On the Side of the Angels: Canada and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Andrew Thompson
Mar 2017 · UBC Press
Ebook
193
Pages
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About this ebook
When it comes to upholding human rights both at home and abroad, many Canadians would like to believe that we have always been “on the side of the angels.” This book tells the story of Canada’s contributions – both good and bad – to the development and advancement of international human rights law at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) from 1946 to 2006.
The CHR gave Canada the opportunity to forge a reputation as a human rights leader. This book scrutinizes this reputation by examining Canada’s involvement in a number of contentious human rights issues – political, civil, racial, women’s, and Indigenous, among others. It finds that Canada’s record was mixed, its priorities motivated by a variety of considerations, both domestic and international. An in-depth historical overview of six decades of Canadian engagement within the UN human rights system, On The Side of the Angels offers new insights into the nuances, complexities, and contradictions of Canada’s human rights policies.
About the author
Andrew S. Thompson is an adjunct assistant professor of political science at the University of Waterloo and a fellow at both the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. A specialist in the fields of international human rights, civil society movements, and fragile states, he is the author and co-editor of four other books, Fixing Haiti: MINUSTAH and Beyond (2011), In Defence of Principles: NGOs and Human Rights in Canada (2010), Critical Mass: The Emergence of Global Civil Society (2008), and Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State (2006), along with numerous journal articles and book chapters. He has appeared as an expert witness before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. In 2004, he was part of an Amnesty International human rights lobbying and fact-finding mission to Haiti.
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