Sofia Mariam Ijaz, co-chair

Sofia IjazSofia Mariam Ijaz earned her J.D. (Honours) from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (U of T Law) in 2014. Currently, Sofia is articling at Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP

Sofia has worked on numerous social justice projects aimed at advancing the rights of detainees, migrants, and minority groups. As a clinic student with the International Human Rights Program (IHRP), Sofia assisted with an intervention before the Supreme Court of Canada in a landmark refugee and international criminal law case, Ezokola v. Canada. In this role, Sofia co-authored an extensive legal memorandum on modes of liability under international criminal law which was relied on by counsel for the joint interveners, the IHRP and the Canadian Centre for International Justice, in their arguments before the Court. Sofia also worked on the Immigration and Refugee Detention Centre Project where she visited provincial detention centres to provide legal education seminars to immigration detainees.

As an IHRP intern, Sofia worked at the International Criminal Court, Human Rights Watch (Terrorism and Counterterrorism Division), and Addameer, a prisoners' rights NGO in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Her work with Addameer expanded into a two-year Directed Research project at U of T Law focusing on criminal law in the Israeli military legal system in the West Bank. In addition, from 2012 to 2014, Sofia was a co-Editor-in-Chief of Rights Review, the IHRP's flagship human rights publication.

 

Sofia earned her B.A. (Cum Laude) from the University of Virginia (UVa), double-majoring in Foreign Affairs and Middle East Studies. After graduating from UVa, she traveled to Syria where she studied at the Institut français du Proche-Orient, an Arabic-language training/research centre, and worked with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).