Threatscape - Mapping global risks in a changing world

In this episode, we speak to Lesia Vasylenko, an Ukrainian Parliamentarian and human right lawyer. Vasylenko is also a member of the Ukrainian permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She tells us what it means to be a legislator during a war and why we must hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in Ukraine.

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

In this episode, we speak to Belkis Wille, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, about ongoing war crimes and human rights violations committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Belkis and her colleagues have interviewed hundreds of Ukrainians who have lost family members in attacks on cities across Ukraine. We also speak about filtration camps, forced disappearances, and Russia's efforts to alter the social and cultural fabric in areas now under Russian control.

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

Resources:

"Russian Strike on Kharkiv is Ukrainian Family’s Tragedy." - Human Rights Watch, August 16, 2022

"Ukraine: Torture, Disappearances in Occupied South." - Human Rights Watch, July 22, 2022

On today's episode, Access Now's Felicia Anthonio talks to MIGS about internet shutdown and the organization's #KeepItOn Campaign, a #KeepItOn coalition made up of over 210 organizations across the world. In 2021 alone, Access Now and the coalition documented 182 internet shutdowns across 34 countries. Read their report here.

This conversation is part of our initiative on Digital Authoritarianism, supported by the  U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

Caitlin Thompson, a reporter at Coda Story, joins us to talk about digital authoritarianism and the different methods used by regimes around the globe to silence dissent and surveil citizens. She also warns us that democratic governments must remain vigilant not to use similar techniques. You can subscribe to Caitlin's newsletter here https://www.codastory.com/coda-newsletters/

This conversation is part of our initiative on Digital Authoritarianism, supported by the  U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, MIGS organized a Twitter Spaces with Canadian Senator Marilou McPhedran. On 28 April, the Senate unanimously passed a motion recognizing that the Russian Federation is committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people.  This discussion marked the launch of our new project, the Global Parliamentary Alliance Against Atrocity Crimes, supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Canada.

In this episode of Human Rights Talks, Peter Guest talks about internet shutdowns and how authoritarian regimes use the off switch to silence dissent. What are the human and financial costs of shutdowns ? What are the tactics used ? Listen to our conversation.

The Canadian Taskforce to Combat Online Antisemitism is a MIGS project aimed at analyzing current trends in online antisemitism, holocaust denial and distortion, and looking at ways we can build better Canadian resiliency to it while addressing what tech companies and other actors can do to tackle this issue. 

As part of this project, MIGS spoke to Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism. Von Schnurbein works with EU Member States, the European Parliament, civil society organizations, and academia to strengthen policy responses to antisemitism, as well as to hate crimes and discrimination more broadly.

In this episode of Human Rights Talks, Kevin Sheives and Rachelle Faust (International Forum for Democratic Studies) join us to discuss the concept of sharp power and how it differs from soft and hard power. They also talk to us about the International Forum's Sharp Power Research Portal, which features examples and analyses of the scale and impact of authoritarian sharp power around the world. This conversation is part of our initiative on Digital Authoritarianism, supported by the  U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

Rachelle Faust is Assistant Program Officer at International Forum for Democratic Studies at NED

Kevin Sheives is the Associate Director at the International Forum for Democratic Studies at NED

The Canadian Taskforce to Combat Online Antisemitism is a MIGS project aimed at analyzing current trends in online antisemitism, holocaust denial and distortion, and looking at ways we can build better Canadian resiliency to it while addressing what tech companies and other actors can do to tackle this issue. As part of the project, we are launching a series of podcast episodes.

In this episode, MIGS student fellow Nadia Trudel interviews Jaime Kirzner-Roberts the Director of Policy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC).

The Canadian Taskforce to Combat Online Antisemitism is a MIGS project aimed at analyzing current trends in online antisemitism, holocaust denial and distortion, and looking at ways we can build better Canadian resiliency to it while addressing what tech companies and other actors can do to tackle this issue. As part of the project, we are launching a series of podcast episodes. In this episode, MIGS student fellow Nadia Trudel interviews Professor Marlene Grossman, the coordinator of the psychology department at Vanier College and the coordinator of Vanier’s Symposium on the Holocaust and Genocide.