Canada’s former justice minister Irwin Cotler has been rewarded the 2023 Lantos Human Rights Prize, joining the ranks of honoured recipients that include the Dalai Lama, founder of the global Magnitsky movement Bill Browder, and NBA athlete-turned-advocate Enes Kanter Freedom.
“I am deeply humbled and honoured to be counted among the ranks of Lantos Prize laureates,” Mr. Cotler said in a
press release issued by the Lantos Foundation on Aug. 8.
Mr. Cotler has been a fierce defender of victims of persecution, such as members of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, who have been subject to 24 years of oppression by the Chinese Communist Party. He urged Canada and the international community to make this issue a “priority” for advocacy during a speech given in
a webinar in December 2020.
He demanded the Canadian government defend its citizen, Sun Qian, a Falun Gong practitioner who was arbitrarily detained at her Beijing residence in February 2017 and held in custody since.
Additionally, Mr. Cotler has been outspoken against antisemitism. In 2020, he was
appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to serve as Canada’s first-ever Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
Mr. Cotler has served as counsel to a number of high-profile prisoners of conscience. These include former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, Venezuelan political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez, and many others.
In November 2020, Mr. Cotler authored
a report calling for the protection of journalists at risk, by creating a global charter of rights. The report was published by the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, an independent advisory body comprised of leading lawyers from around the world.
The former justice minister and attorney general
dedicated his political career to combatting various forms of human rights violations. He drafted Canada’s first-ever legislation on human trafficking, issued the country’s first National Justice Initiative Against Racism and Hate, and initiated the first-ever prosecution for the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
“The Lantos Foundation is deeply honored to bestow the Lantos Human Rights Prize on a person of Professor Cotler’s stature in the human rights movement – he is, quite simply, a giant in the human rights world,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation, in the release.
The 2023 prize will be conferred at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24.
Justina Wheale contributed to this report
