valuable than another. The idea of offering a big tent for the caravan of humanity to gather under and dialogue with dignity is what has always drawn me to interfaith work. 

2/ What are you most excited to start working on as the new director? 

Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands

And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.

Listen,
The terrain around here

Is
Far too

Dangerous
For
That.

Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky)

As a city, as a nation, as a planet, we are living in an epoch of heightened uncertainty, of great need. I’m most excited about going out and meeting faith leaders and lay people, building relationships and trust. I’m excited to imagine IFC convening conversations that allow them to share what is in their hearts and on their minds, to partner together to address real problems, and even to have fun together. I am most excited to provide opportunities for people to feel and know that we, as a collective, have one another’s backs, that we will hold hands and not let go. No one need ever feel alone with a problem, unsafe, or unwelcome. It is together that we dance this sacred dance of life, all the while knowing that we are deserving of joy. 

I sometimes forget

that I was created for Joy.

My mind is too busy.

My heart is too heavy

for me to remember

that I have been

Called to dance

the sacred dance of life.

I was created to smile.

To Love.

To be lifted up

and to lift up others.

O’ Sacred One

untangle my feet

from all that ensnares.

Free my soul

that we might

Dance

and that our dancing

might be contagious.

Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky)

3/ What are some goals you have for IFC in the coming year?

Critics say that America is a lie because its reality falls so far short of its ideals. They are wrong. America is not a lie; it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is also a hope.—Samuel Huntington

Many are increasingly disillusioned with religion, seeing it as a divisive force and a source of suffering. But the disenchantment actually reflects the profound hunger we have for meaning, healing, belonging, and inspiration that religions can also provide. The “interfaith enterprise” draws out some of what’s best in our religions—the recognition of our common humanity gloriously expressed in a myriad of ways, like the rainbow of colors that appear when light is shone through a single prism.

The initial goals I have for the IFC include supporting Symi and the Board in expanding our programs, enhancing our visibility and relevance so that we can become a unifying resource to the people of our nation’s capital and the metropolitan communities at this pivotal juncture—a Lighthouse calling people safely to shore when the fog of fear and darkness of misinformation threatens to overtake. I would also like to see us get on even sounder financial footing so that we can offer more, give more, celebrate more.

I want to bring in youthful voices and reach out to even greater numbers of faith communities, some of which are underrepresented. I’d also like to invite members of our First Nations or Native American communities into the IFC community. Their spiritual traditions are profound, and I never forget that we are but guests on these precious lands.

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” ― Patanjali 

4/ What’s your favorite interfaith memory?

If you have friends who know your heart,

Distance cannot keep you apart.

― Wang Bo (王勃)

I have many favorite interfaith moments, but I’ll share one that happened fairly recently at the Parliament of World Religions that took place in Chicago this past August. I was one of 25 faith leaders who was honored to be invited to ceremonially sign the Global Ethics document during the Global Ethic General Assembly. Another of the signatories was Jianbao Wang, part of a small delegation and the only one coming from Mainland China.

We had an opportunity to speak together and found much common ground as a Zoroastrian and a Confucian, two of the world’s most ancient wisdom traditions. The next day, I was one of the keynote speakers in front of an assembly of over 6,500 people. As I was waiting to get on stage with the handful of other speakers and video techs in a large area behind the curtains, I saw Jianbao come in backstage with several people, one clearly a monk and seat themselves at a big table. Jianbao wanted to speak with me but I asked if he could wait till after my talk. I did not know they were all waiting for me.

After I finally got called on stage and returned, they stood and approached and Jianbao introduced me to the delegation including the Abbot of one of the oldest Shaolin Temples in China. The Venerable Abbot presented me with his book and a beautifully decorated plate in a red and golden case as a gift, and his assistant snapped photos. I felt moved and humbled, not just by the generosity of their gifts but by the humility and patience with which they had waited for me. I was struck by how little we truly understand about China beyond the political rhetoric and how ancient (and in some ways refined) their civilization is as compared to ours.

I am eager to learn more about Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Happy Lunar New Year of the Dragon!

Raise your words

not your voice.

It is rain that

grows flowers,

not thunder.

― Jelaluddin Rumi

The Long War on Gaza by Sara Roy

Over fifty-six years, Israel has transformed Gaza from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one. Read more from Sara Roy here.

The View from My Window in Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha

Illustration by Jan Robert Dünnweller

It is Thursday, October 12th, and half sheets of paper are falling from the sky in Beit Lahia, the city in northern Gaza where my family’s house is. Each sheet is printed with an Israeli military emblem, along with a warning: stay away from Hamas military sites and militants, and leave your homes immediately.

When I go downstairs, I find my parents and siblings packing their bags. Local schools, many of them run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, are already crowded with displaced families. But my uncle has called my mother to say that we can stay with his wife’s family in Jabalia camp, the largest of Gaza’s refugee settlements and home to tens of thousands of people.

My wife, sister-in-law, mother, sisters, and children travel to the camp by car. My older brother, brother-in-law, and I ride our bicycles. On the road, we see dozens of families, walking with whatever they can carry. Israel will soon tell more than a million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate immediately, an order that the U.N. calls “impossible.”

That night, around 8:30, a blast lights up the apartment where we have taken refuge. Dust fills every corner of the room. I hear screams as loud as the explosion. I go outside, but I can hardly walk because the lanes are filled with stone and rebar. My brother-in-law’s car, about fifty metres away, is on fire. Nearby, a house is burning. On the second floor, which no longer has any walls, I can see an injured woman hanging over the edge of the building, holding a motionless child.

The houses in Jabalia are so small that the street becomes your living room. You hear what your neighbors talk about, smell what they cook. Many lanes are less than a metre wide. After two days in the camp, on Saturday morning, my family has no bread to eat. Israel has cut Gaza’s access to electricity, food, water, fuel, and medicine. I look for bakeries, but hundreds of people are queuing outside each one. I remember that, two days before the escalation, we bought some pita. It is sitting in my fridge in Beit Lahia.

I decide to return home, but not to tell my wife or mother, because they would tell me not to go. The bike ride takes me ten minutes. The only people in the street are walking in the opposite direction, carrying clothes and blankets and food. It is frightening not to see any local children playing marbles or football. This is not my neighborhood, I think to myself.

On the main street leading to my house, I find the first of many shocking scenes. A shop where I used to take my children, to buy juice and biscuits, is in shambles. The freezer, which used to hold ice cream, is now filled with rubble. I smell explosives, and maybe flesh.

