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Newsletter - June/July 2015

July 16, 2015
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Source: MIGS

Announcements

MediaCloud Challenge


The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the MIT Center for Civic Media awarded a grant to Marie Lamensch, the Assistant to the Director of MIGS, and Nicolai Pogadl,Youth Fellow. The team will map out the media (US and Nigeria/regional media) ecosystem surrounding Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria, and present the results at an event to be held on 21 August in Cambridge, MA.

 

Events

15 -17  June

MIGS, in collaboration with the Human Rights Research and Education Centre (University of Ottawa) and the World Policy Institute (NY), held its Third Annual Professional Training Program on the Prevention of Mass Atrocities. Offered in Ottawa for the first time, the training program featured interactive workshop presentations offered by distinguished speakers, a lunch time discussion at the Canadian Parliament with MP Paul Dewar, and a cocktail reception at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence, which included a keynote speech by the Honourable Irwin Cotler. Expert presenters included Shelly Whitman (Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, Dalhousie Univ.), Walter Dorn (Royal Military College of Canada), Naomi Kikoler (Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Memorial Museum), John Packer (Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa), Frank Chalk (Prof. of History and Dir., MIGS, Concordia Univ.), Amy Pate (US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, Univ. of Maryland) and Micah Clark (SecDev Foundation). Pictures from the training program are available on MIGS Facebook Page.

At the Swedish Ambassador's private residence
Participants at the Canadian Parliament

21-24 June

Kyle Matthews and Marie Lamensch participated in Deutsche Welle’s Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany. They gave a presentation on Social Media vs digital Jihad with Gavin Rees, the Director of the Dart Center Europe for Journalism and Trauma (a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism ).  Marie and Kyle publicized the DMAP Lab among a string of experts in the field. Pictures of the three-day event are available on MIGS’ Facebook Page.

“Kyle Matthews and the fight against digital jihad.” Deutsche Welle, 16 June 2015.

“Abschalten oder Argumentieren?” WDR, 24 June 215.

“Europol gegen IS-Propaganda im Netz.” Deutsche Welle, 1 July 2015

4 July

Kyle Matthews and Marie Lamensch were invited to attend the US Consul General’s 4th of July celebration in Montreal. The event was also attended by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil.

13 July

MIGS’ Youth Fellow Nicolai Pogadl participated in the Summer 2015 Socrates Seminars in Aspen, Colorado, to inform his work at MIGS’ DMAP Lab.

14  July

MIGS’s Director Frank Chalk chaired a workshop featuring distinguished political scientist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, René Lemarchand. Titled “Burundi on the Brink”, the workshop focused on the aftermath of the recent coup in Burundi, ongoing human rights abuses, destruction of the independent media and the search for a way out of the current impasse caused by President Nkurunziza’s insistence on seeking a third term in office. You can view video below 

René Lemarchand with Katrin Wittig and Dr. Frank Chalk
Interview series

This summer, the DMAP Lab launched a series of Google+ HangOut interviews with prominent experts in the field of peace, conflict, security, and terrorism. The interviews, listed below, can be viewed on DMAP Lab's YouTube channel or on the MIGS website.

The Rise of the Female Jihadi? Marie Lamensch and MIGS’ Youth Fellow May White-Vilmouth interview King’s College London researcher Joana Cook about women who join ISIS in Iraq and Syria:

Burundi: Casting and Conquering Ballots - Marie Lamensch and Noah Schouela interview Thierry Vircoulon (International Crisis Group), Marie Claude Dupont (Radio-Canada journalist), Katrin Wittig (PhD in Political Science at Université de Montreal, and Pierre Trudeau Foundation affiliate)

Education in War: The Potential of Safe Schools - Kyle Matthews and Noah Shouela interview Zama Coursen-Neff (Executive Director of the children’s rights division of Human Rights Watch), Diya Nijhowne (Director of Research at the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack), and Brenda Haiplik (Senior Education Advisor- Emergencies at UNICEF)


Eritrea: The Rule of Fear – Youth Fellow Zach Sentementes interviewed Jeffrey Smith, advocacy officer for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and contributor to Foreign Policy Magazine

In the Media

8 June

Kyle Matthews spoke with Dan Delmar at CJAD on the methods used by extremist groups to attract recruits and the DMAP Lab’s efforts to find tools to counter radicalization.

9 June

Concordia released a story on MIGS’ experience at the #HackingConflict  on “How to hack a humanitarian crisis”.

10 June

Marie Lamensch and Noah Schouela wrote an op-ed for the Canadian International Council on the persecution of the Rohingya titled “A call for action against Rohingya persecution

16 June

Kyle Matthews and Noah Schouela wrote an op-ed titled Protecting schools during wartime” in The National Post highlighting the importance of safe-schools in conflict zones and the application of ideals created by the Oslo Conference.

13 July

Noah Schouela wrote an op-ed titled "Lessons in peace-building, 20 years after Srebrenica"  for the Canadian International Council.

 

 




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