In search of a better world : a human rights odyssey / Payam Akhavan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Akhavan, Payam.

Series:

CBC Massey lectures

CBC Massey lectures series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Akhavan, Payam.

Human rights.

Civil rights.

Crimes against humanity.

Criminal justice, Administration of--International cooperation.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Genocide.

World politics.

Lawyers--Canada--Anecdotes.

Lawyers.

Canada.

Genre:

Biographies.

Anecdotes.

Physical Description:

385 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Toronto, Ontario] : House of Anansi Press, 2017.

Summary:

In February of 2017, Amnesty International released their Annual Report for 2016 to 2017, concluding that the "us versus them" rhetoric increasingly employed by politicians is endangering human rights the world over. Renowned UN prosecutor and human rights scholar Payam Akhavan has encountered the grim realities of contemporary genocide throughout his life and career. He argues that deceptive utopias, political cynicism, and public apathy have given rise to major human rights abuses: from the religious persecution of Iranian Bahá'ís that shaped his personal life, to the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, the genocide in Rwanda, and the rise of contemporary phenomena such as the Islamic State. He also reflects on the inspiring resilience of the human spirit and the reality of our inextricable interdependence to liberate us, whether from hateful ideologies that deny the humanity of others or an empty consumerist culture that worships greed and self-indulgence. A timely, essential, and passionate work of memoir and history, In Search of a Better World is a tour de force by an internationally renowned human rights lawyer.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 362-370) and index.

Other Format:

Akhavan, Payam. In search of a better world.

ISBN:

9781487003395

1487003390

9781487002008

1487002009

OCLC:

1004779628