I ride faster. I turn left, toward my house.

Iwas born in Al-Shati refugee camp, which is one of the eight camps in the Gaza Strip. In 2000, just as the second Palestinian uprising started, my father decided to move us to Beit Lahia. When we arrived at our new house, there were no windows and the floor had no tiles. The water pipes in the kitchen and bathroom were exposed.

In 2010, my father took out a loan to buy the land next door. With my mother, he planted fruit trees—guava, lemon, orange, peach, and mango—and vegetables. As a hobby, he started raising hens, ducks, rabbits, and pigeons in the garden.

After I got married in 2015, I built my apartment on top of theirs. My wife and I could see the border with Israel out our bedroom window. My children could see our neighbor’s olive and lemon trees.

In 2021, when I returned from a fellowship in the United States, my parents generously refreshed my apartment, buying new plates, glasses, rugs, and a desk. They had shelves installed for all the books I brought back. They also had the ceiling painted with a pattern that I love. In the center is a big brown-and-yellow star, and around it are little triangles, circles, and a rainbow. The shapes and colors seem to embrace and coexist with one another, like strangers who share the same floor of a building. The moment I saw it, I knew how much love my parents had for me.

I expect to be the only person on my street, but as I approach my building, I am surprised to find my neighbor Jaleel. He has a cigarette in one hand and a watering can in the other. As he waters his strawberry plants, he tells me that his wife and sister-in-law are inside, doing laundry, filling water bottles, and stuffing food into plastic bags. His family is sheltering in a school. It has no clean water and the toilets are dirty, but they have no other options.

I am relieved to find my building still standing. I walk up the stairs to my third-floor apartment, stopping first in the kitchen. The fridge and freezer doors are open, just as we left them. There has been so little electricity that everything perishable has started to rot. But the bread is holding up.

I go into my library, where I normally work on my poems, stories, and essays. I have spent hours here, reading writers like Kahlil Gibran, Naomi Shihab Nye, Mary Karr, and Mahmoud Darwish. Everything is coated in dust. Some of my books have fallen off the shelves. A window is broken. I take some candy out of my desk drawer, for the kids.

Finally, I go into the living room. As always, the windows are open. I wish I could close them, especially on freezing winter days. The shock wave that follows explosions, however, would shatter the glass—and who now has the money to repair windows in Gaza? The curtains, which blow madly toward me during bombings, flutter in the breeze.

I sit on the couch and stare up at the colorful shapes on my ceiling. They still shine with fresh paint. Three lamps dangle down at me—two that are connected to the electrical grid, and a third that runs on battery power, for when the electricity goes out. None of them are working now.

Afternoon comes with an unusual heat. Outside, instead of the usual sounds of motorbikes and ice-cream trucks, I hear the whirring of drones. There are no students coming home from school, no cars taking families to the beach, no birds chirping in our garden trees. I hear ambulances and fire trucks, news on the radio, and sporadic blasts, which sometimes become incessant. All mingle in a strange new soundtrack.

A fly seems to be stuck in my living room. There is not much point in shooing it, but I open the window all the way, pulling the curtains aside. Then, suddenly, an explosion shoves me back. It shakes the earth, the house, my heart. Books tumble from my shelves.

I grab my phone and take some pictures. Two bombs have landed about fifty metres from each other, perhaps two kilometres away from where I am standing. Have they hit a farm, a tree, a home, a family? It is not only the explosions that kill us but also the smashing of houses that used to protect us from the elements.

Birds soar into the sky; one falls before rising. Maybe a stone has landed on its back. Who will dress its wounds? We barely have doctors for people.

I return to the couch. Notifications on my phone share breaking news: “Two big explosions in Beit Lahia. More details soon.” I wonder what has happened to the fly. Perhaps it was a warning to both of us: don’t move.

One idea in particular haunts me, and I cannot push it away. Will I, too, become a statistic on the news? I imagine myself dying while hearing my own name on the radio.

I remember a day in 2020, when my wife and I experienced a snowstorm in Syracuse, New York. People came out of their houses, wondering aloud whether the electricity had failed. I think of how my wife and I smiled. I told her, “If they were to live in Gaza, they would spend most of their time outside their houses, wondering.”

I’m still looking at the ceiling. No flies anymore. I make some tea but forget to sip it. Now dust from the two explosions is settling on the couches, rug, and table. I close the windows a little, leaving some space for air.

I have forgotten to mention the dogs barking. I don’t usually hear them, but since the Israeli attacks have escalated, they have been making noise. At night, they seem to cry.

The ceiling appears to be staring at me. I shut my eyes. When I open them, the big star, the circles and triangles, and the rainbow have not moved. The way they cling to the ceiling reminds me of a baby on its mother’s breast. For a moment, I wish that I were a baby.

I hear another blast but don’t see any smoke. Panic runs through me. When you can’t see the explosion, you feel like you’re blind. I think of the refugee camp where I left my family, imagining my seven-year-old daughter, Yaffa. She never asks me, “Daddy, who’s bombing us?” Instead, she cries and tells me, “Daddy, it’s a bomb! I’m scared. I want to hide.”

I call my wife, Maram. She tells me that everyone is “fine.” Our kids “are watching videos on YouTube,” she says. That’s the only thing that can distract them from the explosions.

From the kitchen, I fetch twelve eggs, some beef and chicken, and the bread. I don’t take any pots or pans, for fear that Israeli drone operators would mistake them for guns or rockets. I take an extra charger from the library. Before I can leave, I notice the pile of books on my desk. It seems to be waiting for me to take one, to carry it to the garden for an afternoon of reading among the fruit trees. How I wish that I could drink some lemonade or guava juice now.

More notifications are lighting up my phone. Sometimes I decide not to check the news. We are part of it, I think to myself.

I catch my breath on the couch one more time. I cannot take my eyes off the ceiling. I imagine it falling in on me, just as so many homes have fallen in on so many families in the past seven days, killing them in the rubble of their own rooms. What will kill me? The little triangles? A piece of rainbow? The brown-and-yellow star?

Then I ride back to Jabalia camp, feeling the eyes of bystanders on my plastic bags of food. I can see from the way they look at me that they, too, would like to return to their homes and fetch what they need.

