International Institute for Genocide
and Human Rights Studies
A Division of the Zoryan Institute
Genocide and Human Rights University Program
Mission Statement
Established in 2002, the mission of the Genocide and Human Rights University Program (GHRUP) is to encourage a new generation of scholars to engage in research and publication in the field of Genocide and Human Rights Studies.
This is achieved through a comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of such cases of genocide as the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide among others, using the Armenian Genocide as a point of reference. The Armenian Genocide is recognized as the prototype of modern genocide in which the government endeavors to annihilate an ethnic or religious minority of its own citizens as an attempt to solve its political problems.
The program seeks to help develop an academic support system for those who work toward the prevention of genocide. By studying the genocidal trauma of many different groups of peoples, the GHRUP strives to show that genocide is a shared human experience and as such, must be the concern of all individuals and institutions.
- K.M. Greg Sarkissian, President of the Zoryan Institute
"Perhaps one student summed up the GHRUP best when he said, 'I came to your program as an advanced student of the Jewish Holocaust; I left it as a confirmed student of genocide studies.'"
— Roger W. Smith, GHRUP Program Director
Student Testimonials
Teresa
"It is a really great opportunity to get to know so many different types of people, to get to know things about countries you never knew. I don't feel like the learning stops in the classroom, I get to learn from my new friends every day."
Danjiel
"Some of the discussions that we had forced me to reconsider some of the positions I had held before, and to think about my field and the topics that I am interested in, in greater depth."
Naomi
"The program for me was amazing, because I come from Israel, where you only mainly study Holocaust studies."
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"I was so excited to hear about all these different kinds of genocide and to see what I had missed out on, as well as learned successfully."