Events › Alex Neve: Universal

How can we renew the promise of universal human rights in a fractured world?

This fall, Alex Neve will deliver the 2025 Massey Lectures across Canada, titled Universal. Throughout a career spent fighting for human rights, he has seen the failures and moments of progress for universal human rights—and what humanity can do to fulfill their promise. 

The day after his Massey Lecture in Vancouver, we're hosting this special lunchtime event where Alex will sit down to discuss his activism and vision for universal human rights with UBC journalism Professor Kathryn Gretsinger.  

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Alex Neve is a human rights lawyer who served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada from 2000 - 2020. He took part in over forty human rights research and advocacy delegations throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, Guantánamo Bay and, closer to home, First Nations communities in Canada. He is a visiting and adjunct professor in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, and a Senior Fellow with the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Alex is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Kathryn Gretsinger is an associate professor of teaching at the UBC School of Journalism, Writing, and Media. She is a long time public broadcaster at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with a record of creating award-winning work at the local and national level in Canada. Kathryn is also a Killam Teaching Prize winner and she was named as one of North America’s top innovative journalism educators in 2018. She is also a member of the Global Reporting Centre.