13.12.2024


A seminar-discussion dedicated to the adoption of the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" was held at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, on December 11. The seminar-discussion was organized by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, the Jewish Community of Armenia, and the UNESCO Chair on “Prevention of Genocides and Other Mass Atrocities” at Yerevan State University.

The speakers of the day were Dr. Suren Manukyan, Head of the UNESCO Chair on Genocide Studies and Other Mass Atrocities at Yerevan State University (YSU) and Head of the V. Dadrian Department of Comparative Genocide Studies at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI); Dr. Shushan Khachatryan, Head of the Documentation and Research Department on the Victims and Survivors of the Armenian Genocide at AGMI; and Astghik Stepanyan, a master's student at the UNESCO Chair on Genocide Studies and Other Mass Atrocities at YSU. They presented reports on various events that form part of the history of genocides, as well as their significance in the course of human development.

Suren Manukyan, welcoming the attendees, noted that in September 2015, at the initiative of the Republic of Armenia, the United Nations General Assembly declared December 9 as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and the Prevention of this Crime. Presenting his report titled “Anti-Semitism in the History of Humanity and the Holocaust” Suren Manukyan stated: “Unfortunately, the topic of genocides remains highly relevant even today. Although 76 years ago, at the initiative of Raphael Lemkin, the UN General Assembly adopted the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”, many questions regarding prevention remain unresolved. We see that genocides, as tools for achieving political goals, are perceived as very effective by many political actors, politicians, and regimes. What happened a year ago in Artsakh is a clear example of this”.

Presenting her report titled “Hatred Toward Armenians: Labeling, Dehumanization, “Demonization” and the Ritualization of Violence and Killings” Shushan Khachatryan noted that the dehumanization of Armenians, and Christians in general, had deep roots in the Ottoman Empire. The full extent of this dehumanizing attitude was manifested during the Armenian Genocide.

The final speaker, Astghik Stepanyan, presented her report titled “The Ideology of Hatred Against the Tutsi People and the Rwandan Genocide” and noted that the Rwandan Genocide was the first to stand out for its use of propaganda as a tool throughout the genocide. After the presentations, the attendees posed questions to the speakers.