The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) is a Canadian non-governmental organization dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of human rights. The RWCHR's name and mission is inspired by Raoul Wallenberg's humanitarian legacy.
Based in Montreal, the RWCHR pursues justice by mobilizing advocacy and advising foreign policy in Canada and around the world. The first Raoul Wallenberg All-Party Parliamentary Caucus for Human Rights was launched in Canada in 2017.
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks (8 March 1948 – 7 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the United Kingdom, he was the Chief Rabbi of those Orthodox synagogues but was not recognized as the religious authority for the Haredi Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations or for the progressive movements such as Conservative, Reform, and Liberal Judaism. As Chief Rabbi, he formally carried the title of Av Beit Din (head) of the London Beth Din. At the time of his death, he was the Chief Rabbi Emeritus.
After stepping down as Chief Rabbi, in addition to his international travelling and speaking engagements and prolific writing, Sacks served as the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University and as the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University. He was also appointed Professor of Law, Ethics, and the Bible at King's College London. He won the Templeton Prize (awarded for work affirming life's spiritual dimension) in 2016. He was also a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
According to multiple national governments, international organisations, independent experts and media outlets, Russia and its ally Belarus are committing genocide against the Ukrainian people as part of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, including the Russian annexation of Crimea, the War in Donbas, and especially in the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territory. Scholars and commentators including Eugene Finkel, Timothy Snyder and Gregory Stanton; and legal experts such as Otto Luchterhandt and Zakhar Tropin, have made claims of varying degrees of certainty that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. A comprehensive report by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights concluded that there exists a "very serious risk of genocide" in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Genocide scholar Alexander Hinton stated on 13 April 2022 that Russian president Vladimir Putin's genocidal rhetoric would have to be linked to the war crimes in order to establish genocidal intent, but it is "quite likely" that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. War crimes committed by Russian forces include the Bucha massacre, sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, torture, looting, and the establishment of "filtration camps" to facilitate the large-scale deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.