On Thursday, May 24 at 7 p.m., Lloyd Axworthy will discuss “The Responsibility to Protect and the Arab Spring.” He will be joined on-stage in conversation by CIGI Senior Fellow and Professor of Political Science Bessma Momani.
While serving as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Axworthy became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept, and he continues to be active in discussions on global affairs. Now president and vice-chancellor of The University of Winnipeg, his keynote will address how events in the Middle East during the past year have affected the application of the R2P doctrine and what the implications are for the future.
This Signature Lecture is co-sponsored by the Balsillie School of International Affairs. The event is open to the public and will be live webcast to a global audience.
Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Winnipeg, served as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996-2000. In the Foreign Affairs portfolio, Minister Axworthy became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept, in particular, the Ottawa Treaty - a landmark global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Axworthy currently serves as a commissioner on the Aspen Institute's Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change. He is a Board member of the MacArthur Foundation, Human Rights Watch, the Educational Policy Institute, the Canadian Landmines Foundation and the University of the Arctic, among others. In 2010, he was made an honourary member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba and was given an Ojibwe name - Waapshki Pinaysee Inini, which means White Thunderbird Man.
Discussant Bessma Momani is a CIGI senior fellow, non-resident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and professor of political science at the University of Waterloo and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. A frequent commentator to the media, she is a global governance expert in Middle Eastern foreign policy and international financial institutions.