CREATION OF NEW INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR GENOCIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES ANNOUNCED

Toronto, Canada - The Zoryan Institute is pleased to formally announce the creation of the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, (A Division of the Zoryan Institute).

"The purpose of this new institute," explained K.M. (Greg) Sarkissian, President of the Zoryan Institute," is to have a specialized organization dedicated to administering the very successful Genocide and Human Rights University Program (GHRUP), now entering its third year. This division will also focus on entering into agreements with universities worldwide to facilitate the adoption of the GHRUP on renowned campuses where genocide studies are taught," he added.

The Genocide and Human Rights University Program is an intensive 2-week course that takes place in Toronto every summer and explores the universality of the issues related to genocide. It will be held next from August 3 to 13, 2004.

"There are several things that make this program unique," commented Roger Smith, Director of the program. "First," he elaborated, "it takes a comparative approach, and explores the fundamental concepts of genocide and human rights through an analysis of the key elements in such cases as the Armenian Genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide. Second, it provides an in-depth examination of the Armenian Genocide as the core case study. Third, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, from the perspective of such disciplines as history, sociology, political science, law, and culture/art. Finally, it brings together in one place some of the foremost specialists as instructors, which creates a special synergy between the faculty and students and among the faculty themselves."

"We see that there is an ever increasing interest in genocide and human rights studies among today's youth of all nationalities, who, perhaps more than ever before, have a global view of the world," noted George Shirinian, Director of the Zoryan Institute.

Details of the 2004 program will be published soon. For more information, contact Julie Gilmour, International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, 416-250-9807, admin@genocidestudies.org.