Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, Human Rights Watch gives voice to the oppressed and holds oppressors accountable for their crimes. Rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
 
Human Rights Watch Canada Committee
The Human Rights Watch Canada Committee was formed in 2002 and is part of a network of committees across thirteen cities in Europe, Canada, and the United States. The committees include than 450 people from a variety of backgrounds. The committees are an informed and engaged constituency that is a key part of Human Rights Watch’s defense of human rights.
 
Committees seek to increase awareness of local and global human rights issues and to enlist the public and governments to support basic freedoms for all. Committee members meet regularly to learn about human rights abuses, sponsor policy debates, and generate support for Human Rights Watch and its mission through fundraising, outreach, and advocacy.
 
Human Rights Watch Canada is grateful for the generous support of McKinsey & Co., William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Sonia and Arthur Labatt, Deluxe, Atom Egoyan & Arsinée Khanjian and Charles Pachter.
 
Canada Committee Events
The Committee hosts two major events each year – the annual Voices for Justice Dinner and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The Committee also supports various other Human Rights Watch activities and initiatives throughout the year. During the 2006 International AIDS Conference, the Toronto Committee was actively involved in organizing an HRW booth and sponsored Beatrice Were, a Ugandan AIDS activist, to attend the Conference and a reception in her honour.
 
Contact the Canada Committee
For more information on the Canada Committee, or to inquire about joining, please contact Jasmine Herlt, the committee director at 416-322-8448 or e-mail herltj@hrw.org.