In this interview for the Zoryan Institute, Professor Maureen Hiebert provides her take on Truth and Reconciliation commissions. To learn more from scholars like Prof. Hiebert, register for the 2019 Genocide and Human Rights University Program!

December 9, 2017, marks the third International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of Victims of the Crime of Genocide and Prevention of this Crime, per a resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2015. This resolution, sponsored by the Government of Armenia in 2015, gives a voice to victims of genocide, raises awareness of genocides globally, and emphasizes the importance of striving for the prevention genocide and mass atrocities. This year marks the 69th anniversary of the United Nations Genocide Convention that was passed on December 9th in 1948, and this day serves to commemorate victims of genocide and be a source of motivation to create a world in which genocide no longer exists. To understand why December 9th is a day of commemoration for the world and especially for Armenians, please watch the video above.

"The issue of genocide and its lack of recognition has come with the price of denying freedom of speech, denying the ability to know ones history and continuous efforts to censor activities in Turkey." The Zoryan Institute had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Vicken Cheterian, journalist and political analyst. He teaches at Webster Geneva's faculty of media communications, and lectures in international relations at the University of Geneva. In this brief excerpt, Dr. Vicken Cheterian analyzes Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide and the impact it continues to have today on Turkish society.

The Zoryan Institute is celebrating 35 years of scholarship relating to issues of genocide, human rights and diaspora-homeland relations.

In Celebration of Canada’s 150th Anniversary, The Zoryan Institute highlights various Diaspora communities that enrich the Canadian mosaic. These Diasporas thrive in all spheres of Canadian politics, education, economics, culture and media. Diaspora: A Journal for Transnational Studies, published by The Zoryan Institute and the University of Toronto Press, covers over 65 ethnic and national Diasporas and analyzes their history, culture, socio-economics and politics.

In Fall 2016, the Zoryan Institute launched its Syrian-Armenian Refugee Oral History Project to preserve the heritage, identity, culture and memories of group of Armenians who had to leave their homelands by force. Under war and destruction they found refuge from crisis, in Canada and elsewhere around the world. These interviews will be an important tool for analyzing sociological, anthropological, and historical patterns and trends prior to, during and after migration due to conflict. The sooner we conduct these interviews, the more authentic and historically accurate they will be. It is absolutely imperative that the Institute acts quickly to capture the stories of Syrian-Armenian refugees while they are newcomers in their host communities, but in order to act fast, we need your help. It goes without saying that a project of this caliber requires a significant financial investment. Therefore, on the occasion of World Refugee Day on June 20th, we ask that you please help the Institute in capturing the stories of Syrian newcomers by donating to the Institute’s Syrian-Armenian Refugee Oral History Project.

Dr. Herbert Hirsch, Professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University, editor of the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies' peer-reviewed journal, Genocide Studies International, and faculty member of the Genocide and Human Rights University Program introduces the new phenomenon of non-state actors and genocide. The underlying causes and motivations of terrorist groups and their role in genocide, such as the activities of ISIS, will be addressed in the upcoming 2016 Fall special issue of the Institute’s journal Genocide Studies International, devoted to: “Non-State Actors and Genocide.” Non-state actors are groups that do not represent a state or government and that have now come to the forefront as one of the main types of perpetrators of genocide in the 21st century.