On June the 19th 2004, a legal forum entitled, "Searching for Justice: Counteracting Hate, Torture, and Crimes against Humanity" was held at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The forum was sponsored by the "World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" and the "International Coalition against Torture." The theme was how to use the law to counteract hate, torture and crimes against humanity.
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| Montreal human rights lawyer Mr. Michael Bergman addresses the conference |
In order to commemorate the June 26 -- United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the forum invited three panels of experts from the Canadian and American legal communities.
Professor Peter Stoett from Concordia University, human rights lawyer Mr. William Hartzog from Quebec and Clive Ansley, a lawyer from British Columbia with a wealth of first hand experience in the legal system in China, each hosted one of the panels.
Renowned human rights lawyer and Co-chair of the "International Coalition against Torture" Mr. David Matas spoke hate as the basis for all crimes against humanity. Montreal human rights lawyer Mr. Michael Bergman and Ottawa human rights lawyer Mr. Richard Warman, Toronto lawyer Mr. Peter Downard, Executive Director of the Association for Asian Research, Mr. Erping Zhang, Co-chair and Senior Legal Advisor of the "International Coalition against Torture," human rights laywer Mr. Mark Arnold, Lecturer of international criminal law at Carleton University Mr. Paul Rutkus, American human rights laywer Dr. Terri Marsh, and Jennifer Khor from Canadian Bar Association all spoke at the forum. Representatives of Falun Dafa Association Mr. Jason Loftus, Joel Chipkar and torture victim Ms. Wang Yuzhi also gave speeches.
Mr. Matas addressed in his speech that both the Nazi holocaust and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners began with the incitement of hatred, and that in fact this incitement of hatred is common to all campaigns of genocide. The Chinese authorities' propaganda to demons Falun Gong was exactly for this purpose. For individual Falun Gong cases, Mr. Matas believes that in Canada, the hate propaganda spread by the Chinese Embassy and Consulates can be effectively deterred by means of terminating diplomatic immunity. Mr. Matas is currently committing himself to helping Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Kunlun seek justice in the courts of Canada, and to bring to justice Jiang Zemin and 22 people including officials from different levels of the "610 Office" and police officers from labour camps who commanded and executed tortures.
Toronto laywer Mr. Peter Downard pointed out that immunity does not apply to consular officials who instigate hatred. Mr. Downard was lead counsel in the case in which an Ontario court found Pan Xinchun, China's Vice Consul General in Toronto, liable for his libelling a Falun Dafa practitioner in a letter to the editor in a major Toronto newspaper.
Taking the crimes committed by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin in persecuting Falun Gong at large as an example. American laywer Terri Marsh expressed in her speech that as a former state head he cannot be immune from genocide and crimes against humanity he committed. The persecution of Falun Gong has been conducted in Jiang's personal interest, for which he cannot escape responsibility.
Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Joel Chipkar and Ms. Wang Yuzhi spoke about their first hand experiences as victims in the persecution of Falun Gong. They believe that it is their social responsibility to stand up to stop it.
More than 100 people including government officials, lawyers, professors and representatives from NGOs attended the forum. Many students from local law schools attended to learn about international human rights. Many in the audience expressed appreciation for the high quality of the forum.
The forum received support from more than 10 NGOs including Amnesty International, as well as Concordia University.
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