As I approach “our” house, I wind through streets that are strewn with stones and shrapnel. I ride slowly and carefully, hoping that my tire won’t burst under the weight that I’m carrying. Families are walking around, and children are playing hopscotch in the lanes. I can only imagine their panic at the sound of a tire popping.

UN Watch Brings Wife of Jailed Russian Dissident to Address United Nations

UN Watch Brings Wife of Jailed Russian Dissident to Address United Nations

GENEVA, September 22 — UN Watch today brought the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for criticizing Putin’s war on Ukraine, to address the United Nations.

"Such a powerful appeal for freedom in Russia," tweeted British Ambassador Simon Manley, who heard the speech in the council chamber.

Russia is currently running for a seat on the 47-nation council, in elections that will be held by the UN General Assembly on October 10th.

Last week, together with two other human rights groups, UN Watch published amajor report urging countries to oppose the candidacies of Russia, China and Cuba. 

Following is the text of Evgenia Kara Murza's UN address today:

“I am a Russian citizen and Advocacy Director at the Free Russia Foundation, and I am honoured to address the United Nations on behalf of UN Watch.

Recently, my husband Vladimir Kara-Murza, a great Russian patriot, was sent to a prison camp in Siberia for 25 years for stating the fact: the Russian state is leading a criminal war of aggression against Ukraine and is using repression against tens of thousands of Russian citizens to prevent them from exercising their right to free speech guaranteed by the Russian Constitution.

I have come here to ask the Russian government: Would a strong leader attack a peaceful neighbor? Would a strong leader need to close down all independent media and persecute all organizations involved in the defense of human rights?

Would a strong leader subject his own citizens to mind-boggling propaganda, arbitrary detentions, torture, punitive psychiatry, and decades-long prison terms for questioning state policies? Would hundreds of thousands of people flee a country led by a strong leader who enjoys the support of his population?

No. Vladimir Putin is no leader. He is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court, as a criminal.

Putin’s Russia definitely has no place on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

And I call on the international community to not let him and his government get away—yet again—with the crimes they are committing against both the Ukrainian and the Russian peoples.

For as long as Putin’s government is allowed to stay in the Kremlin, the war will go on. Vladimir Putin in not a leader but a bully, and if we want peace, this bully needs to be stopped.”

click for video

UN Watch and Russian Human Rights

Evgenia Kara-Murza spoke today on behalf of UN Watch, a leading voice at the United Nations for human rights in Russia.

Prior to his imprisonment, UN Watch worked closely with Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the most well-known Russian dissidents, and hosted him several times at the UN.

In November, Evgenia Kara-Murza received UN Watch’s 2022 Morris Abram Human Rights Award on behalf of her husband. 

Hear Their Voices - Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights

On September 23, 2001, Eritrean authorities rounded up ten independent journalists as part of a brutal crackdown on free speech and human rights.

Twenty two years later, Dawit Isaak, Seyoum Tsehaye, Amanuel Asrat, Dawit Habtemichael, and their colleagues are still in jail. 

To honour this solemn anniversary, we’re launching Hear Their Voices - a global advocacy campaign on behalf of these men, the longest detained journalists in the world.

They have been held incommunicado for 22 years without charge or trial, and without access to family, consular assistance, or the right to legal counsel.  

Four of the journalists’ families have come together to ask the Eritrean government and the international community to take action on behalf of their loved ones. 

For 22 years, their hearts have been aching.

At a minimum, they want to hear their voices again.

Standing alongside these families and a global coalition of advocates, we are demanding that the Eritrean regime prove that these journalists are still alive.

We want to #HearTheirVoices.

Our call  is amplified by Dr. Mohamed Babiker, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Eritrea, whose office recently issued this scathing report on the human rights situation in the country, noting that its widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity.

“Let their families, and let all Eritreans, hear their voices. After 8,000 days of incommunicado detention, I urge the Eritrean government to provide information about the whereabouts of Dawit Isaak and his colleagues.”
- Dr. Mohamed Babiker, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea

Spread the word.

*Click here to share your own message of support for Eritrea’s missing journalists, using the hashtag #HearTheirVoices. 

“If the international community cannot hold Mr. Afwerki’s regime to account, how can we secure justice and accountability in a rules-based international order in the face of even bigger challenges? As long as Mr. Isaak is detained, the fundamental rights and freedoms that form the bedrock of democracy will only continue to erode.”

- Irwin Cotler (International Chair) and Judith Abitan (Executive Director) in this powerfully worded opinion piece focused on the case of journalist Dawit Isaak, a dual Eritrean-Swedish citizen

Convisero member Ben Harburg for Foreign Policy

ESSAY America Can’t Stop China’s Rise And it should stop trying.

By Tony Chan, Ben Harburg, and Kishore Mahbubani

The Week in Ideas: A surreal encounter — with Alexei Navalny

 By Christian Caryl
Op-ed editor, Global Opinions
 Email

Vladimir Kara-Murza has experienced a lot during the year and a half he has spent in prison. Even so, the Russian opposition politician (and longtime Post contributing columnist) didn’t know quite what to expect when his guards recently surprised him with the news that he was about to take part in a video conference. Prison officials had given him no warning of the event.

So imagine his even greater surprise when he learned the reason: His virtual presence was requested at a new trial of his colleague Alexei Navalny, another prominent regime critic who has been serving a multiyear sentence since 2021. Law enforcement officials had decided to try Navalny yet again, this time for “extremism” — a term often used by the Kremlin to tar its pro-democracy opponents.

And yet, as Vladimir notes in his account of the incident, both men found cause to savor their long-distance encounter despite the bizarre circumstances under which it took place. "We hadn’t spoken since Alexei’s arrest in January 2021, so it was nice to see one another, even in such unorthodox circumstances," he writes. Vladimir's report helps to illuminate how these two prisoners — and thousands of others like them — have found the idealism and the strength to fight back against the savage regime of Vladimir Putin. We think you’ll find it worth the read.

(Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)

Vladimir Kara-Murza from jail: What happened when I saw Alexei Navalny

What I saw made me think of a scene in a Franz Kafka book.

By Vladimir Kara-Murza ●  Read more »

Meet the New Class of HRF Freedom Fellows

Introducing the New Class of HRF Freedom Fellows

The Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) Freedom Fellowship is a unique one-year program in partnership with CANVAS that gives human rights advocates, social entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders from authoritarian regimes the opportunity to increase the impact of their work. Through mentorship and hands-on seminars, fellows develop critical skills and join a growing community of human rights activists.

