The President's Report - Hon. Michèle Rivet
As we begin our 42nd year of operation, the Canadian Section has every reason to be pleased with our past performance and enthusiastic about our future. We are working with increasing frequency on the international level, in terms of both our own initiatives and requests for assistance from Geneva. One of our chief goals for the coming year is to generate more ICJ activities here in Canada and to involve Canadian Section members more directly in local and international projects.

In the past year, we made a very good beginning with our CIDA-sponsored program in Yugoslavia. Although events in Kosovo interrupted the project for a time, we have recently been able to re- establish contact with the Center for Democracy Foundation in Belgrade, and we are hopeful that the program will be resumed in some form soon.

CIDA has approved our proposal for a two-year project that will involve working with a group of Croatian judges to promote the independence and impartiality of the judiciary in that country. Our partners in this project, which is in many ways similar to the Yugoslavia project, are two Croatian NGOs, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the Croatian Law Centre. The project will involve four Canadian missions to Croatia, a two-week seminar in Canada for 15 Croatian judges, and the preparation of background documents, and will also include the Canadian Section's participation in an International Conference on Judicial Reform, organized by the Croatian Helsinki Committee in co-operation with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee. We hope to begin work on that project, which will be directed by Montreal lawyer Myriam De Blois, in December, 1999.

In addition to our own initiatives, the Canadian Section has been approached to assist the ICJ and the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers in Geneva in their international efforts in Northern Ireland, Palestine, the Ukraine, and Turkey. Because we want to encourage co-operation between the Canadian Section and Geneva, we are hoping to set up a name bank (in addition to the file we keep for potential trial observers) of members with expertise in particular areas. More details of the name bank follow in this newsletter.

Here in Canada, in August, we had a very successful Annual Meeting in Edmonton, particularly with regard to our special program on "The Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Balkans." We were very fortunate to have as our main speaker, Professor Leslie Green, whose forthright and informative presentation was ably considered by commentators, Senator Gerald-A. Beaudoin, Dean Lewis Klar, and David Matas. The discussion that followed this presentation was lively and interesting. We are already at work, planning a similar program for the next Annual Meeting in Halifax in the year 2000.

The year 2000 promises to be an auspicious one for the Canadian Section, both at home and abroad. I am enthusiastic about our prospects for increasing the ICJ's visibility in Canada, for involving more Canadian Section members in ICJ activities internationally and locally, and for the success of our Croatia project, which builds so directly on what we learned from our efforts in Yugoslavia.

The Annual Meeting - Edmonton
The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Section of the International Commission of Jurists was held on August 25, 1999, at the Macdonald Hotel in Edmonton, Alberta. The meeting was chaired by Canadian Section president, the Hon. Michèle Rivet, and included a special program on "The Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Balkans," which was attended by about twenty people. Senator Gerald-A. Beaudoin presented the report of the nominating committee for Council, which included two new members, Charles Hackland and Dean Peter Leuprecht. Following the Annual Meeting, a Council Meeting was held, at which the following officers were re-elected for 1999 - 2000:

President:	Hon. Michèle Rivet
Vice-Presidents:
Atlantic Region:	Hon. F.B .William Kelly
Quebec:	Dean Louis Perret
Ontario:	Brian A. Crane
Prairie Region:	David Matas
British Columbia:	Hon. Kenneth M. Lysyk
Hon. Secretary-Treasurer:	T. Bradbrooke Smith, Q.C.

Attached to this newsletter are the minutes of the Annual Meeting and a copy of the President's Report, which Madam Rivet delivered at that time.

Special Program : The Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Balkans - Jack Watson
Ably chaired by the Honourable Michèle Rivet, President of the ICJ, a panel consisting of David Matas, Dean Lewis Klar, and the Honourable Senator Gérald Beaudoin, met on August 25, 1999, to respond to a distinct challenge in the form of a thought-provoking discussion of the law applicable to the violence and the recovery in the Balkans, offered by Dr. Leslie Green. Dr. Green presented an engaging and perhaps somewhat controversial perspective on the legalities of situations in which illegality is the norm.

