On 21 September, the United States Institute of Peace hosted a public event to help launch a new report from the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), based at Concordia University, Mobilizing the Will to Intervene: Leadership and Action to Prevent Mass Atrocities. Video files of the event are now available on this page.

On 21 September, the United States Institute of Peace hosted a public event to help launch a new report from the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), based at Concordia University, Mobilizing the Will to Intervene: Leadership and Action to Prevent Mass Atrocities.

The report is the product of the Will to Intervene (W2I) Project, a research initiative created by Lieut. General (retired) Roméo Dallaire and Professor Frank Chalk, Director of MIGS, and led by Kyle Matthews, which aims to operationalize the principles of the Responsibility to Protect. More than 80 interviews were conducted with high-level policy makers, members of Congress, NGO representatives, and journalists, some for the first time on record. Drawing on the lessons learned from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and the 1999 Kosovo crisis, the report makes key recommendations to government officials, legislators, civil society and the media in the United States and Canada to generate the political will to prevent mass atrocities.

After Prof. Chalk briefly introduced the report's findings, the panel with Gen. Dallaire and former senior U.S. government officials discussed the report’s policy proposals and the challenges of mobilizing the domestic will in the U.S. to prevent mass atrocities.

Speakers

Video Archive

For further information on the W2I Project please visit http://migs.concordia.ca.

Copies of the report can be downloaded at http://migs.concordia.ca/W2I/W2I_Project.html.

Latest Publications

U.S. Concerns Over ‘Axis of Authoritarianism’ Cloud Final Biden-Xi Meeting

U.S. Concerns Over ‘Axis of Authoritarianism’ Cloud Final Biden-Xi Meeting

Thursday, November 21, 2024

With President Joe Biden’s presidential term ending in a few weeks, expectations for his final meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping were modest, especially considering the broader frictions in U.S.-China relations. Biden and Xi met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru on November 16. The meeting highlighted the importance of maintaining open communications channels to manage the two powers’ many differences.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

China’s Global Security Initiative Takes Shape in Southeast and Central Asia

China’s Global Security Initiative Takes Shape in Southeast and Central Asia

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping launched the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in April 2022, it has been used in China’s efforts to expand its international security role and reshape global order. Drawing on field research and discussions with regional policymakers and experts, this report looks at Beijing’s progress in implementing and operationalizing the GSI in the priority regions of mainland Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and it examines key policy implications, explaining why the initiative warrants greater attention on the part of the US policy community.

Type: Special Report

Global Policy

A Delicate Balance: Promoting Nuclear Energy While Preventing Proliferation

A Delicate Balance: Promoting Nuclear Energy While Preventing Proliferation

Thursday, November 21, 2024

As global energy demands intensify and the urgency of addressing climate shocks mounts, the role of nuclear energy has come to the forefront of discussions for governments, businesses and those concerned about sustainable development. Just last week, the Biden administration released a plan to triple U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. While nuclear energy promises efficiency gains and significant emissions reductions, public opinion remains divided about the tradeoffs of increased investment, the safety risks and the implications for international security. This puts the U.S. at a crossroads as it tries to navigate its role in a world with new demands for nuclear energy and heightened risks of conflict between nuclear-armed states. Such risks were highlighted this week when Russia lowered its nuclear threshold in response to new U.S. authorizations for Ukraine to use long-range weapons.

Type: Analysis

EnvironmentGlobal Policy

Iraq’s Lingering ISIS Challenge and the Role of Dialogue in Return and Reintegration

Iraq’s Lingering ISIS Challenge and the Role of Dialogue in Return and Reintegration

Thursday, November 21, 2024

With conflicts raging in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan, concerns related to the extremist group ISIS may seem overtaken by these other conflicts. After all, Iraq declared the group’s military defeat in 2017 after the territory held by the extremists was retaken by Iraqi government forces in partnership with the United States. Yet just over a month ago, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted a joint military raid against the group, killing nine senior ISIS leaders who were hiding in the rugged Hamrin Mountains in northern Iraq. This raid comes off the heels of the UK’s domestic intelligence chief stating that the group is positioning itself as a resurgent threat. Indeed, ISIS has conducted over 150 attacks so far this year in Iraq and Syria, more than those claimed by the group in 2023.

Type: Analysis

ReconciliationViolent Extremism

Four Questions that Could Determine Haiti’s Future

Four Questions that Could Determine Haiti’s Future

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Much has happened in Haiti over the past two weeks — none of it is reassuring. The Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) fired Prime Minister Garry Conille on November 10, after only six months in office. Moments before an interim prime minister was sworn in the next day, a U.S. commercial airliner was struck by gunfire, forcing a pause in flights to Haiti’s international airport. These developments underscore the reality facing Haiti's interim government and the immense challenges it faces in achieving a transition by February 2026, as outlined in an April 3, 2024 agreement. Given this dysfunction, Haitians and their international partners are rightly concerned that the country’s evolving political and security crisis will only further deepen.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & Resilience

View All Publications