Learn About the Fellowship

Meet the 2023-24 Freedom Fellows

Joey Siu is a Hong Kong activist based in Washington, D.C, who played a vital role in Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. She organized city-wide protests and co-founded a student advocacy coalition. After fleeing in 2020, she served as an advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and a policy advisor to Hong Kong Watch. Siu is also a dedicated advocate for the Tibetan, Uyghur, and other communities oppressed by the Chinese Community Party. In exile, she’s created a cross-movement coalition with young activists and successful advocacy initiatives, including the #NoBeijing2022 campaign.

Ramy Essam, an Egyptian rock artist and human rights defender, is considered one of the most prominent figures of the Egyptian Revolution. He began as a voice on the streets of Egypt and has risen to the international stage, with viral hits and winning several awards. His music, inspired by rock and hip-hop, has an Egyptian flavor, and he sings in both Egyptian Arabic and English. Essam uses his music platform to promote social justice and human rights worldwide.

Zineb El Rhazoui is a Moroccan-French human rights activist and journalist. She published several articles on religious minorities in the independent publication Le Journal Hebdomadaire, which the Moroccan government banned in 2010. She co-founded the pro-democracy, pro-secularism movement MALI before joining the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2011. After the Arab Spring, during which she was a spokesperson for Morocco’s February 20 Movement, she was forced into exile in Slovenia. She continues speaking out against religious extremism and supporting women's rights under theocratic regimes.

Raphael Adebayo is a Nigerian human rights activist, author, and co-founder of the #EndSARS-ReformPoliceNG movement. In 2020, Adebayo helped coordinate the #EndSARS protests against police brutality in Nigeria. He documented attacks by hired thugs and the use of excessive force by security agencies. He also exposed the government officials who recruited these thugs to brutally attack peaceful protesters. His involvement in the protests resulted in serious threats against him, forcing him into exile, where he has continued his activism.

Babur Ilchi is a program manager for the Uyghur Human Rights Project and a former program director for the Campaign for Uyghurs. Since he was a student at the University of Calgary, Ilchi has been involved in grassroots and student activism, program management, and corporate accountability campaigning, especially concerning Uyghur forced labor supply chains. He has been interviewed by several major news outlets, including BBC, ITV News, and the Globe & Mail.

Yunier Suárez is a Cuban human rights defender and artist. Through theater, he has exposed the mechanisms of repression and violence employed by the Cuban regime. After several years of political threats and censorship by the Cuban Ministry of Culture, he resettled in Spain, where he remains an active member of the citizen platform Cuba Decide, voicing grievances and advocating for systemic and democratic change in Cuba.

To learn more about the program, and to witness the testimonials of previous Freedom Fellows, watch the program recap video below:

If you are interested in learning more about or donating to the Freedom Fellowship, we encourage you to contact Jhanisse Vaca-Daza at jhanisse@hrf.org.

Institute for Nonviolence - Chicago

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Time for a wellness check-in.

Last year we launched our new Behavioral Health & Wellness initiative focused on healing our healers. Our goal is to increase staff wellness and resiliency against the impact of trauma which would also increase their capacity to provide wellness services directly to participants.

We are now past our second year of implementation and have some great progress to report. Since 2021 we,Created an internal Wellness Committee to research and vet therapeutic resources. As a result, we have already held two very successful Wellness Fairs and begun offering wellness activities to staff each month.Certified 40% of the staff in our Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI) curriculum and added CBI to two of our programs, fusing coping and trauma resiliency skills with the principles of nonviolence.Learned  a lot about what our staff experience on and off the job regarding trauma experience and resiliency. Consequently, we have begun to make changes to policies and added critical support services for staff.Get more details about how we strive to heal our healers, our process, and our progress at nonviolencechicago.org/Healing.
 

Learn more

Case Manager, Larrecio Gamble, experiencing Reiki on July 11, 2023.
Reiki was introduced to staff at our first Wellness Fair in October 2022. Now it has become a staff favorite. 

Advocacy Win: Vladimir Kara-Murza made Honorary Citizen of Canada

Vladimir Kara-Murza was granted honorary Canadian citizenship, cementing his place among some of the world’s great human rights heroes, including Raoul Wallenberg and Nelson Mandela.

This important announcement comes after our sustained advocacy on his behalf, and was made possible by an all-party group of parliamentarians who championed the cause and a coalition of Canadians from across the country who joined with us in calling for honorary citizenship.

A filmmaker and opposition politician, and vocal critic of Putin, Kara-Murza is a leading voice for Russian democracy and human rights. This April, he received a 25-year prison sentence on trumped up charges of “treason” for his fearless opposition of Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine.

This ruling - the harshest prison sentence ever imposed on a political prisoner in Putin’s Russia - was meant to silence legitimate political opposition to Putin’s destructive war of aggression and brutal dictatorship.

Kara-Murza has significant connections to Canada. In addition to being a Senior Fellow with our Centre, he was a regular presence in Canadian Parliament and a central figure in Canada’s adoption of Magnitsky laws. For this, he has faced two assassination attempts, which he barely survived.

Kara-Murza reflects the best of Canadian values.

We won't stop until he is free.

We hope to be able to welcome you to Canada one day soon, Vladimir!

Irwin Cotler and Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino discuss the case of Vladimir Kara-Murza

Bill Browder, Senator Ratna Omidvar, and Brandon Silver prepare for a meeting in the Senate as part of our week of honorary citizenship advocacy for Vladimir Kara-Murza

“Vladimir Kara-Murza reflects and represents the struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights in Russia, the struggle for justice and accountability in Ukraine, and the struggle for global justice as a whole. He embodies in his own person and in his principles the struggle for democracy and freedom. Conferring honorary citizenship on Vladimir Kara-Murza affirms the fundamental and foundational values that Canada seeks to represent.” - Irwin Cotler, RWCHR International Chair and Special Envoy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Community of Democracies in the Case of Vladimir Kara-Murza

Irwin Cotler and Senator Ratna Omidvar host a press conference Thursday announcing all party support for Vladimir Kara-Murza's honorary Canadian citizenship alongside Green Party Leader Elizabeth May; Senator Pierre Dalphond; Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe; Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne; and Heather McPherson, NDP MP (on screen). (Also present but not pictured: Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and John McKay. Conservative Party members were also supportive but unable to attend.)

