The prize includes a $1,000 award plus the active support of two mentors – a human-rights professor and a human-rights practitioner – for the remainder of Ms. Malette’s program. Her mentors will be: (1) Professor John Packer, Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre and Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa; and (2) Mr. Alex Neve, Senior Fellow in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and formerly Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada.
The goal of the David Petrasek Human Rights Prize and Mentorship is to support outstanding Conflict and Human Rights (ECH) program students in their third year of studies. It was established to honour the late Professor David Petrasek, who believed passionately in a world of universal human rights protection. Inspired by that fundamental vision and goal, he was deeply committed to creating innovative opportunities for learning, opening up space for thoughtful debate, building partnerships and connections, crafting concrete strategies and advancing practical solutions. Throughout his remarkable career as an educator, lawyer, academic, activist, researcher and policy analyst, he worked for rights and justice on the frontlines of armed conflict, in the corridors of power closer to home, in classrooms and lecture halls around the world, and in his eloquent writing.