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Newsletter - April-May 2016

May 4, 2016
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Source: MIGS

Announcements


MIGS welcomes Michael Petrou, its new non-resident fellow. Mr. Petrou brings to MIGS his extensive experience as a journalist reporting on human rights issues from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A two-time National Magazine Award winner and the author of Is This Your First War? Travels Through the Post 9-11 Islamic Wold, the winner of the Ottawa Book Award for English non-fiction in 2013, Mr. Petrou holds a DPhil in Modern History from the University of Oxford. His first book was Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Petrou lives in Ottawa.

MIGS, joined by Concordia University’s Department of Political Science and other partners, will welcome the Global Diplomacy Lab (GDL) to Montreal in November 2016. The GDL is an initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office, the BMW Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and theStiftung Mercator that serves as a platform for a new and more inclusive diplomacy that goes beyond traditional politics. More than fifty members of the GDL network will assemble to discuss the theme “Global Diplomacy in the Digital Age: Decoding How Technology is Transforming International Relations”.

Upcoming Events

June 1-3, 2016
MIGS will be holding its annual Professional Training Program on the Prevention of Mass Atrocity Crimes in Montreal, Canada.

For further details and to apply please visit the website. MIGS is once again partnering with theWorld Policy Journal

May 8, 2016
MIGS will co-organize Montreal’s annual March for Humanity and the Prevention of Genocidealongside the Alliance for Genocide Awareness and Remembrance and the City of Montreal. The March raises awareness about crimes against humanity to prevent future mass atrocity crimes.



May 4-6, 2016
In partnership with Concordia University’s Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, MIGS will help organize the conference, Avoiding Catastrophe: Linking Armed Conflict, Harm to Ecosystems, and Threats to Public Health. This conference is made possible through partnerships with EcoHealth Alliance, FutureEarth, and the Human Security Institute and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

May 17, 2016
“Political Speakers Series: In Conversation with Bill Graham” : The Montreal Press Club, MIGS and the Canadian International Council are organizing a special event with Bill Graham, Canada's former minister of foreign affairs and minister of defence.  Mr. Graham will be interviewed by Céline Cooper, journalist at the Montreal Gazette. For more information and to register, please visit the event website.

May 27, 2016

MIGS’ Non-Resident Fellow Michael Petrou, Frank Chalk and other panelists will examine “Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria: Lessons Learned for Mass Atrocity Prevention” in a panel discussion taking place at 1:30 pm in the MIGS Conference Room, Suite FB-804, 1250 Guy St. Seating is limited.(Free) registration is required.

 

Past Events


April 25 - 28, 2016
MIGS participated in the 2016 Security Jam, a global online brainstorm on international security challenges organized by Friends of Europe. MIGS’s Communications and Research Intern Chantalle Gonzalez acted as a facilitator on the topic “Answers to radicalisation and violent extremism”. VIP participants included: Stephane Dion, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Irene Khan, former Secretary General of Amnesty International; and Wided Bouchamaoui, 2015 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; among many others."

April 26, 2016
MIGS and the Canadian International Council co-organized a discussion with on the myths and realities of the Middle East today with Nadim Shehadi, director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Associate Fellow of Chatham House in London. He was interviewed by Joumane Chahine, PhD (McGill), a specialist in public diplomacy with a focus on the Middle East.
 
April 23, 2016
Frank Chalk attended the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide in Yerevan, Armenia, where he participated in a scholars panel on “Genocide and displacement: Identifying genocide from the perspective of forced displacement and relocation”.  He also attended the inaugural awards ceremony for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, which was won by  Marguerite Brankitse of Burundi. The event was co-chaired by Washington Post journalist and novelist David Ignatius and opera singer Hasmik Papian. George Clooney, Vartan Gregorian and other distinguished humanitarians served on the prize jury which evaluated candidates and figured prominently in the ceremony. To view the awards ceremony, please click here.
 
April 20, 2016
MIGS together with the Canadian All-Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and other Crimes against Humanity (GPG) held a special session about the newly created network forGlobal Action against Mass Atrocities Crimes (GAAMAC). The discussion focused on the role that Canada can play in preventing such crimes. Speakers included Dr. Beat Nobs who is the Ambassador of Switzerland to Canada, Mr. Uriel Norman R. Garibay, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Philippines, and Kyle Matthews. The event took place at the House of Commons in Ottawa.




 
April 19, 2016
Marie Lamensch took part in a roundtable discussion organized by Concordia’s Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and the Dawson Peace Centre on the link between war and climate change. The workshop, titled “Environment, Conflict, and Peace: The Conceptual Triangle,” previewed  the forthcoming global conference, Avoiding Catastrophe: Linking Armed Conflict, Harm to Ecosystems and Public Health. The organizers also screened a short video clip about the conference.
 
April 14, 2016
Marie Lamensch gave a presentation at TETT 2016: The 2nd International Symposium on Teaching about Extremism, Terror and Trauma titled “Understanding and countering female extremism: Radicalization and the female factor among jihadist groups”. Le Devoir published an article about the conference which brought together experts on extremism and radicalization who pondered on the efficiency of anti-radicalization education programs.
 
April 13 2016
MIGS hosted a discussion about the lessons learned from the Canadian Forces’ contribution to the humanitarian mission which followed the earthquake in Nepal. Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Comtois spoke about his experience when he deployed with the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). 
 
April 8 2016
MIGS’ Kyle Matthews and Marie Lamensch met with Quebec Minister of International Relations and de la Francophonie Christine Saint- Pierre to discuss the work of MIGS’  DMAPLab and projects on hate speech, radicalization, social media and preventing/countering violent extremism,
 
April 7 2016
Philip Verwimp, Associate Professor of Development Economics at the Université libre de Bruxelles, presented a workshop at MIGS about his ground-breaking book, Peasants in Power: The Political Economy of Development and Genocide in Rwanda (2013).


In the Media

April 21, 2016
Marie Lamensch wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post Quebec titled "Allégations de génocide commis par l'EI: que fait le Canada?"

April 20, 2016
MIGS’ fellow Michael Petrou published an op-ed on OpenCanada.org titled “With Canada watching, a plague returns in Syria”.

April 15, 2016
In an interview on CTV News, Kyle Mathews discussed Canada’s sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

April 14-15, 2016
Marie Lamensch gave a series of interviews on women, radicalization and violent extremism


April 14, 2016
Marie Lamensch and Kyle Matthews spoke to Le Devoir about women and the Islamic State, « Les femmes, ces machines à fabriquer des djihadistes ». RCI.net (Radio-Canada) covered the story in Spanish


April 13, 2016
Frank Chalk was quoted in a La Presse article on Boko Haram’s use of children as suicide bombers in Nigeria: “Les enfants kamikazes, nouvelle arme de Boko Haram”

April 1, 2016
MIGS’ Director Kyle Matthews was named Concordia’s newsmaker of the week. Mr. Matthews actively participated in giving his expert opinion on terrorism following the recent terror attacks in Brussels.
 
March 29, 2016
MIGS’ Kyle Matthews spoke to Lynn Desjardins (Radio Canada International) about ISIS’s use of the internet as a weapon of war. Mr. Matthews says Canada needs to have a cyber-strategy to counter ISIS online in order to weaken the group’s ability to attract new foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria.
 




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