#RightsCity is Canada's premier conference at the intersection of human rights and technology. This event is organized in partnership with the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, the Department of National Defense, the UOttawa Human Rights Research and Education Center, the Embassy of the Netherlands, GAAMAC, the US Embassy, and under the patronage of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Now in its third year, this event will be held online in light of the pandemic.
This event will take place over four days and will feature keynote addresses and panel discussions from leading global experts working at the intersection of technology and human rights.
Panels will be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook.
Agenda (EDT)
Day 1: June 15
12:15 p.m.
Opening Statements
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Can Democracy Survive the Internet: Foreign interference and disinformation campaigns
1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Confronting Digital Authoritarianism
Day 2: June 16
12 to 1 p.m.
The Case for a Digital Geneva Convention
1 to 2 p.m.
Digital Attacks on Human Rights and Democracy Activists
Day 3: June 17
12 to 1 p.m.
Moving to Unite Democracies on Tech
1 to 2 p.m.
Social Media as a Tool to Investigate and Prosecute Atrocity Crimes
Day 4: June 18
12 to 1 p.m.
Confronting Online Hate Speech
1 p.m.
Closing Comments
Speakers
Irwin Cotler, Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Chris Walker, VP Studies and Analysis at National Endowment for Democracy
Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow at the the University of Ottawa's Institute for Science, Society and Policy
Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, China Reporter at Axios
Nick Waters, Senior Investigator at Bellingcat
Emily Dreyfuss, Fellow & Senior Editor at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
Steven Feldstein, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment and author of the book Rise of Digital Repression
Chris Meserole, Research Director, AI and Emerging Tech Initiative and Fellow, Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution
Yves Daccord, Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, formerly Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross
Kristin Lord, President & CEO of IREX
Iain Levine, Senior Human Rights Advisor at Facebook
Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Chair of GAAMAC, Former Judge and President of the International Criminal Court
Stephanie Barbour, Senior Advisor on sexual and gender-based violence at the Commission for International Justice & Accountability
Thorsten Benner, Co-Founder and Director of the Global Public Policy Institute
Colin Robertson, Vice President and Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute
Fernand de Varennes, United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues
Ana Beduschi, Associate Professor at the University of Exeter and Associate Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Alice Stollmeyer, Executive Director at Defend Democracy
Michael Petrou, Editor-in-Chief of Open Canada
John Packer, Professor of International Conflict Resolution and Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at UOttawa
Rafal Rohozinski, Founder and Principal at SecDev Group
Naomi Kikoler, Director, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Isabel Linzer, Research Analyst, Technology and Democracy at Freedom House