Announcements
- Following elections in the Maldives, MIGS Democracy Fellow, Member of Parliament Ahmed Malhoof was released from prison. A fiercely committed defender of human rights and democracy, Malhoof has been imprisoned numerous times due to his participation in peaceful protests. As a result of these arrests, Amnesty International declared him a Prisoner of Conscience.
- MIGS is pleased to announce the appointment of Marty Castro as a new Fellow. Marty Castro was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 to the US Commission on Civil Rights before being elevated to Chairperson. He was also appointed as Chair of the Illinois Human Rights Commission in 2009.
- Digital Fellow Karine Pontbriand was selected by the U.S. State Department of Homeland Security as a participant in the International Visitor Leadership Program on cyber security.
- With the support Global Affairs Canada, MIGS published a project report titled “Mapping the Artificial Intelligence, Networked Hate and Human Rights Landscape.”
Upcoming Events
October 16
- MIGS will be hosting Eirliani Abdul Rahman, the Program Director at the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation US, a former Singaporean diplomat, and a member of the BMW Foundation’s Responsible Leaders Network. Ms. Rahman will be discussing her work and latest book “Survivors: Breaking the Silence on Child Sexual Abuse.” Registration for this event is mandatory.
October 18
- MIGS, in partnership with the Thomas Moore Institute, will be launching an inaugural lecture series to commemorate the legacy of the late Honourable Warren Allmand. Public intellectual and author, John Ralston Saul, will deliver the inaugural lecture “The Fight for Freedom of Expression Around the World: A Personal Account.” How to register can be found here.
October 30
- MIGS will be hosting Digital Fellow Phil Gurski for a discussion on his new book “An End to the War of Terrorism.” Registration for the event is mandatory.
November 1-2
- Kyle Matthews will be speaking at the upcoming Canadian Council on International Law Annual Conference. The session, which is titled, “The Role of International Criminal Law and ICC in Responding to the Alleged Crimes Perpetrated against the Rohingya,” will take place on Thursday the 1st of November in Ottawa. Registration for this event can be found here.
December 9
- MIGS will be hosting an event at Concordia, in partnership with the Montreal Holocaust Museum, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Genocide Convention. Details on this event are soon to come.
Recent Events
- On September 24th, MIGS hosted the Canadian Ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Matthew Levin. He is also the Canadian Ambassador for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and came to discuss issues regarding human rights, Holocaust education, and genocide prevention.
- MIGS Executive Director Kyle Matthews and Digital Fellow Anne Speckhard participated in a Twitter Chat titled, "Dissecting De-radicalization: What works when it comes to countering extremist ideology?" organized by OpenCanada.org. Other participants included journalist Stefan Labbe, Eric Rosand (Brookings/Obama administration) and Renée Black (PeaceGeeks).
- MIGS hosted Belgian author and journalist, Jean-Paul Marthoz. A long-time human rights activist, Jean-Paul writes for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir and is the Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Watch Advisory Committee for the Europe and Central Asian Division. Kyle Mathews and Jean-Paul discussed extremism and the media as well as his newest book, “Human Rights in my Community.” This led to the discussion of the possibility for future collaboration with Brussels and Montreal in promoting the #RightsCity initiative.
- Marie Lamensch chaired a panel at the Chaire Raoul Dandurand’s conference “Borders and Border Walls, a New Era? (In)security, Symbolism, Vulnerabilities.” MIGS was one of the conference’s partners.
Advocacy
September 17
- MIGS joined Fellow Fannie Lafontaine in signing an open letter titled, “Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Rohingya Genocide.” The letter urges his government to declare the violent campaign in Myanmar against the Rohingya people as a genocide.
September 18
- Kyle Matthews participated in a press conference at Parliament Hill, asking for a more robust response from the government in protecting the Rohingya.
September 20
- MIGS joined over one hundred other Canadian and global organisations in signing Oxfam’s “Civil Society Statement on the Occasion of the Women Foreign Ministers Meeting.”
September 21
- Ahead of the meeting of the Women Foreign Ministers in Montreal, Marie Lamensch took part in roundtable discussions with Canadian civil society groups and ten international activists titled “Putting Feminist Foreign policy on the Agenda: A Civil Society Dialogue in Advance of the Women Foreign Ministers Meeting.” The ten activists met with the ministers to delivers the recommendations.
September 27
- Kyle Mathews and a group of legal scholars and human rights activists wrote an open letter titled, “A Call to Protect the Baha’i Minority in Yemen.”
September 27 - 28
- Marie Lamensch chaired a panel at the Chaire Raoul Dandurand’s conference “Borders and Border Walls, a New Era? (In)security, Symbolism, Vulnerabilities.” MIGS was one of the conference’s partners.
In the media
September 13
- Digital Fellow Phil Gurski was quoted in the Global News article titled, “Toronto terrorist leader is locked up, but was still on social media.”
September 16
- Kyle Matthews and Project Manager Nicolai Pogadl published “Big Tech is overselling AI as the solution to online extremism” in The Conversation, which was re-published in the National Post, Phys.org and Global News.
- Distinguished Senior Fellow, Roméo Dallaire was interviewed by Global News and inpartnership with Journalists for Human Rights, in a Q&A session titled, “Why good journalism is crucial in fragile states.”
September 20
- Kyle Matthews was quoted in the Globe and Mail article “House of Commons declares Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya a genocide.”
September 24
- Marie Lamensch was interviewed on Medium Large Radio Canada with Agnès Gruda to discuss the Rohingya crisis and the leadership role Canada could take.
September 25
- Kyle Mathews was interviewed by CTV News to discuss Canada’s goal of obtaining a seat on the UN Security Council.
September 30
- Kyle Matthews was quoted in the Global News article titled, “Rohingya genocide: Is Canada doing enough to help the targeted Muslim minority?”
Marie Lamensch et Agnès Gruda Photo : Radio-Canada/Mathieu Arsenault