Newsletter - April 2017

Announcement

MIGS is excited to announce #RightsCity - Montreal, ville des droits humains, a global initiative celebrating the role Montreal has played in advancing human rights worldwide and re-energizing the international human rights community in a time of turmoil. In partnership with Amnesty International, the Armenian National Committee of Quebec, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, three major events will take place on the 26 – 27 May; 1) the #RightsCity conference at Concordia University, 2) the Annual March for Humanity and the Prevention of Genocide, and 3) Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Well-known Canadian and international human rights champions such as Alicia Keys, Romeo Dallaire, Salil Shetty, Biram Dah Abeid, Ensaf Haidar and Irwin Cotler are scheduled to make an appearance, as well as members of the Indigenous rights movement of Canada, including Senator Murray Sinclair, and Cindy Blackstock. For more information and to register, please visit the event homepage.

MIGS has been selected to be a partner of the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC) initiative. GAAMAC is a state-led organization made up of Argentina, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland and Tanzania that work alongside representatives from the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and experts in the field of genocide prevention and Responsibility to Protect.

Past Events

23 March

MIGS organized the Global Diplomacy Lab webinar “An Introduction to Mass Atrocity Prevention at the Local Level.”

22-24 March

Kyle Matthews, Frank Chalk, and Roméo Dallaire participated in the conference “The Responsibility to Protect: Re-Energizing the Key Players,” organized by The Simons Foundation and Simon Fraser University.

28 March

Marie Lamensch gave the lecture “Are the Dominoes Falling” at the Dawson Peace Conference.

30 March

MIGS invited Dr. Sophia Pandya to discuss "The Roots of the Turkish Crisis What happened on July 15th on the Coup attempt?''

31 March

MIGS collaborated with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in organizing the conference “Max and Iris Stern International Symposium 11: Topographies of Mass Violence.” Videos will be available soon.

3 April

Michael Petrou, MIGS non-resident journalist fellow, participated in the panel discussion “CIGI Media Panel: Reporting on the Refugee Crisis”.

4-5 April

Marie Lamensch participated in round-table discussions organized by the US Holocaust Museum and the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin. “Maintaining the momentum: Deepening Western civil society cooperation on atrocity prevention” brought together various civil society groups.

7 April

MIGS, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, hosted UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye and UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Dr. Agnes Callamard.

13-14 April

MIGS, in collaboration with The Stanley Foundation, The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, The Global Center for The Responsibility to Protect, and The Hague Institute for Global Justice, convened a group of over 40 global parliamentarians in The Hague, Netherlands to discuss how members of parliament can improve their effectiveness in mass atrocity prevention. Further information about the event can be found here.

21 April

Kyle Matthews delivered several workshops focused on “The Untapped Potential of Youth in Being Digital Peacekeepers Against Online Extremism” at the 5^th Annual Youth Conference on National Day of Remembrance and Action on Mass Atrocities.

25 April

MIGS, in partnership with Canadian Friends of Mountain Lake PBS and the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation organized the documentary screening of “My Nazi Legacy”.

26 April

Canadian Ambassador to Norway and Canadian Delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Artur Wilczynski, visited MIGS and met with Frank Chalk, Kyle Matthews and Marie Lamensch to consult and gather input on the work of the IHRA.

In the media

5 April

Kyle Matthews was interviewed by CTV News Montreal about the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war.

Michael Petrou wrote an opinion piece for CBC News online “No decent politician should profess to be shocked by the latest chemical attack in Syria”.

Michael Petrou was quoted in the article for CTV News Ottawa, “Ottawa Residents Add to Voices Calling for Action in Syria After Gas Attack”.

7 April

Michael Petrou wrote an opinion piece for the National Post “Assad had every reason to believe he would get away with another chemical attack. But Trump surprised him”.

8 April

Kyle Matthews was interviewed by Radio Canada International in an article called “Chemical attack in Syria upends prospects of Russia-U.S. détente”.

15 April

Kyle Matthews was quoted in an article in Le Devoir titled «Les violations changent de visage».

19 April

Marie Lamensch was quoted in an article in Le Devoir titled «Des pages d’Histoire à réécrire sur l'Holocauste».

21 April

Kyle Matthews was interviewed by CTV News Montreal about ‘how governments can prevent atrocities’.

24 April

Kyle Matthews was interviewed by Radio Canada International in an article titled “Canada commemorates 102 anniversary of 1915 Armenian Genocide”.

26 April
Michael Petrou wrote an opinion piece in OpenCanada.org titled “From Armenia to Syria, let’s fight for a more truthful record”.