Human Rights Talks

Humanitarian Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Lachin corridor, the lifeline road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, has been blocked by Azerbaijiani protesters since December 12. With supplies of food and medicine in the blockaded region running low, 120,000 Armenian residents find themselves in a precarious situation, leading UNICEF to issue a statement warning about the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
 

The blockade also risks scuppering the fragile peace process between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have fought two wars in the past three decades. 

 

Speakers:

- Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College, and  Co-founder of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.
- Robert Avetissian, Representative of the Republic of Artsakh in the United States.
- Gregory Stanton, Founding president and chairman of Genocide Watch.

 

This live discussion took place on Twitter Space and was moderated by Marie Lamensch, MIGS’s Project Coordinator

 

”Queering the Web”: a conversion with Dr. Stefanie Duguay

"Queering the Web": Examining Online Harms and Hate Speech Directed at 2SLGBTQIA+ Communities with Dr. Stefanie Duguay

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Stefanie Duguay, assistant professor in Communication Studies and the Concordia University Research Chair in Digital intimacy, gender, andsexuality. How do queer people express identity in digital spaces? What are the challenges that they face when navigating online harms? Explore how queer people are navigating digital spaces, and learn more about Stefanie's research (https://digslab.net).

 

This podcast is part of the Digital Peace Project, an initiative supported by Heritage Canada that aims to analyze different forms of online hate.

 

 

One year on: How Ukrainian civil society continues to resist

On the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, join the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University for a Twitter Spaces conversation on the resilience of Ukraine's civil society.

Speakers: 

- Oleksandra Povoroznyk, Kyiv-based translator and journalist 

- Alina Bondarenko, communications professional in Washington DC and arising expert in Ukrainian cultural diplomacy

- Anton Liagusha, dean of the Faculty of Social sciences and Humanities, Kyev School of Economics. Now Associate Professor, George Mason University. Specialist in Public History, media analysis, propaganda expert

- Katerina Sviderska, MA student at the Université de Montréal

- Moderator: Marie Lamensch, Project coordinator, MIGS

 

Fleeing Afghanistan : a discussion with filmmaker Jawad Mir

During a Twitter Space, MIGS spoke with filmmaker Jawad Mir about his movie “Citizen of Moria”, which documents the plight of filmmaker Ahmad Brahimi.

When his life comes under threat by the Taliban in Afghanistan, he leaves his family behind for survival and ends up in Europe’s worst Refugee Detention Camp, Moria. Ahmad documents the difficult living conditions endured by the refugees and his attempt to build a life on the island of Lesbos, off the coast of Greece.

 

Dr. Aylin Matlé on what the invasion of Ukraine means for Germany and NATO

Dr. Aylin Matlé on what the invasion of Ukraine means for Germany and NATO. Dr. Matlé has been a research fellow in the German Council on Foreign Relations' Security and Defense Program since March 2022.

Previously, she worked as deputy head of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Israel office in Jerusalem. Prior to that, she was a research associate for the chair of international relations and European politics at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.

This is part of our Global Parliamentary Alliance Against Atrocity Crimes, a project supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Canada.

Oleksandra Matviichuk on the work of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine

As part of MIGS’s Global Parliamentary Alliance Against Atrocity Crimes, Project coordinator Marie Lamensch spoke with Oleksandra Matviichuk, the head of the Center for Civil Liberties. Oleksandra talks about the organization’s efforts to collect evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and why she hopes that their efforts will have an impact on the global justice system. The Center for Civil Liberties is the recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

#TwitterSpace : Elon Musk buying Twitter: what does it mean for online hate?

A Twitter Spaces conversation on the implications of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for the spread of disinformation, hate speech and other online harms.

Speakers:

- Dr. Emma L. Briant, British scholar and academic researcher on media, contemporary propaganda, surveillance and information warfare, and Visiting Research Associate in Human Rights, Bard College.

- David Troy, researcher, technologist, and investor interested in hybrid warfare and threats to democracy, and Fellow at Future Frontlines at New America.

- Peter MacLeod, co-founder and principal of Mass LBP, and leading expert in public engagement and deliberative democracy.

- Yaqiu Wang, Senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, working on issues including internet censorship, freedom of expression, protection of civil society and human rights defenders, and women’s rights.

- Prof. Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethic and Communications, and the founding director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University.

The discussion is moderated by MIGS' Project Coordinator Marie Lamensch and Project Leader Lauren Salim. 

”Surveillance State”: a discussion with WSJ journalists Josh Chin and Liza Lin

Where is the line between digital utopia and digital police state?

In "Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control", award-winning Wall Street Journal journalists Josh Chin and Liza Lin document with startling detail how the CCP is creating a political model that shapes the will of the people not through the ballot box but through the sophisticated harnessing of data.

Josh Chin and Liza Lin joined MIGS to discuss their new book. The virtual event was moderated by Kyle Matthews.

Using OSINT to investigate war crimes in Ukraine

This discussion is a recording of our Twitter Spaces with Nick Waters (Open Source Analyst, Bellingcat), Hannah Bagdasar (Investigator, Bellingcat), and Dearbhla Minogue (Legal Officer with the Global Legal Action Network).

This is part of our Global Parliamentary Alliance Against Atrocity Crimes, a project supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Canada.

Structural Causes of Atrocities in Ethiopia: Spotlight on the Amharas

This is a recording of MIGS Twitter Spaces discussion titled “Structural causes of atrocities in Ethiopia: Spotlight on the Amharas”, which featured Hone Mandefro (Director of Advocacy, Amhara Association of America) and Adem Abebe (Advisor in Peace Building, Constitution Building, Democracy, Elections and Governance). The chat was moderated by Kyle Matthews, MIGS' Executive Director.