The human and social consequences of the global forced migration crisis lie at the heart of Professor of Practice Rachel Kiddell-Monroe鈥檚 humanitarian and academic work over the past twenty-five years. Through engagement in humanitarian emergencies worldwide, including the refugee crises in Central and East Africa, Rachel has seen first-hand the suffering caused when people are forcibly displaced from their homes and families because of insecurity, inequity and unhealthy environments. From Italy to Mexico, France to Greece, and Haiti to Quebec, this human-made crisis has exposed people to unconscionable levels of human suffering, deception, and ultimately abandonment.
In November 2017, Rachel spoke at TEDxMontrealWomen, noting the dangerous consequences of dispassionate detachment and indifference to the plight of people fleeing extreme violence and poverty. She called on individuals to see through the politics of fear and make the choice to act in their own way in the face of this global crisis.
A lawyer by training, with a Master鈥檚 degree in Law and Bioethics (2013) from McGill, Rachel believes in the power of bridging study, research and academia with action, change and implementation. As a Professor of Practice with decades of 鈥渙n-the- ground鈥� experience, she brings a distinctive skill set to her research and teaching. Her practical and field-based experience provides her students with unique insights into the world of development and humanitarianism.
This term, Rachel鈥檚 INTD497 class on Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century is looking at the challenges and dilemmas in humanitarianism today. The course explores themes such as humanitarian ethics, genocide and ethnic cleansing, conflict and compromise, the erosion of humanitarian norms and principles, access to medicines and the global health security agenda. Students also focus on the phenomenon of forced migration which brings into sharp focus the issues of global inequity and insecurity, and planetary health. Students unpack global crises and learn how action close to home can positively affect the lives of those forced to migrate. As a unique component of the class, students volunteer with three different civil society organisations in Montreal, all working with recently arrived forced migrants. They also create their own collaborative humanitarian project informed by their experiences in the course.
Rachel has spent most of her adult life with M茅decins Sans Fronti猫res (MSF), working in crises from Rwanda to Somalia to Mexico. But she has also started her own organisations: an advocacy group to support indigenous rights in Western Indonesia, and most recently an organisation called See Change Initiative, which aims to stimulate and harness grassroots and citizen-led initiatives for change. See Change Initiative is working with communities in Nunavut to find innovative community-based ways to tackle the tuberculosis crisis. Today she sits on the International Board of MSF, the highest governance platform responsible for steering and safeguarding the organisation鈥檚 medical humanitarian goals.
Rachel is a well-known advocate for access to essential medicines. After seeing people dying in Rwanda for lack of access to HIV diagnostics and treatment, Rachel became involved in trying to transform this reality. By applying her legal background to a humanitarian issue, Rachel has seen how the socially responsible application of intellectual property rules combined with the passion and tenacity of activists and scholars has brought substantive change to people鈥檚 ability to access medicines. For over a decade, Rachel has applied her passion in this area to help lead Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM). From a small informal network of a few students in the United States and Canada, UAEM has become a globally recognized access-to-medicines advocacy organisation working both at university and international levels. She is now working with students from McGill to advocate for her Alma Mater to adopt UAEM global access strategies to guarantee that the fruits of publicly funded research are available to those that need them.
