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Program Overview

This two-week, 65-hour, accredited graduate course, run annually, is taught by leading experts in their fields and incorporates genocide theory, history, sociology, political science, international law, anthropology, and psychology. It provides participants with the intellectual framework for understanding the numerous, complex, and often emotional issues related to genocide. An examination of several major case studies of genocide provides the foundation for comparative analysis. 

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Students pursuing genocide studies, select national histories, and careers in human rights-related NGOs or international law come from all over the world to participate in this structured forum for analyzing universal questions relating to human rights and their gross violations. Questions include:

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  • How are gross violations of human rights defined?

  • What is genocide, why does it occur, and what are its causes? 

  • What is the relationship between genocide and human rights?

  • What psychological and social processes enable individuals and societies to participate in genocide?

  • What is the role of international law and international bodies such as the United Nations?

  • What is the genocidal experience of women and children?

  • Why does genocide denial occur?

  • Can geopolitics affect human rights? Can it lead to genocide?

  • How do emerging technologies challenge existing human rights frameworks and protections?

  • How can genocide be prevented?

 

Course Topics

Over the years, GHRUP course topics and themes have varied providing new opportunities to learn about current and past events of genocide and gross violations of human rights. Topics and themes covered in previous GHRUP include:

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  • Development of Human Rights

  • Links Between Human Rights and Genocide

  • Theories of Genocide 

  • Comparative Case Studies of Genocide (including the following):

    • The Armenian Genocide

    • The Holocaust

    • Colonialism and Indigenous Peoples of North America

    • The Guatemalan Genocide

    • The Rwandan Genocide

    • Cambodian Genocide

    • The Holodomor

    • The Uyghurs

  • Gender and Genocide

  • Destruction by Attrition

  • Legacies of Trauma

  • International Law 

  • Psychology of Genocide

  • Genocide Prevention

  • Denial, Memory, Museum, & Representation

  • Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence, and Non-Conventional Warfare

Course Format

The seminar format encourages interaction between participants, professors and students alike. The following key points are used as a guide for the discussion of each case study to facilitate comparison:

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  1. Brief history of the perpetrator and victim groups

  2. Causes of the conflict

  3. Political, sociological, and economic climate before the genocide

  4. Early warning signs

  5. Rationalization for genocide (e.g. dehumanization)

  6. Planning, organization, and mobilization

  7. Implementation of the genocide - timeframe, methods, etc.

  8. International reaction and attempts/rejections of intervention (if any)

  9. Denial

  10. Persecution/judgment and punishment of perpetrators

  11. Short-term impact of genocide

  12. Long-term legacy of genocide

Community

This intensive course provides a unique learning experience that stretches beyond the classroom.  Students spend quality time together outside the classroom and build lasting relationships over the two weeks.  After-class activities are organized throughout the program to facilitate community. In previous years, these activities included visits to local museums and art galleries, walking tours, and a trip to Niagara Falls. During the 2021 and 2022 virtual programs, virtual social activities, such as wellness classes and dinner parties, were offered outside of class hours to promote community building amongst students and faculty.

Impact

Graduates of the GHRUP consistently describe the program as an experience that stays with them long after the two weeks have ended. Through engaging with different histories of genocide and mass violence, participants develop a deeper comparative understanding of human rights and often find themselves rethinking assumptions they held before arriving. Many also speak about the connections they build with fellow students and faculty from around the world that continue long after the program, and about leaving with a stronger sense of shared humanity and responsibility to one another.

Application Deadline: March 31, 2026

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