To learn more about Vladimir’s extraordinary leadership and ordeal, and why honorary Canadian citizenship will help give him life-saving cover, watch our short video. The story was also covered by the Canadian Press and picked up by major national publications including the National Post, Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail.

Click the image above to watch a short video.

Podcast: The Price of Conviction

Our podcast will be launching next week!

The Price of Conviction tells the remarkable stories of political prisoners around the world risking it all for something bigger than themselves: our shared future.

With Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine dominating headlines, Season One: A Tale of Two Vladimirs brings you the story of a lesser known Vladimir: Vladimir Kara-Murza.

The 15th Annual Oslo Freedom Forum

This week, our community of human rights defenders and democracy advocates reunited in Oslo, Norway, for the 15th annual Oslo Freedom Forum. Over three days, attendees heard talks from leading activists and industry leaders, explored interactive art and tech installations, and discussed the struggle for freedom through exciting panels and workshops.

You can re-watch all theater talks at oslofreedomforum.com and on our YouTube page. Share these links with your family and friends so they can hear these incredible stories for themselves.

WATCH THEATER TALKS

edWe encourage you to celebrate and support activists beyond the Oslo Freedom Forum. This year’s theme, Celebrating Solidarity, represented a call to action for our community, inviting you to unite with the brave dissidents and human rights defenders challenging authoritarianism worldwide.

We hope you can join us in Oslo for the next Oslo Freedom Forum. Register with the code 2024OFFbefore December 31, 2023, for a 25% discount.

And mark your calendars for the next five years!

2024: June 3 to June 5

2025: May 26 to May 28

2026: June 1 to June 3

2027: May 31 to June 2

2028: June 12 to June 14

Amal-Tikva Midyear Check-in 2023

Dear Friends,

It has proven an important year in Amal-Tikva, as we solidify our strategy, reputation, and program curricula. I'm proud to say that quantitatively, qualitatively and anecdotally--our method is working. The NGOs and the leaders we engage are more strategic, more sustainable, and are starting to scale.  

Coming back from maternity leave, I was a bit nervous to see what had changed. I knew that my co-founder Basheer was holding it all together-- and that each team member reached and pushed the programs to new limits. But honestly I could not be more impressed by the results. Their work is awe inspiring:

Fieldbuilding360

Ghadeer Sabat took the lead on Fieldbuilding360, our intensive strategic planning program for peacebuilding organizations. Bringing in more Palestinian NGOs, we now offer the program and all materials fully in Arabic (and also in Hebrew!). In total we have served 22 NGOs to date with more on the way--and love bringing them all together. One quote from a CEO in the program:

"We worked with a private consultant for 6 months, yet made more progress toward a clear theory of change here in 3 hours!"

­More about Fieldbuilding360­

Amal-Tikva Leadership Institute (ATLI)

Adi Nassar and Ariel Markose lead the second cohort of ATLI, offering professional development and peer support to local activists and program leaders. Cohort Two's 14 professionals recently returned from Belfast where they met peacemakers and peers, in partnership with ReThinking Conflict. We are so thankful to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington for supporting this project, as the field has seen nothing like it. One participant shared with us: 
"It's true that the skills we learned will help me be a better professional, and I do appreciate it. But the most important piece is that I feel we are really a community. I don't feel alone in this work anymore, and I can't thank you enough for that."

­More about ATLI­

Embodying Peace

This time last year, Adi Nassar suggested that the way we run Embodying Peace does not serve the field as well as it could. We reevaluated our model and decided to move from international interns to local, from virtual education and internships to in-person. Adi led the first cohort of the new model this year and the results are intense. Each of the 13 Israeli and Palestinian participants reported in their exit interviews that the program was too short and that they wish to continue to engage the group more, to learn more, and to intern more. (My favorite kind of problem...) We look forward to following up with their leadership development plans, mentorship and opportunities to continue to grow individually and together.

­More about Embodying Peace­

Bringing it all together...

Holding it all together is our brilliant Ariel Markose, who meets with NGO leaders, activists, donors, and external partners at all levels.

 It was Ariel who noticed that we need to build the Fieldbuilding 2.0 program, a one-month intensive consulting program for NGOs who have graduated from Fieldbuilding360 to focus on specific capacity issues such as marketing, fundraising, organizational structure, or program design. She and Ghadeer piloted this with 6 of our NGOs and more will be joining in the coming months.

Ariel and Ghadeer have also organized monthly gatherings for the NGO leaders to share their experiences and learn new skills together. Whether it's meeting the political tension of the moment or how to use ChatGPT, the community is enjoying learning, growing, laughing, crying and eating together.

­Connect with Ariel­

In other news...

We have deepened our partnership with the Swiss-based foundation B8 of Hope and now manage their grants process.We also serve as their local presence on the ground. It is an absolute honor and privilege to work with Mehra, David, Leila and Arun from B8 of Hope and to bring their grantees and our NGOs into one network.

I'll be in Washington, DC next month to address the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and speak at a round table at the United States Institute of Peace. We have become a leading voice from the ground to speak about MEPPA's potential implications at the grassroots and policy levels locally. Let me know if you'll be in DC the week of July 17 and would like to come to the roundtable at USIP or get together for coffee!

­Contact me by email here­

That was a lot. Thank you for reading this far!

We could not do this work without your trust and confidence. 

THANK YOU to our donors, NGOs, activists, and partners for believing in our ability to help peacebuilding efforts scale and become sustainable. We're all in this together.

Thank you again,

Meredith Rothbart

Amal-Tikva CEO

Support Amal-Tikva Today

The VII Foundation has acquired VII Photo Agency

The VII Foundation has acquired VII Photo Agency, making it one of the pillars of the foundation instead of being a separate entity. In addition to VII Photo, The VII Foundation comprises VII Academy, VII Insider, and VII Community. Our new website now hosts the entire non-profit VII ecosystem.
 
With The VII Foundation becoming the guardian of VII Photo’s rich legacy, the veracity and authenticity inherent in the work of the VII photographers will have broader reach, accessibility, and impact through the foundation’s advocacy and educational programming. As we confront a new age of image artifice when the line between fiction and non-fiction is being eroded, this need has never been greater. 
 
The VII Foundation’s mission is to transform visual journalism by empowering new voices and creating stories that advocate change. In a world where beliefs and actions are increasingly out-of-sync with facts and realities, transforming visual journalism is an urgent task. Our work begins with the programs of VII Academy, the educational wing of the foundation that provides tuition-free courses in visual journalism to practitioners in the Majority World and underrepresented communities in G20 countries. VII Academy aims to democratize the information narrative and give communities the tools to narrate their own stories in regions where media education is poorly resourced.
 
