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Advocacy
29 August
MIGS signed a joint letter urging the US and UK governments to take coordinated action to address the escalating atrocities in Sudan. This letter was collectively signed by over 275 civil society organizations.
7 September
MIGS, along with 19 other human rights organizations, co-signed a letter to the Canadian government demanding concrete action and a clear plan from the Canadian government to address the crisis in Artsakh.
12 September
MIGS, along with 25 NGOs, co-signed a letter to the U.S. Congress calling for a hearing with civil society witnesses to allow ongoing crimes to be highlighted on the public record & prompt a much-needed reexamination of the United States' response. ABC News interviewed Megan Corrado, the Director of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, about the letter.
MIGS and 50 humanitarian and human rights organizations co-signed a letter by Human Rights Watch urging for more aid, attention and solidarity with Sudan.
14 September
Together with 150 international human rights and legal experts and organizations, Nobel laureates and individuals of conscience, MIGS has endorsed and Kyle Matthews has co-signed an open letter on September 14 calling on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) to cancel its upcoming event with the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, who stands accused of crimes against humanity during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Upcoming Events
17-21 September
Kyle Matthews is traveling to New York to participate in numerous UN General Assembly side events and meet with partners.
27 September
MIGS, in collaboration with the Uyghur community in Canada, will host a photo exhibition and conference titled “Capturing the Uyghur Genocide through the Lens of Colonialism”. You can register here.
28 September
MIGS will host a panel discussion titled “The Responsibility to Protect Armenians''. Panelists will include Frank Chalk (Founding Co-Director and former Research Director, MIGS), Lernik Hovhannisyan (Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Republic of Artsakh [NKR]) and Gegham Stepanyan (Ombuds person, Republic of Artsakh [NKR]. The event will be moderated by Kyle Matthews (Executive Director, MIGS). Please note that this event will be hybrid. You can register here.
3 October
Marie Lamensch will be a panelist at the Forum sur la Gouvernance de l’Internet au Québec organized by the Société Internet du Québec. Marie will speak on a panel titled “Régulation et encadrement de l’IA: Quels risques et opportunités?” Find out more here.
4 October
Kyle Matthews will speak on the panel “The 2025 Canadian presidency of the G7: What are the digital policy priorities?” at the Canadian Internet Governance Forum.
11-12 October
MIGS will host the inaugural Montreal International Security Summit on 11-12 October. The event will focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war’s impact on global security and human rights. Partners include the Canadian Department of National Defence, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Canada, the European Council on Foreign Relations, CORIM, the MacDonald-Laurier Institute and the Canadian International Council. For more information, please contact migs@concordia.ca
Recent Events
4 August
MIGS hosted a Twitter Spaces discussion with the Financial Times’ Ukraine correspondent Christopher Miller. A podcast episode version is now available on Apple podcast and Spotify.
22 August
Marie Lamensch attended a workshop titled “Affecting Machines: Normative Principles for Gender Equity in AI” organized by Concordia University’s Applied AI Institute.
On the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence based on Religion or Belief, MIGS Fellow Ewelina Ochab and International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) organized an event titled “Action for Lasting Change”. The session moderated by Ewelina Ochab featured British MP Fiona Bruce, Paweł Radomski (Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Poland), Bishop Angaelos (Archbishop of London Coptic Orthodox Church), Wai Wai Nu (Human rights defender), Cezar Pavalascu (Director, State Secretariat for Religious Affairs, Romania), Jewher Ilham (Human rights defender), Homira Rezai (Human rights defender), and Hannah Rose Thomas (Artist).
As part of its Digital Peace Project, MIGS interviewed Guylaine Maroist, a Montréal-based filmmaker and producer who has tackled online hate speech and cyberviolence in her most recent documentary film project, "Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age". You can listen to the podcast episode on Apple podcast or Spotify.
25 August
MIGS Fellow Naomi Kikoler spoke at an online event in commemoration of the Rohingya genocide. The discussion also featured, amongst others, H.E. Urza Zeya (Under Secretary, US State Department), Rt. Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Minister of State, UK), and Bob Rae (Ambassador of Canada to the UN).
29 August
MIGS Fellow Diego Osorio spoke on two panels at the Bled Strategic Forum: “Rethinking the Social Contract: Harnessing the Power of Global Citizens as Catalysts for Change” and “Water Crisis – Is Water Diplomacy up to the Challenge?”.
6 September
Kyle Matthews spoke at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation about “Unleashing the Power of AI for Human Rights and Environmental Preservation”.
7 September
MIGS, in collaboration with the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (McGill University-Université Montreal) and the White Helmets, hosted a panel discussion titled “The White Helmets: Humanitarian Innovation for Today's Crises”. The event featured Emily Paddon Rhoads (associate professor of political science, Swarthmore College), Farouq al Habib (Group Deputy General Manager / Canada Executive Director of The White Helmets), Marie-Joëlle Zahar (Professeure titulaire, Département de science politique, Université de Montréal), Jennifer Welsh (CIPSS Director, Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University) and Marie Lamensch (Coordinator, Program and Outreach, MIGS).
8 September
MIGS held the second focus group session of its Digital Peace Project. This session brought together tech experts to work together on policy recommendations.
11 September
MIGS hosted Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, author and China reporter at Axios, to discuss disinformation, foreign interference and her latest book “Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World”.
12 September
Ahead of the Montreal International Security Summit, MIGS hosted a Twitter/X Spaces discussion with French journalist Nicolas Quénel titled “Operations Doppelgänger ou les ressorts de la propagande russe”. A podcast episode version of the discussion is available on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
14 September
To mark the launch of her co-authored book “The Rule is for None but Allah: Islamist Approaches to Governance", MIGS Fellow Joana Cook participated in a panel discussion featuring her co-author Shiraz Maher (Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation) as well as Aaron Zelin (Richard Borow Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy) and Méryl Demuynck (Research Fellow, ICCT). Register here to attend this virtual event.