Nazanin Afshin-Jam will speak in Montreal

Nazanin Afshin-Jam will be a co-speaker at a conference on Darfur to be held in Montreal, Canada.

The Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal in conjunction with The Suburban newspapers and the Dym Family Foundation will be holding its 11th Policy Conference. It will be called DARFUR: THE MONTREAL CONFERENCE and will be held at the Delta Downtown at 777 University in Regency Hall C. It will run from 1-4 p.m. and will be followed by a  concert by Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam from 4:30  to 6 p.m. Nazanin Afshin-Jam will not only perform songs from her new CD Someday, whose title track is a plea for the freedom of the people of Iran, but will speak on how to rally civil society internationally as she did in saving the life of Nazanin Fatehi in Iran and her latest efforts to stop child executions worldwide. 

The Conference has a two-fold purpose. First, to heighten public awareness of this tragedy and consider what greater role Canada can play from the military, legal, diplomatic and civil society aspects. Second, to raise funding for Save Darfur Canada. It is the umbrella organization that has brought together all Darfur advocacy groups in the country. SDC reports directly to the international Save Darfur organization in Washington, D.C. run by David Rubinstein. The executive director in Canada is Tara Tavender who will be one of the speakers. Confirmed speakers include Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch in Geneva who will talk on the diplomatic failures and initiatives needed. Gen. Lewis MacKenzie is coming in from Ottawa and will deal with the military priorities based on his experience as commander of UN peacekeepers in the Balkans. Prof. Payam Akhavan, international law professor at McGill, former senior advisor to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center at Yale, will speak on legal issues including the recent ICC Court indictments brought down on Darfur. Simon Deng of New York, a black Christian from the south of Sudan, will share his experiences of being sold into slavery into the Muslim north. Simon now works with I Abolish.org, the Boston-based international anti-slavery organization. Finally, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel, will give an address by teleconference from Washington, D.C. arranged with the help of former CIA director R. James Woolsey, who keynoted the Institute’s third conference.

To reserve a seat please call 514-875-4884 or e-mail to info@iapm.ca.

For more information visit: TheSuburban.com