Complementing our core educational programs are two platforms: VII Insider, a free online space for public debate and discussion of visual journalism, and VII Community, designed to further tuition-free media education and foster exciting opportunities for our VII Academy alumni. 
 
The VII name is synonymous with courageous and impactful photojournalism. In 2001 the dawn of the digital era enabled the creation of VII. It allowed it to innovate and thrive during the aftermath of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, and the chaos that followed as the narrative of a new century was written.
 
VII was created to enhance the careers of its members, to allow them to work on stories that mattered, have an impact in partnership with the world’s leading press, and create new opportunities they could not imagine alone. 
 
The digital revolution that enabled the photographers to build VII Photo also precipitated an undeniable loss in revenue for their media clients. Out of this anticipation, the VII Foundation was created at the same time to innovate and lead in the non-profit space. With its inception came more opportunities for the VII Photo photographers to work on ambitious stories in partnership with writers, filmmakers, and other leading practitioners and advance their efforts to mentor and educate younger photographers. 

Photo agencies and the press have less impact and influence on the production of visual journalism and a decreasing capacity to support the ambition of photographers than they used to. Photojournalism means taking risks; it requires initiative, resourcefulness, empathy, and courage. It also requires collaboration, trust, imagination, and partnership. Independent photo agencies and editors in the leading press were once essential to the life of a photojournalist. Today, the press has fewer resources to deploy independent photographers, and photo agencies survive by selling photographs by the kilogram.  

Through this acquisition, The VII Foundation will preserve the values the VII Photo founders laid out twenty years ago. Collectively and unanimously, the VII photographers believe the work of The VII Foundation and its ecosystem embodies what VII Photo set out to achieve – focusing on stories that matter and training and mentoring the next generation - and is now the appropriate structure for the future. We will continue to innovate, educate, and transform visual journalism as we embrace the next chapter in our development. 
 
Arles, France,
3rd May, 2023

The VII Foundation

Refugee Point Bulletin - April

A monthly bulletin featuring RefugePoint news, client and staff updates, and events.

New Look: Same RefugePoint

You might have noticed that RefugePoint looks a little different. While there were a variety of reasons that we wanted to update our logo and branding, the driving force was that our previous logo featured an image shaped like a life preserver, which aligned with our former tagline, “A Lifeline For Forgotten Refugees.”

RefugePoint recognizes that colonialism and systemic racism are embedded in the field of refugee response, and in recent years we have recommitted to active anti-racist and anti-colonialist practices and efforts. Over time, it became clear that this tagline no longer accurately represented RefugePoint. In an effort to fully respect the dignity, autonomy, and agency of the refugees we serve, we phased out the old tagline in 2021. With our updated logo, we have now eliminated that visual representation of the former tagline. Visit our website to see more.

Client Story: Mohamed

At the age of two, Mohamed’s family was forced to flee their home in Somalia due to political instability and famine. Mohamed grew up in Dadaab Ifo Refugee Camp in Kenya, where he went to school and began dreaming of a career in health care. After years of studying, he became a Clinical Officer, working in private hospitals throughout Kenya. 

In 2019, Mohamed learned about the Economic Mobility Pathways Project through RefugePoint, which connects refugees with the right skills, education, and language abilities with employers looking to fill job vacancies in Canada. Last year, he was offered a job through the program, and in September, Mohamed traveled to Canada to begin working in a long-term care facility in Nova Scotia. Read the rest of Mohamed’s story here.

Mohamed at RefugePoint’s Nairobi office before departing for Canada.

Conversations: Discussing Refugee Issues with Senator Cory Booker

From Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint CEO: It was great to spend time with Senator Cory Booker on Friday and his Chief of Staff Veronica Duron and State Director Hanna Mori and talk to them about refugee issues. I appreciated hearing Senator Booker's thoughts on how to build bridges in America.

He has visited Afghan evacuees on military bases in the U.S., and also called on President Biden to increase the refugee resettlement ceiling from 15K during the Trump administration to 125K. He was interested in hearing about refugee issues broadly, including the new Welcome Corps private sponsorship program that enables Americans to form groups and sponsor refugees from overseas to resettle in the U.S.

I shared that private sponsorship of refugees increases Democratic and Republican interest in refugee resettlement significantly and helps to reaffirm a badly eroded sense of common purpose in America. I came away from the meeting feeling grateful for Senator Booker's support for refugees and inspired by his ideas around unifying messages.

Senator Cory Booker (left) with RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff (right).

Spin the Globe: RP Staff in Bangladesh 

Last month, RefugePoint staff visited Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh with ICMC and Danish Refugee Council to learn more about the work our Experts are doing to support Rohingya refugees.

There are about one million Rohingya refugees and persons of concern living in Cox’s Bazar, many of whom have been there for decades. As Myanmar’s political situation remains tumultuous, and Rohingyas continue to be persecuted in Myanmar, there continues to be a need for long-term solutions. Our staff there are working to identify refugees and submit their cases for resettlement. See where else we're working across the globe.

Staff from RefugePoint, Danish Refugee Council, and ICMC in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Recommended Reading: The roots of the refugee protection system are colonial and racist

“We need a movement where refugees lead the way, while true allies ensure that they are not taking power and agency away from people in the name of empowering them.”

Sana Mustafa, CEO of Asylum Access, has experienced colonialism and white supremacy firrst-hand, both as a displaced person in the U.S. and as a leading executive in our field. In her powerful article, Sana explains how colonialism and white supremacy are deeply embedded in the global refugee protection system and steps those working in the system must take to move forward. Read Sana's piece here.

Graphic: Ramiro Zardoya / Cartoon Movement

Recent Events: Skoll World Forum

Over $30 billion/year is spent on humanitarian aid, yet recipients have virtually no say in its use— a fact that perpetuates inequality. Last week, RefugePoint’s CEO Sasha Chanoff led a conversation at the Skoll World Forum, which explored how we can build systems of support that are more equitable, informed and led by people with lived experience. 

Each year, the Forum brings together thought leaders, development practitioners, and philanthropists to address major challenges confronting the world. As forced displacement increases globally, centering refugee and community voices is vital, and we must ensure these conversations lead to action.

