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Newsletter - May 2020

July 24, 2020

Source: MIGS

Announcements

MIGS has postponed its annual #RightsCity Conference due to the pandemic. However, we are excited to announce that the Department of National Defence’s “Targeted Engagement Program” and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy have both agreed to sponsor the event, which is set to take place this autumn.

MIGS was recently awarded funding from Heritage Canada to convene stakeholders as part of the “Mapping Online Hate in Canada” project. MIGS also organized a series of interviews with Adama Dieng (UN Special Representative for the Prevention of Genocide), Chris Tuckwood (Founder of the Sentinel Project and HateBase), Zach Devereaux (Nexalogy), David Ouelette (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs), and Ghayda Hassan (Professor of clinical psychology at UQAM).

MIGS is pleased to announce its new student fellows: Daniel Twijuke and Emmanuelle Fahey. They are both second year Master’s students of the Public Policy and Public Administration Program at Concordia University.
Spotlight: Past student fellows
Congratulations to MIGS past student fellow Zachary Paikin, who recently joined Global Affairs Canada. He will be working as a speechwriter at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations.
Congratulations to MIGS past student fellow Egor Fedorov, who has been appointed as an analyst at Moonshot CVE.

The Coronavirus Diaries: MIGS started a series of online conversations with experts about human rights in the age of this global pandemic. Recent Interviewees include (but are not limited to): Canadian journalist Terry Glavin; Kurdish-German psychologist Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan; Research Analyst Allie Funk of Freedom House; New York Times video producer and journalist Muyi Xiao; and newly appointed UNHCR Representative to Canada Rema Jamous Imseis. These interviews are available in video format on YouTube and in audio version on Apple podcasts and Google Play. Interviews are ongoing and will continue to be uploaded on a regular basis.

Advocacy during COVID19

MIGS, alongside 300 Canadian organizations and institutions, co-signed an open letter with Amnesty International urging governments to adopt and strengthen human rights oversight mechanisms in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This letter calls on the prevention of both intentional and inadvertent violations of human rights.

MIGS co-signed an open letter to the governments of the world to support the work of atrocity prevention during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

MIGS co-signed the joint NGO statement “Humanitarian and Security Implications of the COVID-19 crisis in Northern Iraq”. The statement hopes to shed light on the specific impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the minority Yazidi community in Northern Iraq, a region already fragile as a result of the recent ISIS insurgency.

Past Events

March 10

MIGS co-hosted a workshop with the Montreal AI and Ethics Institute titled “AI Ethics: Disinformation and how it spreads”. Montreal In Technology wrote a summary of the event here.

March 26

MIGS fellow Michael Petrou moderated a virtual discussion with the Canadian International Council on the Canadian government’s proposed Centre for Peace, Order and Good Government.

April 7

MIGS’ Distinguished Senior Fellow Roméo Dallaire delivered the keynote address at the Rwanda High Commission to Canada's commemoration event on the anniversary of beginning of the Rwandan genocide.

Image courtesy of Lt-Gen. Romeo Dallaire

In the media

March 1

MIGS digital network fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “Is The ICC Finally Heading Towards Justice For Darfur, Sudan, At Last?”

March 2

MIGS digital network fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “Carrying Forward Shahbaz Bhatti’s “Unfinished Business” To Protect Religious Minorities In Pakistan”.

March 7

MIGS digital network fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “The UN Calls For More Decisive Steps Towards Gender Equality By 2030”.

March 12

MIGS co-founder and director of research Frank Chalk was quoted in a National Post article titled “Indian politics front and centre in Ontario as legislature debates law declaring Sikh genocide”.

March 16

MIGS digital network fellow Phil Gurski published a blog for Homeland Security Today titled “How Worried Should We Be About a Bioterrorism Attack?”
MIGS digital network fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “Russia Continues To Conflate Freedom Of Religion Or Belief And Extremism”.

March 17

MIGS digital fellow André Gagné held a radio interview with Patrick Lagacé on COVID-19 and certain evangelical groups in the U.S.
MIGS digital fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “On Targeted Sanctions To Address Attacks Against Journalists And Media Freedom Violations”.

March 19

MIGS digital network fellow Phil Gurski published an op-ed for The Province titled “COVID-19-How far can we go with closing the border?”

March 20

MIGS’ Distinguished Senior Fellow Roméo Dallaire was quoted in an article in TVA Nouvelle titled “Nous sommes au combat!- Roméo Dallaire”.

March 22

MIGS’ Distinguished Senior Fellow Roméo Dallaire was featured in a CTV News article regarding his video messages of support and solidarity to health care workers and first responders on twitter. He also tweeted advice for facing a crisis, based on his own experience in a crisis.

March 23

MIGS digital fellow Phil Gurski published an article for The Hill Times titled “ A call for humility in national security ‘expertise”.

March 26

MIGS digital fellow André Gagné published an article in La Conversation (in French) titled “Covid-19 aux É-U : comment certains prédicateurs ont-ils réagi face à la menace de pandémie?”.

March 27

MIGS fellow Naomi Kikoler was quoted in the ABC article “F ears grow over coronavirus outbreak devastating refugees, civilians trapped by war”.

March 31

MIGS’ Distinguished Senior Fellow Roméo Dallaire spoke with Radio Canada to give advice on how to face the COVID-19 crisis.
MIGS digital fellow Anne Speckhard published an article in Homeland Security Today titled “Kimberly Pullman: A Canadian Woman Lured Over the Internet to the ISIS Caliphate”.

April

April 4

MIGS digital fellow André Gagné was quoted in an article in The Guardian titled “The rightwing Christian preachers in deep denial over Covid-19's danger”.

April 6

MIGS digital fellow Phil Gurski wrote an article for The Hill Times titled “Peace in Afghanistan? Not likely in our time”.
MIGS Executive Director Kyle Matthews was interviewed by CTV News concerning the exacerbated complications of physical distancing and other issues experienced by refugee populations in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

April 8

MIGS digital fellow Marc-André Argentino co-published an article for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology titled “The COVID Conspiracy Files”.

April 12

MIGS digital fellow Marc-André Argentino published an article for Salon titled “QAnon conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic are a public health threat”.

April 22

MIGS Executive Director Kyle Matthews co-wrote an article in The Conversation titled “China must not shape the future of human rights at the UN”. See the same article in French here.

April 27

MIGS Digital Fellow Phil Gurski published an article in The Hill Times titled “Halting disinformation in a time of pandemic: the need to tread very carefully”.

May

May 1

MIGS fellow Andre Serbin Pont wrote an op-ed for The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) titled “Civil Society in Times of COVID19 ”.

May 2

MIGS fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “Then They Came For Me - And There Was No One Left To Speak For Me”.

May 11

MIGS fellow Ewelina Ochab published an article in Forbes titled “The Hidden Victims Of Covid19: Human Trafficking And Modern Day Slavery.”