Both Dr. Green and Senator Beaudoin noted that one of the greatest challenges of the twentieth century has been the effort to convert internal and external disputes in and between nations from destruction, maiming and killing to peaceful resolutions.

The adoption of a common (consensus and Conventional) law of nations and law of humanity against which all forms of crimes of war, crimes against humanity, and similar barbarism could be evaluated, adjudicated upon, and remedied legally, clearly has commended itself as an interim device for civilizing humanity. Though far from a substitute for world peace, such measures would be a step in the right direction, as recent events in Kosovo have reminded us.

With the devotion to border preservation underlying most international agreements and treaties, the legal conundrum reflected by the intervention of NATO -- not to mention the moral and practical dimensions of the subject -- brought into focus the entire question of how a world community could address the immoralities and illegalities of armed conflict, and how it could provide credible and authoritative remedies for recoverable consequences of such conflict.

More specifically, it also brought into focus the question of how the world community could address these problems without the illegal and unauthorized use of force. Dr. Green offered the hope that the process of developing both Conventions and a general international consensus on this subject would not always involve a debate only for "goody goody" resolutions of the UN Security Council. David Matas, indeed, proposed that the time has come for Canada to take a stand to enhance the status of the World Court and the proposed world criminal court through concession to at least its declaratory jurisdiction in connection with such interventions as Canada's involvement in the attacks on Serbia.

From different perspectives, all the other panelists suggested that a plausible legal format for some forms of forceful intervention to restrain genocide and "ethnic cleansing" was desirable and possible. Moreover, the consensus seemed to be that internationalization of legal authority towards such restraints should be actively pursued -- and not merely by the powerful world governments subject to shifting political considerations and concerns over the break-up of national configurations.

It was agreed that Canada is in a unique situation relative to shifting the world view towards internationalization of legal processes. Canada's submission to the current Yugoslavian lawsuit over the intervention in Kosovo might be one way to test the credibility of the World Court and move forward the law of nations, by assessing the legalities of armed intervention to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Copies of the full texts of the speeches by Professor Leslie Green and commentators Senator Beaudoin and David Matas are available on request from the Ottawa office.

Annual Meeting 2000 - Halifax
The next Annual Meeting of the Canadian Section of the ICJ is tentatively scheduled for Monday, August 21, 2000, at the Delta Barrington in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We are hoping that, by moving the meeting from Wednesday to Monday, more members will be able to attend. A special program is in the planning stages.

Relations with Geneva
The steering committee of the Canadian Section has approved a grant of $3,000 to the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. This grant will be used by the ICJ and its affiliate, the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, for international initiatives, such as special missions and trial observations, which further the aims of the organization.

In the past year, Geneva has on several occasions requested assistance from the Canadian Section in these projects. In June, Professor Ed Ratushny attended a Workshop of Experts on the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland, held in Belfast. More recently, the ICJ was asked to find someone to comment on a draft Ukrainian law on the Status of the Crimean Tartar people, a task that was undertaken by Professor John P. McEvoy. The Canadian Section had found a suitable candidate to fulfill a request that a woman judge from a superior court in a civil law jurisdiction be sent on an ICJ mission to the West Bank and Gaza, but the mission was canceled by Geneva. We were also approached to find an energetic senior judge or lawyer with expertise in Turkish law, who would be willing to be part of a two-week mission to Turkey at the end of November. Unfortunately, we were not able to locate someone within the very short time available.

Name Bank for Geneva Requests
Some time ago, we were asked by Geneva for a bank of names of people who would be willing to serve as trial observers, and we received almost twenty CVs in response to this request.

In light of our being asked more frequently for Canadian assistance in ICJ missions and tasks, we would like to organize a more comprehensive name bank to fulfill the broad range of requests we are getting from Geneva.

