BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Session events Calendar//IBA//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260418T100722Z
DTSTART:20231031T101500Z
DTEND:20231031T113000Z
SUMMARY:Attacks on democracy - the role of the legal profession in preven
 ting and addressing such attacks
DESCRIPTION:The past several years havewitnessed unprecedented attacks on
  democracies and democratic principles. These attacks take many forms\, 
 including: physical attacks on government buildings and institutions and
  threats to public officials\, both appointed and elected\, and their fa
 milies\; the flourishing of unfounded\, conspiracy theories about “wides
 pread voter fraud” spread by partisan social media and some mainstream m
 edia\; elected officials who refuse to recognise the results of fairly a
 dministered elections and lawyers who enable election deniers by commenc
 ing litigation without credible evidence\; and the concomitant flurry of
  legislation to “reform” voting systems. The collective effect of these 
 attacks has been to undermine public confidence in the democratic system
  and elections\, waste countless hours of time and resources on recounts
  and investigations\, discourage responsible and fair-minded people from
  serving as workers and officials in the election process\, and suppress
  the votes to gain political advantage.\n\nThis session will provide a b
 rief overview of these “attacks” in the United States\, Canada and Mexic
 o\, the collective threat to the democracy which these attacks present\,
  and what lawyers can do to avoid and prevent future attacks. The speake
 rs will also explore the very difficult legal issues some of these attac
 ks present\, including:\n\n-    balancing the competing interests of pre
 venting the publication of blatant untruths with the right of free speec
 h\;\n-    reconciling the right of everyone eligible to have their vote 
 counted with the need to prevent voter fraud\;and\n-    balancing the ne
 cessary governmental administration over the election process with avoid
 ing the hijacking of elections by partisan government officials.\n\n\n\n
 INFORMATION ON THE SPEAKERS\n\n\n\nHon Louise Arbour\n\nLouise Arbour is
  a Senior Counsel at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. She completed in Decembe
 r 2018 her mandate at the UN as Special Representative of the Secretary-
 General on International Migration\, which led to the adoption of the Gl
 obal Compact for Migration. She has also held other senior positions at 
 the United Nations\, including High Commissioner for Human Rights (2004-
 2008) and Chief Prosecutor for The International Criminal Tribunals for 
 the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda (1996 to 1999).\n\nShe formerly sat
  as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1999 to 2004\, on the 
 Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Ontario. She chaire
 d an inquiry commission that investigated events at the Prison for Women
  in Kingston\, Ontario\, and has also served as a member of the Global C
 ommission on Elections\, Democracy and Security. In 2021 she was appoint
 ed to carry out a review into the Canadian Armed Forces and Department o
 f National Defence\, in response to reports of harassment and sexual mis
 conduct within Canada’s military.\n\nMadam Arbour also formerly served a
 s an ad hoc judge in the International Court of Justice and as a member 
 of the Advisory Panel to the Minister of Defence on Canada's Defence Pol
 icy Review. She is currently a member of the Global Commission on Drug P
 olicy\, the International Commission Against the Death Penalty and the A
 dvisory Board of The Coalition for the International Criminal Court.\n\n
 \n\n\n\nLorenzo Cordova\n\nLorenzo Cordova is a Mexican lawyer\, academi
 c and legal researcher. He was appointed by the Chamber of Deputies as m
 ember\, for a period of nine years\, of the National Electoral Institute
  (INE)\, Mexico’s Constitutional agency that organizes and overseas elec
 tions\, were he served as Chair.\n\nHe is currently Investigador Titular
  “B” de Tiempo Completo at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas in
  UNAM\, where he coordinated the Electoral Law department. He is a level
  III researcher at the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI).\nLorenz
 o has authored many articles on electoral\, Constitutional\, and politic
 al theory. He has authored\, co-authored\, and coordinated more than a d
 ozen books\, most recently “La Democracia no se toca”\, coauthored with 
 Ciro Murayama (Planeta\, Mexico\, 2023). He is a regular contributor to 
 El Universal\, one of Mexico’s oldest and mayor newspapers.\n\n\n\n\n(Pl
 ease note\, at the end of the panel\, the IBA and the NARF will give spe
 aker Mr. Cordova a recognition for his defense of the rule of law\, demo
 cratic values\, and free and fair elections).\n
LOCATION:Room 243\, Level 2
UID:a6e6b62d-4c4b-487b-ad7a-f84e8a40d22b
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR