A Word from the President

One of the challenges in writing " A word from the President " is knowing that whatever you write won't be published for several months. So here I sit, on a bleak February day, writing my final " Word " that will be published in June. By then, winter will (thankfully) be a distant memory, and the conference in St. John's will have come and gone. I'm sure it was a smashing success! As I near the end of my term as president, I'd like to take a look back at some of the accomplishments of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (CHLA / ABSC) Board over the past few years and acknowledge the people who work so hard on behalf of the Association. One of the most visible changes the Association has un-dertaken is the publication you're reading right now. Still in its infancy, the new Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l'Association des biblio-thèques de la santé du Canada (JCHLA / JABSC) is em-blematic of the direction in which we are taking our association. It's modern, dynamic, and professional. While the Board took the decision to move forward with an electronic-only journal, it is thanks in large part to the dedicated efforts of Andrea Hodgson that we have reached this point. Andrea prepared and distributed a request for proposals , evaluated the proposals received, and provided the Board with all the information we needed to make our decision to award the contract to NRC Research Press. Meanwhile , Karen Neves, working from overseas in the United Arab Emirates, is working hard shaping the content and character of the new journal. These are exciting times for our journal! Thank you Andrea and Karen for making it a reality! We hope that many of you reading this issue will submit articles and other content to ensure the journal's ongoing success as Karen, Andrea, and Assistant Editor Rebecca Zakoor continue to develop it. It's been just over a year since CHLA / ABSC contracted with an association management firm, Associations First (AF), to handle such things as the membership database, renewals processing, and handling general inquiries to the info@chla-absc.ca e-mail address. The transition has gone smoothly, and the folks at AF are becoming increasingly familiar with our association and how we operate. Their experience in managing other associations has …

The activity of the Fondation has further increased, particularly in its essential area, which are education and training. Our traditional training sessions in Strasbourg have been carried on: the 20th Summer Course on Refugee Law, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the 48th Annual Study Session.
Training sessions abroad are becoming even more numerous: there were 6 in 2016, 9 in 2017, and if all goes well, there will be 11 or 12 in 2018. The activism of the Fondation René Cassin is not the only reason of its expansion. More importantly, it is the result of the Fondation René Cassin's prestige and its ability to fulfill the human rights training needs that we find everywhere in our very troubled world, notably because of terrorism, temptations of authoritarianism and arbitrariness. I admire the availability of specialists who are invited to teach in Strasbourg and abroad, and the high quality of their courses. It largely explains the influence and reach of the Fondation.
Without being exhaustive, I would like to mention other activities: symposium organized in partnership with universities -such as the symposium on "International Human Rights Law and Bioethics" organized with the University of Bordeaux this past June; seminars; and each spring, the Fondation co-organizes the René Cassin pleading competition -in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the University of Strasbourg -and thanks to the support of many sponsors such as the ECHR. There are also the Francophone and Anglophone René Cassin Thesis Prizes, the Human Rights Clinic which is co-organized with the Faculty of Law of the University of Strasbourg, that continue to deploy an activity that is worth noting.
All these actions require support. On the financial side, the Fondation's resources are constituted first and foremost by the registration fees to the training sessions (set at modest level to not be prohibitive). Thankfully, the Fondation has always benefited from public subsidies -from the City of Strasbourg but also from the Parliament and some ministries. These grants are modest (perhaps too modest!) and do not compromise the ideal of independence wished by René Cassin when he created the IIHR in 1969 thanks to his Nobel Peace Prize.
In December 2015, the transformation of the association into a fondation was to allow additional supports as donations, legacies and sponsorships. I am encouraged by some successes achieved in this regard, but, at the same time, I wish this movement to grow (we work on it) and regret that the contributions of the members of the association have largely dried up. The Fondation does not have a general assembly, nor formal members (it has an administrative board composed of 15 members, more institutional than physical). Its status has provided the creation of an Association of friends but -despite the quality of its heads -this structure failed to sufficiently attract the former members nor obtain the contributions which were received by the former Institute. For the future, we must think about a better articulation between present and past. Meanwhile, I invite those (physical and legal persons) who appreciate our Fondation and wish to support its expansion to provide the donations which are allowed by our stateapproved fondation status.
More generally, the Fondation René Cassin is fortunately supported by several actors who have to be warmly thanked: local authorities, academic institutions, the Bar and other legal professions, public institutions which have similar objectives to our own (I think particularly of the "Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme") and public authorities. It seems to me that, for these authorities, the importance of threats against human rights and a necessary response to such threats justify a political support to an institution which has been fighting for these rights for almost half a century. I saw this as an encouragement which can only be interpreted in an optimistic way for medium-to-long-term.
The 2017 Annual Report describes in detail the Fondation's activities and presents testimonies of some actors. The purpose of this presidential word is to show that we are going forward. This is not a headlong rush but a will to respect our vocation and to answer all requests, while encouraging those who are able to assist us. On behalf of the whole team, I sincerely thank them.
Jean-Paul COSTA President -International Institute of Human Rights © Claude Truong-Ngoc 1-The theme was « health and international human rights law »; in July 2018, the session will focus on « Human Rights Defenders », tribute must be paid to their often difficult -but always courageous and precious -action.
2-For the first time, we organized training sessions in Tbilisi, Pretoria, Lima and Buenos Aires, which indicate the geopolitical and linguistic diversification of the Fondation's activities.
3-In Moscow, it would be a first major step in an important country where there is a particular need to promote rights and freedoms. 4-And especially the dynamism of his very active Director, Sébastien Touzé, and the permanent « staff » of the institution. 5-These symposium are published by Pedone Editions -loyal and high quality support. In 2018, we will organize this event in Le Mans, on "Law of the Sea and International Human Rights Law".
6-Several judges participate to our training sessions and other activities. I would like to recall that the late Denise Binschedler-Robert, Swiss judge of the ECHR, was President of the IIHR for six years.
7-The laureates are rewarded by the publication of their thesis (Pedone Edition). I greatly valued the quality of training provided on the international and comparative law of human rights, which allowed us to be informed of new ideas and strategies in different regional human rights protection systems. Other specialists have addressed the right to health in relation with a variety of topics including the rights of persons with disabilities, sexual and reproductive rights, end of life care and the challenges of litigating social, economic and cultural rights, providing an interesting and thought-provoking program.
The urgency of the issues under discussion was underlined by the public conference given by Dr Raphaël Pitti on his work about emergency medical care in Syria. His overwhelming report of the collapse of Syria's health system and basic infrastructure following six years of war, the systematic detention and torture of medical personnel and the extent of abuses committed against the population trapped within its borders challenged all of us to find responses to this major humanitarian catastrophe individually and collectively in our work.
We had the privilege to receive courses from judges, practitioners and scholars who have shaped the law as well as current and former UN committee members and Special Rapporteurs who brought unique overview into the legal protection of human rights.
The opportunity to appear before Judges of the European Court of Human Rights as well as the success of the various steps to obtain the diploma were for me significant moments.
The expertise of the faculty was complemented by the truly international nature of the study session, with over 150 human rights defenders from across the world, who contributed to the discussions, gave perspectives to the lectures and created a network of friendship and solidarity that I am confident will continue far into the future.

THE PROCEDURE BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
On 15 June 2017, the Fondation René Cassin organized a half-day of continuing education in partnership with the Bar Association of Strasbourg and the school of lawyers "École des Avocats du Grand-Est" (ERAGE). This half-day was aimed at educating law practitioners, especially lawyers, in the procedure before the European Court of Human Rights. 34 participants attended this training.

HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC
The start of the Human Rights Clinic in Strasbourg took place on 7 November 2017 for the two promotions composed of 14 students. This training takes place over two years and combines theoretical training in international human rights law and practical training through the treatment of contentious cases as well as cooperation with various actors involved in the field of human rights.
Clinicians are encouraged to work with partners who seek the Clinic on different topics or legal issues, but also in groups on topics proposed by the students or professors framing this training. They also attend courses at the Faculty of Law of the University of Strasbourg, and seminars provided by national and international experts taking place at the Fondation's premises.

TRAINING SESSIONS ABROAD
The Fondation René Cassin organizes, throughout the year, training sessions in various countries whose aim is to promote training, mainly in international human rights law, and to contribute to the capacity-building of the actors involved in this area. These sessions, put in place through many partnerships, respond to a high demand for training from professionals. They are organized as a priority in regions of the world where the lack of training is detrimental to the establishment of an effective system of protection and promotion of human rights PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVE The 4th delocalized Session of the Fondation René Cassin held in Bamako from 6 to 11 February 2017 was organized in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (hereinafter FNF) and the Human Rights Division of the integrated multi-dimensional UN mission for stabilisation in Mali (DDH-MINUSMA). It was initiated and set up in 2014 in response to the crisis in the country due to the political and security instability that followed the military coup of 2012.
This training session in international criminal law, international humanitarian law and refugee law aims to equip the actors concerned for a good management of the post-conflict period with better support for freedoms and fundamental rights of citizens and for strengthening the Rule of law and democratic culture in Mali. The purpose was to create a framework for exchange, dialogue and reflection for the emergence of a new citizenship that is based on equality in law and duty, but firstly a functional rule of law.
The purpose of the Bamako session was to provide an access to a high-level training in the field of international criminal law and human rights law to a francophone public, from Sahelo-Saharan zone, and from the judicial family, human rights organizations and law enforcement agencies and government officials. The purpose was also to contribute to the promotion of these fields within the framework of the national institutions and especially the judicial ones. This training aims to reinforce among the participants a common understanding of the new challenges that affect the international protection of human rights and the actions that enable the strengthening of the mechanisms of protection and the rule of law in Africa. Indeed, the strengthening of legal reflexes and the knowledges of international legal instruments provide a better knowledge and a better appropriation of human rights by the target groups, a precondition for the full enjoyment of these rights by all. The originality of this session, specializing in international criminal law, attracted a wide range of highly qualified participants to exchange on this specific subject. In the end, 83 participants -of whom 32% were women -were present. They were mainly legal professionals: magistrates, lawyers, national and international officials and members of organizations from civilian society in the sub-region.
The theme «The challenges faced by the International Criminal Court» was the guiding thread of this thematic training session. It was a first, which was intended to renew the offer and to develop the specificity of this training in order to distinguish it more from the other delocalized sessions of the region. This choice was a success, largely raising the interest of the participants in a context in which several African States declared that they withdrew from the International Criminal Court or, for some, called for a group withdrawal.

PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES
The training session in international human rights law in Lima was the first session organized by the Fondation René Cassin in Latin America. It took place from 20 to 23 February 2017 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
The idea of organizing a training session in International Human Rights Law in Peru arose from an increasing need to satisfy a local demand, and also because of the interest that practitioners in the field are constantly demonstrating and the difficulties they meet to make the trip to Strasbourg in order to take part to the annual study session. The purpose of the Lima session is to provide to a Spanish-speaking and francophone audience, from the judicial family, human rights and law enforcement organizations, as well as government officials, an access to a teaching of excellence in the field of International Human Rights Law and to contribute to the promotion of the latter within the framework of the national institutions of the States and their jurisdictions.
The Lima session was followed by an international symposium on Human Rights on the theme «The prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in international human rights law» held in Cusco on 25 February 2017. Following the organization of training sessions in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Bamako (Mali) and Dakar (Senegal), the idea of organizing a training session in international human rights law in Cameroon arose from a growing need to satisfy the local demand. The Yaoundé session is intended to be a thematic session of international human rights law called to perpetuate and to address from one year to the next a theme chosen in response to the regional context of human rights

TESTIMONY Laura GIOSA
Memories of the first training session in international human rights law, international humanitarian law and the International criminal law of Buenos Aires.
The first training session of the Fondation René Cassin in Buenos Aires in March 2017 was, for many reasons, very rewarding. Personally, this session allowed me to meet men and women who work in the field of human rights according to different perspectives: academics, researchers, officials, students and more. I was able to have enriching exchanges with them about their points of view during the courses and during the pause times. These relations were also developed with the professors involved during this session, their human qualities and their academic levels allowed to create these exchange opportunities during the courses. All these opportunities have allowed us to deepen our knowledge in international law.
On the other hand, the variety of courses that we have been able to follow has allowed us to deal with specific themes in international human rights law, international humanitarian law and criminal international law with a high level of intellectual requirement. The subjects were exposed by the teachers of the session on the basis of concrete files relating to each issue. Finally, it should be noted that this session took place without a hitch and that the people responsible for coordinating this course were always at our disposal.
Pursuing these training sessions in international law is an extraordinary contribution to the pursuit of the values that inspired the editors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The expertise of the speakers, the quality of the debates and the relevance of the issues raised have helped to deepen my knowledge of economic, social and cultural rights in general and in the field of the right to education in particular. It was a great framework for sharing experience and forming academic and professional relations. This is how I was able to get in touch with experts to continue to discuss the issues that were developed during the session. Much more, this teaching session encouraged me to go in-depth by pursuing research in the field of International Human Rights Law.
I strongly recommend the teaching sessions of the René Cassin Fondation to young graduates and professionals working for the promotion and protection of human rights.

PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES
From 22 to 25 May 2017, the Fondation René Cassin organized jointly with the University Al-Jinan of Tripoli the 5th international «Mona Haddad» teaching session in international human rights law in Beirut.
The purpose of this session is to offer to a diverse public, both by its nationalities and its specialties, a teaching of excellence in the field of human rights, so as to enable them to contribute directly to the promotion and protection of the latter in the course of their professional life.
The public is diversified, on the one hand, by its activities. It is composed of law students from the Al-Jinan University of Tripoli, but also many professionals already in office from international organizations, national institutions, the judiciary family, public administration, and, more broadly, civil society.
The public is also diversified, on the other hand, by its international vision. Participants come from the whole Middle East to attend this training.
The training program aims to present in a synthetic but comprehensive way the various systems of protection of human rights put in place at the international level and on regional plans, as well as to present the principles of refugee law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law.
The objective of this training session is to allowed participants to strengthen their legal knowledge in these matters, but also to gain an overall understanding of the functioning of the mechanisms for the protection of human rights and humanitarian law, as well as interactions between these different areas of international law.
The courses are particularly oriented to the regional stakes prevailing in the Arab world. The 5th session focused on the Arab Human Rights Protection System and on the periodic review of Lebanon before the UN Committee against Torture, which took place at the beginning of 2017.
More broadly, the training program also tends to provide an overview of the new challenges that affect international protection of human rights, persistent shortcomings in this area and opportunities for action to strengthen existing protection mechanisms. represented with a majority of Lebanese participants. Syrian, Sudanese, Yemeni and Tunisian participants were also present. The success rate for the final examination of this session amounts to 88%. This session benefits from simultaneous translation of courses in French and Arabic, which allows everyone to exchange in the best conditions. The quality of the interventions was emphasized by the participants who did not hesitate to intervene in a critical and constructive way during the course

PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES
The Fondation René Cassin organized in partnership with the West Africa Regional Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom the 8th training session at Dakar from 18 to 29 September 2017. The session was also organized with the support of the Cultural Cooperation and Action Service (SCAC) of the French Embassy in Senegal, the Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (BRAO) and the Senegalese Human Rights Committee (CSDH).
Following the success of the first thematic training session in 2016, we decided to continue in this path by dedicating this 2017 training session to the theme "Migration and International Human Rights Law".
The organization of this training session meets the requirement of involved actors to be well prepared to tackle their obligation to defend and promote freedoms and fundamental rights of citizens and the reinforcement of the rule of law and democratic culture in Africa. Organizers would like to contribute to the reinforcement of national structures to help them to manage with better tools the human rights protection.
This session aims to focus on this specific issue of definite interest to all human rights professionals who work in this region, but also to develop the attractiveness of this training session to this public and to renew the training offer, taking into account the seniority of this session.
The purpose of our training session in Dakar is to focus on a francophone public, coming from Africa and Europe and representing the judicial family, human rights organizations and security forces but also the officials and to allowed them to take part to a high-level training in the field of International Human Rights Law and International Migration Law. This training session also aims at contributing to the achievement of these two areas of law to national institutions and jurisdictions. Participants highlighted the quality of trainings, the possibility to discuss at the end of the courses with speakers and their availability.

DAKAR, SENEGAL MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
The high-level of participants must be noted. Even though they followed courses in a foreign language, they do not hesitate to participate and to speak during classes and debates. The small number of participants -around 40 -facilitated the communication and networking between students and professionals in an atmosphere of mutual support and conviviality.

PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES
The Fondation René Cassin held its first delocalized training session in Pretoria from 23 to 27 October 2017 by joining the program of advanced courses on human rights of the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria.
Established in 2000, the Advanced Human Rights Courses (AHRC) was formerly known as the Good Governance Program. The program consists of advanced annual courses and short term courses on issues related to human rights, development and good governance in Africa.
Each one-week course is presented by local and international experts in the respective fields, with a careful balance between academics and practitioners. Professionals of human rights and development at all levels often face the multidisciplinary challenges posed by the enormous gap between human rights in practice and human rights in theory.
The partnership between the Fondation and the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria focused on the organization of the advanced course on the African human rights system from a comparative perspective, and aimed at the implementation of a francophone course organized and coordinated by Fondation René Cassin, parallel to the anglophone course organized and coordinated by the Centre. For lack of francophone public, the course was held in English only with the participation of speaker representing of the Fondation.

SOUTH AFRICA, PRETORIA AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION SYSTEM: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
The balance of this first experience in South Africa is mixed. Despite the cancellation of the francophone section, the Fondation's participation to the program was assured and discussions have been held to the continuation of this project. Partners decided to maintain the partnership between the Fondation René Cassin and the Centre for Human Rights in 2018 with the joint organization of the same training session in English. This training session will be organized from 22 to 26 October 2018.
In addition, contacts have been made with the SCAC of the French Embassy in South Africa and the Alliance Française to plan training projects in the context -but also in the margin -of the next training session of the Fondation in Pretoria. Thus, it is envisaged to organize a public conference in French with the simultaneous translation in English during the Advanced course and a training activity (to be determined) with and to the South-African civil society acting in the field on human rights.

PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES
The

THESIS PRIZE
To develop and promote the publication of research on Human rights, the Fondation René Cassin awards annually a francophone Thesis Prize (since 2006) and an anglophone Thesis Prize (since 2012).
The application procedure for obtaining this thesis award is open to law doctors who have supported their thesis in one of the following areas: international human rights law, regional human rights law, comparative human rights law, and legal theory of human rights.
The award of this prize, at the opening ceremony of the annual teaching session, allows the publication of the book at Éditions Pedone in the collection «Publications de l'Institut International des Droits de l'Homme».

PLEADING COMPETITION IN BUDAPEST
The Fondation René Cassin supported the organization of the 2nd francophone Pleading Competition which took place on 24 November 2017 in Budapest (Hungary). The theme of this competition was "freedom of speech and press freedom". This event was organized by the French Embassy in Hungary, the Institut Français of Budapest and the University Eötvös Loránd. Participants were francophone law students coming from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Czech Republic. Two participants were awarded: Clélie EMILE ("students in France" category) and Olivia GHIORGHIU ("students in Central Europe" category).

CINÉMACTION
The CinémAction took place in Paris from 8 to 9 December 2017 on the theme "Gender and Migration: What rights for migrant women?". This event was organized by Terre des Hommes. This meeting allowed the participants to attend a conference, the projection of documentaries followed by a round table and debates, and to visit the exhibition «Weaving Between Two Banks».