The Student Volunteer Program - Le Programme des Étudiants Volontaires (Canada)

TSVP Special Lecture Series - 2008

The Limits of International Engagement in Human Rights Situations: The Case of Sri Lanka

The Student Volunteer Programme - Le Programme des Étudiants Volontaires (TSVP-LPEV) is an international youth volunteer group that offers students and young professionals, summer internship opportunities in various sectors including Information and Communication Technologies, Education, Health, and Peace and Conflict Resolution. The programme's region of focus is South Asia where it has been active since 2002. For more information, please visit http://www.tsvp.ca.

As part of its ongoing lecture series, TSVP-LPEV is pleased to present the following lecture:
The Limits of International Engagement in Human Rights Situations: The Case of Sri Lanka
Friday, June 13, 2008 at 6:00 PM
University of Toronto

Bruce Matthews, Ph.D. (McMaster)
Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Asian Culture and History, Acadia University
A former Dean of Arts at Acadia University and past President of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies and the Canadian Asian Studies Association, Dr. Matthews’ principal research interests include Buddhism and politics in South and Southeast Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Some of his major publications include Buddhism in Canada ed. (2006), Religion, Culture and Political Economy ed. (1993), The Quality of Life in Southeast Asia: Transforming Social, Political and Natural Environments ed. (1992), and Craving and Salvation, A Study in Buddhist Soteriology (1983).

Sujit Choudhry, LL.M. (Harvard)
Scholl Chair, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Sujit Choudhry holds the Scholl Chair at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, and is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science, the School of Public Policy and Governance, and the Department of Health Management, Policy and Evaluation in the Faculty of Medicine. His principal research and teaching interests are Constitutional Law and Theory, and Health Law and Policy, although he has also written on the law's response to ethnocultural difference. He is extensively involved in public policy development. He was a consultant to the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank Institute at the World Bank, and has been on mission to Sri Lanka, Nepal and South Africa. Prof. Choudhry appeared as counsel for Human Rights Watch and the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Toronto in the Almrei, Charkaoui and Harkat appeals, and was counsel for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in the Khadr appeal.

In January 2007, the Government of Canada nominated Dr. Bruce Matthews to the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), a panel consisting of international legal experts invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to monitor the work of its Presidential Commission of Inquiry and to comment on the transparency of its investigations and inquiries, and their conformity with international norms and standards. The Group terminated its operations in Sri Lanka in March 2008 citing various shortcomings in the Inquiry and an "institutional lack of support" for the work of the Commission. For more information, please visit http://www.iigep.org.

Chatham House Rule is in effect, which stipulates that:
- The meeting is closed to the media.
- Press coverage will not be allowed.
- Neither interviews nor recordings of any kind will be permitted on the premises.

Please RSVP at info@tsvp.ca or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19663597447; limited seating; admission strictly by invitation only, invitations can be requested from nkumaran@tsvp.ca or skandha@tsvp.ca.