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Information About

Louise Arbour




  Office Puisne Justice Of The Supreme Court Of Canada
  Termstart September 15 1999
  Termend June 30 2004
  Predecessor Peter Cory
  Successor Rosalie Abella / Louise Charron
  Birthplace Montréal , Quebec


Louise Arbour (born February 10 , 1947 in Montreal , Quebec ) is the current UN High Commissioner For Human Rights , a former justice of the Supreme Court Of Canada and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals For The Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda .

Born in Montreal to Bernard Arbour (deceased) and Rose Ravary, the owners of a hotel chain, she attended convent school, during which time her parents divorced. As editor of the school magazine, she earned a reputation for irreverence.

In 1967, she graduated from College Regina Assumpta, and proceeded to the Université De Montréal where she completed an LL.L. with distinction in 1970. She became the Law Clerk for Mr. Justice Louis-Philippe Pigeon of the Supreme Court Of Canada in 1971-1972 while completing graduate studies at the Faculty of Law (Civil Section) of the University Of Ottawa . She was called to the Bar Of Quebec in 1971 and to the Ontario Bar in 1977.

She has three children: Emilie, Patrick and Catherine Taman.


LEGAL CAREER

From 1972-73, Louise Arbour was research officer for the Law Reform Commission of Canada. She then taught at Osgoode Hall Law School , York University , first as a Lecturer (1974), then as Assistant Professor (1975), Associate Professor (1977-1987), and finally as Associate Professor and Associate Dean (1987). She also was Vice-President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Ontario (High Court of Justice) in 1987 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990.

In 1995, Madam Louise Arbour was appointed as President of a Commission of Inquiry, under the Inquiries Act, for the purpose of investigating and reporting on events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario, following allegations by prisoners of abuse.

In 1996, she was appointed Chief Prosecutor of War Crimes before the 1999

In 1999 Arbour was appointed to the Supreme Court Of Canada .

Throughout her career, Arbour has published in the area of criminal procedure and criminal law, in both French and English. At various times, she has served as an editor for the ''Criminal Reports'', the ''Canadian Rights Reporter'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal''.

Madam Louise Arbour has been awarded honorary doctorates by twenty-seven universities.

She is also the subject of a 2005 fact-based Canadian - German made-for-television movie, entitled Hunt For Justice which follows her quest to indict Bosnian war criminals. Arbour was played by Canadian actress Wendy Crewson .


UN HIGH COMMISSIONER

On February 20 , 2004 , she was appointed UN High Commissioner For Human Rights Louise Arbour Takes Up Mandate of High Commissioner a UN press statement,
1 July 2004, a position she took officially on July 1 , 2004 . She replaced Sergio Vieira De Mello , who was killed in the Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad , Iraq , along with other members of his staff, in August 2003 .

She expressed her concern over the '' 7 December 2005

In July, during the 2006. In 2006 during a trip to Israel and the disputed territories, Arbour initially refused to meet with the families of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, and Gilad Shalit, but later changed her mind following a media furor and accusations of bias. In the meeting, she offered to do "all she can" to help obtain their release. As High Commissioner she was criticized for not using this trip as an opportunity to call attention to their kidnapping. "'' {Link without Title} ''

Also in July, Arbour was a keynote speaker at the International Conference On LGBT Human Rights in Montreal , where she made a forceful appeal for protection of the human rights of LGBT people and LGBT Rights activists by the international community and the UN. Dumouchel, Hervé. "The opening of the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights—a milestone." ''Fugues'' 27/07/2006

In Nov. 2006, Arbour met backlash for her comments on the Israel-Lebanon conflict. While visiting Sderot , an Israeli town often attacked by rockets, she was heckled and her motorcade was stoned. Asked by the Jerusalem Post'' {Link without Title} '' if there was a distinction under human rights law between missile attacks aimed at killing civilians and military strikes in which civilians are unintentionally killed, Arbour said the two could not be equated.

“In one case you could have, for instance, a very objectionable intent - the intent to harm civilians, which is very bad - but effectively not a lot of harm is actually achieved,” she said. “But how can you compare that with a case where you may not have an intent but you have recklessness which civilian casualties are foreseeable? The culpability or the intent may not sound as severe, but the actual harm is catastrophic.”'' ''Ibid''.[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378470980&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull]''


RWANDAN GENOCIDE CONTROVERSY


A report by French magistrate was responsible for the missile launch that downed the plane.


FURTHER READING



SEE ALSO

  • Reasons Of The Supreme Court Of Canada By Justice Arbour

  • The Canadian Television TV movie ''Hunt for Justice'' (2005) is a docudrama account of Mrs. Arbour's work as prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Please see website at http://www.huntforjustice.com/. Film includes graphic scenes of excavations of bodies from mass graves in Vukovar,Croatia.



FOOTNOTES