We’re Hiring!

RefugePoint is seeking experienced and passionate individuals for a number of positions across the globe. Take a look at our open positions:

Deputy Country Director, Kenya

Locum Community Navigator, Kenya

Technical Consultant - Market Systems Development Task Team, Boston

See our full list of open positions here.

Pursuing Justice: The RWCHR Newsletter

Hello!

As the Centre’s new Director of Communications, I’m delighted to share our most recent newsletter - Pursuing Justice - with you.

In my short time on the team, I’ve witnessed not only bright legal minds in action, but passionate hearts willing to take on some of the biggest human rights issues facing our world - both at the systems level and person by person.

I’m humbled to be in this role, and look forward to showcasing our talented team’s vision, leadership, and results with you.

The convergence of a global rise in authoritarianism and climate and ecological breakdown mean that what we do now - and what (and who!) we choose to stand for - has the potential to affect the course of history. 

As a partner, supporter, or friend of the Centre, thank you for standing with us as we advocate for justice, freedom, and democracy.

This issue holds some special updates, including an invitation to meet the man who issued Vladimir Putin’s arrest warrant and a teaser from our new podcast, The Price of Conviction.

Happy reading!

Warmly,

Simone
(Pronouns: she/her)

Our Work

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to Deliver 2023 Elie Wiesel Distinguished Lectureship in Human Rights

The International Criminal Court (ICC), under the direction of Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC, has just issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for crimes committed against children in Ukraine, as outlined in our landmark report on Russia’s breaches of the Genocide Convention.

By taking this step, the ICC has affirmed that nobody - not even a sitting head of state - is above the law. And, as our Canadian Co-Chair Professor Payam Akhavan (Special Advisor to the Prosecutor of the ICC) said in a recent interview “the arrest warrant is only the beginning.”

We are delighted to invite you to join us in Ottawa in early May for an unforgettable evening with the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor. He will share his vision for the future of global justice under the Rome Statute, and will invite us to consider the opportunity that this painful moment in our collective experience offers: an opportunity to create a more just world for all, anchored in the rule of law.

The RWCHR’s Elie Wiesel Lectureship in Human Rights convenes leading members of bench, bar, and academe — along with parliamentarians, students, media, and civil society representatives to learn from and engage with a distinguished lecturer and role model in the pursuit of justice. Anchored in the horrors of the Holocaust and its lessons for humanity, the pursuit of international justice and accountability for the world’s worst crimes are at the heart of the Lectureship, just as they were central to the life of its namesake, our distinguished co-founder, Professor Elie Wiesel.

We are delighted to co-host this event in partnership with the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law and its Human Rights Research and Education Centre.

Registration will open soon, so please stay tuned for your invitation!

Podcast: The Price of Conviction

Our podcast will be launching soon!

The Price of Conviction takes you behind prison bars to hear the stories of some of the world’s most courageous individuals: political prisoners who are risking it all for freedom, justice, and our shared future.

It is more than a podcast.

It is a platform for international action and solidarity.

Listen to the trailer now.

Learn more here.

Sign up here to be among the first to know when we launch.

DEFENDING POLITICAL PRISONERS

We defend political prisoners, wherever they are. We provide legal counsel and advocate for their release. Each prisoner’s case is about their individual rights as well as about the just causes for which they stand, and for which they have been incarcerated - often in illegal and inhumane conditions, and often for decades.

Raoul Wallenberg, hero of the Holocaust and political prisoner of the Soviet Union until his death, taught us that one person with the compassion to care and the courage to act can transform history. We aim to keep political prisoners - each one an agent of change - in the public conscience until they are free.

One Year of Detention: International Advocacy for Vladimir Kara-Murza

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian opposition leader and political prisoner (and RWCHR Senior Fellow) has now been behind bars for a year.

In support of his case, we are co-organizing A Year of Injustice: The One-year Anniversary of Vladimir Kara-Murza’s Wrongful, Unlawful, and Arbitrary Detention - a high profile event in Washington, D.C., alongside other pro-democracy groups.

We have just submitted a joint letter to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinkenasking that he be declared unlawfully or wrongfully detained and that responsibility for his case be transferred to the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. The letter is co-signed with Vladimir’s wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, the McCain Institute, Free Russia Foundation, Human Rights First, and the Human Rights Foundation.

We have also supported a major joint international statement calling on the Russian government and Vladimir Putin to release Kara-Murza and acquit him of all charges. Signatories include a coalition of scholars, advocates, and officials from Forum 2000, Freedom House, Women’s Peace Network, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, International Partnership for Human Rights, National Endowment for Democracy, World Uyghur Congress, Human Rights Foundation, and the European Parliament, among others.

“The only court that matters is the court of global public opinion… The best hope, the best defence, for political prisoners in our country is international attention.” – Vladimir Kara-Murza in 2019 (prior to his arrest in 2022)

Huseyin Celil’s Birthday Behind Bars

This month, Uyghur-Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil turned 54 years old in a Chinese prison. He has been illegally detained since 2006 after speaking up for Uyghur Rights, and has spent much of these past 17 years in solitary confinement.

Let’s not let this Canadian citizen spend another birthday behind bars!

Alexey Pichugin Marks 18 Years Behind Bars

Alexey Pichugin (Russian federation) was arrested on March 30, 2005, and has now spent 18 years behind bars for his refusal to bear false witness. He is being held incommunicado at the notorious Lefortovo prison. Alexey holds the awful distinction of being the longest serving political prisoner in Putin’s Russia.

Learn their names. Be their voice. Share their stories, and don’t let the international community forget them!

RAISI’S IRAN

Human rights abuses in Iran have been a long-standing priority for the Centre, and we proudly stand with the Iranian people during these especially potent and perilous times.

Celebrating Iran’s Expulsion from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

This March, we partnered with UN Watch to host a celebration in New York of the successful campaign to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Electing Iran - a regime that severely restricts women’s freedom and beats, blinds, tortures, and kills women protesters - to protect women’s rights on the global stage was always a terrible idea. We are proud of the role we played in supporting this successful campaign.

