We welcome back renowned international human rights lawyer the Honourable Irwin Cotler to discuss several examples of what authoritarianism looks like in countries like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. He touched on the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs and the need for Canada and other countries to name it as genocide to oblige us to combat and prevent it. He also talked about the current dire situation of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, as well as blogger Raif Badawi and his lawyer Waleed Abulkhair in Saudi Arabia. Professor Cotler urged Canada and other democracies to act, or else their silence would embolden authoritarianism. In the end, he believes justice can and will prevail.

Professor Cotler is the Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and an Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University. He is a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and a Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2015.  As an international human rights lawyer, he has worked for many years to free political prisoners and advocates for democracy around the world. Maclean’s has referred to him as “counsel for the oppressed” and the Oslo Freedom Forum has described him as “Freedom’s Counsel.”