Genocide Workshop Scheduled
On Saturday, November 21, educators and human-rights activists throughout the New Jersey area will join the ongoing movement to end genocide through a workshop to be held in Dickinson Hall (Wilson Auditorium and classrooms for breakout sessions), Metropolitan Campus. Participants will further engage in educational opportunities on human-rights issues in New Jersey.
“New Jersey Voices Against Genocide” is a five-hour workshop that will include panel discussions with those who have expert knowledge of the current conflicts, as well as those who are working locally to continue the energy and support of this important matter. This event has been organized by a team of activists in the area including Genocide Intervention Network 2009 Carl Wilkens Fellow Karine Shnorhokian; Nia Holston, New Jersey outreach coordinator, Students Taking Action Now Darfur; Lindsay Mulford, senior, Ramsey High School; as well as, from FDU, Diana Cvitan, director of global learning (Metro), and Khyati Joshi, education (Metro).
Speakers will include Lee Ann De Reus, human development/family studies and Congo field researcher, University of Pennsylvania Altoona; Eugenie Mukeshimana, a Rwandan genocide survivor; Yahya Osman, vice president of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project; Jane Wells, founder and president, 3 Generations and producer, “The Devil Came on Horseback”; as well as local community leaders and activists and invited congressmen representing Bergen County, N.J.
“We are grateful to Fairleigh Dickinson University for providing the venue for this conference and to all of our speakers and co-sponsors of the function who are concerned and determined that New Jersey will not stand by as men, women and children continue to be killed, raped and victimized,” commented Shnorhokian. “As a descendent of Armenian genocide survivors, it is my duty and obligation, along with others, to ensure that these present-day acts of genocide are stopped.”
Registration for the workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the workshop promptly beginning at 9 a.m. and concluding at 2:15 p.m. All attendees will receive materials, as well as breakfast and lunch. During the afternoon, educators who attend the workshop will receive separate curriculum instruction that apply to teaching genocide, as well as be awarded five continuing-education hours.
Cvitan said, “As global citizens, we need to be concerned about the protection of human rights. This event will help students and other members of the FDU community gain a deeper understanding of current realities and learn ways in which they can engage in advocacy for the prevention of genocide around the world.”
Shnorhokian was selected along with 19 others as a 2009 Carl Wilkens Fellow with the Genocide Intervention Network. In the last eight months, the fellows have engaged in a series of opportunities to further enhance the movement to end the cycle of genocide and to create an anti-genocide constituency within their communities. Formerly serving as the eastern region director of the Armenian National Committee of America, Shnorhokian continues her efforts of genocide advocacy work and awareness of this important issue.
Co-sponsors of the event include the Armenian National Committee of America, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Genocide Intervention Network, New Jersey Coalition Responds to the Crisis in Darfur, Ramsey High School STAND Chapter, 3 Generations and 96 West Café in Allendale, N.J. The New Jersey Holocaust and Genocide Commission has also been instrumental in the support of the conference.
Those interested in attending the workshop should register by visiting https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=fd81cf . A $10 registration fee is requested to ensure a spot, and attendees are encouraged to bring supplies such as index cards, notebook paper, pencils and pencil sharpeners that will be donated to the Ourebassoni Darfur refugee camp in Chad with the help of the New Jersey Darfur Coalition. For information contact Karine Shnorhokian at 201-788-5425 or e-mail njagainstgenocide@gmail.com.