It should be understood that all work done by members for Geneva is carried out on a pro bono basis, with expenses paid by the ICJ. We are usually approached on short notice, often less than a month before a mission takes place or a review or commentary is needed. As well, in defining more precisely the profile of the person needed, requests are often specific with regard to experience, sex, and expertise.

If you would like your name to be included in our name bank, please send your CV, along with information regarding your availability on short notice and areas of expertise in particular subjects or parts of the world. Please fax or e-mail this information to Pat Whiting in the Ottawa office.

News of Our Members
The Honourable Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé of the Supreme Court of Canada and International President of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, addressed members of the Canadian Bar Association at the Council Awards Luncheon held at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Bar Association. Copies of her speech, "Judicial Independence and Judicial Activism," are available on request from the Ottawa office of the Canadian Section.

We have received word that Council member Dr. Edward McWhinney, Q.C., Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Quadra and sometime Parliamentary Secretary, was elected President of the Institut de Droit International at its biennial session held in Berlin, Germany, in August. Dr. McWhinney will serve a two-year term as president of the Institut, which was founded in 1873, and is an international legal academy, whose members are elected and represent all the main legal and political systems of the world.

Professor Ed Ratushny of the University of Ottawa Law School and a longtime member of Council of the Canadian Section, was recently selected by the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice to receive its Justice Award, which it "awards every second year as a mark of distinction and exceptional achievement to a person who, in the opinion of a panel of independent judges, has shown distinctive leadership in the administration of justice in Canada, or who, by his writings or other endeavours, has made a significant contribution to the administration of justice in Canada." Past recipients include Mr. Justice Jules Deschênes, the late Chief Justice Brian Dickson, Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, and the Hon. G. Arthur Martin.

We should like to make News of Our Members a regular feature of the newsletter. Please keep us informed of your work in areas of concern to the International Commission of Jurists. Send the information to Pat Whiting in the Ottawa office.

List of Publications
The following publications have been received from Geneva and may be borrowed from the Ottawa office:

• Attacks on Justice, March 1997 - February 1999
• Crimes Against Humanity: Pinochet Faces Justice
• Fact-Finding/ Needs Assessment Mission to Liberia

The following news releases have been received from Geneva. Copies are available on request:

• 1999-07-21 - The Rule of Law Should Prevail to Safeguard Nigeria's New Democracy
• 1999-07-29 - ICJ Expresses Outrage over the Assassination of Human Rights Defender and Advocate in Sri Lanka
• 1999-09-02 - Menaces sur l'Etat de droit en Côte d'Ivoire
• 1999-09-03 - ICJ Calls for Speeding Up Deployment of UN Troops to End Mob Terror in East Timor
• 1999-09-08 - Jurists concerned that Malaysian Courts are not giving effect to the World Court's Opinion concerning the case of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
• 1999-09-10 - Jurists Welcome Israeli High Court Decision on Torture
• 1999-07-21 - The Rule of Law Should Prevail to Safeguard Nigeria's New Democracy
• 1999-09-24 - Special Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights Concerning the Situation in East Timor: ICJ Urges Prompt and Meaningful Action to Ensure Criminal Accountability for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
• 1999-10-05 - Gross Violations of Human Rights in Belarus
• 1999-10-13 - ICJ Condemns Coup d'Etat in Pakistan
• 1999-10-14 - ICJ Condemns Russia's Revanchist War in Chechnya
• 1999-10-20 - ICJ Appalled by Human Rights Situation in Belarus
• 1999-11-18 - ICJ Calls for Russia's Condemnation by OSCE and Suspension from Council of Europe for War Crimes in Chechnya

Contributors to the Newsletter
Jack Watson, Q.C. has been a Crown Attorney since 1973, working mainly with the Attorney General of Alberta, latterly as apellate counsel. He has been for several years a sessional lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, and was the organizer and the first Dean of the Alberta Crown Attorneys' School. Mr. Watson has published widely and currently serves as Editor of the Edmonton Bar Association Bulletin.