“The UN’s unprecedented expulsion of Ayatollah Khamenei’s murderous and misogynistic regime sends the right message. But let us be clear: this is only the beginning. The free world must now move forward to sanction the killers, expel their diplomats, and do everything possible to remove the Ayatollah’s brutal and barbaric regime from Iran.” – Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Director

At the event, we paid tribute to those who contributed to this achievement, and heard from leading voices on how to show solidarity with Iranian women - and all Iranians. These included Canada’s representative to the United Nations (and RWCHR Senior Fellow) Bob Rae, and our friend and collaborator Masih Alinejad, author, journalist and women’s rights activist, who was recently named among TIME’s Women of the Year.

“What happens in the Middle East does not stay in the Middle East… The Islamic republic is more deadly than Coronavirus, and they will infect the rest of the world.” – Masih Alinejad

Our own Director of Policy and Projects, Brandon Silver, used the opportunity to appeal for further concrete action to hold the Iranian regime to account.

“If there's no punishment for the crimes, the crimes will continue – it's time to be proactive, and not reactive”  – Brandon Silver

PUTIN'S RUSSIA

Our team advocates for the rights and freedom of victims of the Kremlin’s human rights violations, both inside and outside Russia.

Russian Breaches of the Genocide Convention

In an interview with TIME magazine, RWCHR Legal Counsel Yonah Diamond argued that the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children by Russian officials amounts to a particularly grave violation of the Genocide Convention.

“Beyond working to stop and prevent continued genocide during the war, states will also be responsible for finding ways to hold Russia accountable for the crimes into the future.” – Yonah Diamond

Yonah also testified this month as part of a briefing at the Italian Senate on Russia’s breaches of the Genocide Convention in Ukraine. The Senate briefing also included Azeem Ibrahim (Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy), Matteo Angioli (Global Committee for the Rule of Law), Professor Vittorio Pagliaro, Sergio Germani (Instituto G. Germani), and Italy’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi.
Read our full groundbreaking legal analysis on Russia’s state responsibility for incitement to genocide in its invasion of Ukraine.
 

TARGETED SANCTIONS ADVOCACY

Targeted Sanctions allow democratic nations to respond to human rights abuses and corruption happening anywhere in a way that curtails abusers and corrupt actors while also supporting - both symbolically and materially - victims and survivors.

Our team played a lead role in Canada’s adoption of the Magnitsky law and now advocates for its effective implementation. We also advise other democracies on how to use targeted sanctions to ensure that their countries are no longer safe-havens for perpetrators, and are proud to have become the go-to-organisation for dissidents and human rights defenders around the world seeking to implement sanctions.

Asset Repurposing to Support Ukraine Reconstruction

This March, Irwin Cotler and Brandon Silver led a discussion with the Parliament of Canada’s Social Innovation Caucus on the legal aspects of asset repurposing, and how new laws can be used to help support reconstruction in Ukraine.

Hosted by MP Ryan Turnbull and Senator Ratna Omidvar, their enlightening discussion on seizing and repurposing frozen Russian assets featured leading Canadian and Ukrainian parliamentarians.

Improving the Magnitsky Sanctions Framework

As RWCHR Senior Fellow Suzanne Berger points out in her recent article, this relatively new human rights sanctions regime holds great promise, but still faces many obstacles.

In a recent article for Policy Magazine, Irwin Cotler and Brandon Silver propose ten concrete ways Canada can strengthen its Magnitsky Sanctions framework.

“Canada can be a global leader in protecting dignity and democracy by strengthening the use of targeted sanctions. These ten recommendations provide a pathway. In acting upon them, Canada can rise to the occasion at a moment in history that so urgently needs it. The safeguarding of peace, order and good government at home and internationally demands no less.”
- Irwin Cotler and Brandon Silver

COMBATTING ANTISEMETISM, GENOCIDE, AND ALL FORMS OF HATE

Never again. Not for Jews, and not for anyone.

Making Justice Trustworthy

In my previous 2 posts, I talked about the new Internet and how some artists who are entrenched in poverty can use the rule of law to restructure and shape a better society for all of us. Just how are they doing it?

Artists from conflict zones or who are stateless refugees have been given the first opportunity to access InternetBar Institute (IBO)’s online marketplace on the new Internet which makes trustworthy e-commerce accessible to all. IBO has been building an online justice system for over a decade to reach over one billion people across the globe who have no legal proof of their existence. By first organizing peripheralized artists and their fans into electronically linked networks of trust and interaction, cyberspace communities self-organize and learn new ways to communicate and work together.

And, what have these artists and their fans been telling us? They want a marketplace which is fair and just for all. And, they want to be able to tell their stories to a global audience and escape their entrenched poverty without having to resort to traditional justice systems where they will not have to face costs, delays and burdens that are disproportionate to the value they are trying to create and optimize.

To build such a marketplace on the new Internet is not only possible but is also happening now. So how will an online marketplace on a new Internet function globally? To start with, the communities of artists and fans have to trust each other across national boundaries in a global marketplace. So the first step, is for the artists themselves to undertake an obligation to their fans to tell the truth and only sell what they legally are able to. In exchange, their fans will interact with their artists fairly and respect their artists’ creations.

The trustworthy interactions taking place in these first online communities are a starting point for the development of new norms for cyberspace where we can count on being able to access both justice and opportunity. By starting with youth across the globe, we can build a new society based on a rule of law which is fair and justice.

If you want to find out more about IBO’s work, and, be the first to hear the stories, see the art and photography and hear the music of our artists from our current work in Poland, Jordan, Cameroon, The Gambia, Zambia and South Africa, contact jeffaresty@internetbar.org.

Meet HRF Freedom Fellow Pema Doma

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) Freedom Fellow Pema Doma is a Tibetan human rights and climate campaigner who was a key organizer in #NoBeijing2022, a global campaign against China’s hosting of the Winter Olympic Games. She has trained thousands of youth activists in community organizing and serves as the executive director for Students for a Free Tibet, a global grassroots network working for Tibetan rights.

Doma is currently part of the HRF’s Freedom Fellowship, a one-year program that provides hands-on, expert mentorship across seven critical areas: leadership, movement-building, organizing, fundraising, media, mental health, and digital security. 

HRF sat down with Doma to learn more about China’s expanding surveillance state and her efforts to raise awareness about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s tactics of biometric repression.

The Children of Ukraine Educational Center fundraiser for 2022

The Children of Ukraine Educational Center fundraiser for 2022 is an initiative of the InternetBar.org Institute (IBO), a trusted 501(c)(3) registered US nonprofit. Your donation will be tax deductible. All funds raised will be used to support Bee1World's goal to provide lunches every day while the students are in school as a first step toward helping them regain their human dignity.