Alex Neve - Böcker

The 2025 Massey Lectures delivered by human rights activist and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve.Universality is the core promise of the human rights order born out of the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust: these rights extend to everyone, everywhere, at all times, without exception. But the cruel reality is that the word universal also screams of our profound failure to keep the promise. Too often, human rights are applied selectively, withdrawn on the whims of political leaders, or ignored altogether, and the broken promise is palpable in humanity’s darkest moments, not only in violent conflict, but also in the economic, political, and social structures of our fractured world.This is not universality’s finest hour. At a time of immense global challenges, including the climate crisis, mass atrocities, and the rise of hate, the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is deeply contested and frayed, even as people demand and embrace their rights as never before.Weaving together law, history, and stories from decades on the front lines of the struggle for human rights, Alex Neve investigates where we went wrong, how we have progressed, and what we can do to fulfill the promise that human rights are inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all people.

Sometimes love doesn't follow the rulesOn the eve of her forty-second birthday, Esme's husband announces he's leaving her for a twenty-something sound bath practitioner. Desperate to avoid becoming her mother (who left her marriage in tatters and abandoned Esme as a child), she throws herself into her work, but when she meets new office temp Callum, Esme finds herself in the middle of what appears to be a second sexual awakening.Inexplicably drawn to Callum and the potential of someone eleven years her junior, Callum and Esme embark on a secret affair that gives Esme back the joy she was missing in her staid, joyless marriage. The two grow closer, but Esme knows that she can never be more than a secret, physical connection - she's too old, too career-driven, she's approaching the end of fertility. What could a young, handsome aspiring actor want with her, anyway?But when Esme is forced to choose between what society deems acceptable and her feelings for Callum, will she follow her heart, or her head?A sharp, sexy, funny love story about ageing, leaving your baggage behind, and the power of dating like a man. Fans of The Idea of You, Daisy Buchanan, Caroline O'Donoghue and the film Babygirl will love this.

In so doing, the volume fills a gap in the Canadian foreign policy literature related to peacebuilding and human rights and seeks to refine and deepen the existing literature through its exploration of policy and practice.