Second International Conference on
Genocide, Truth and Justice
Introduction
The Liberation War Museum has organized the Second International Conference on Genocide, Truth and Justice, which will be held at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 30 and 31, 2009. This conference has been organized at a time when Bangladesh is actively pursuing the trial of the perpetrators of murder, rape and arson during the nine months of 1971 which led to the emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation. The Conference is expected to bring to focus the multifarious legal, interpretational and implementation issues which are likely to come our way while the trials are being held.
The Conference will be available in streaming video via the Liberation War Museum website. Viewers are welcome to send in comments/questions for consideration at the event or to be posted on the website. Please find more details at
www.liberationwarmuseum.org/genocide.
Details
The Conference is especially significant because the genocide of 1971 which was carried out by the Pakistan Military has become a forgotten issue and is hardly considered as a genocide today. The holding of this Conference has become more important now because of the overwhelming endorsement which the common people of Bangladesh have given in favour of holding the trial. As a consequence, steps have been initiated by the Government of Bangladesh for the trial of the perpetrators of the genocide and crimes against humanity in 1971. The organizers are confident that the cross-pollination that will occur in this Conference will enable us to learn from the other countries and international agencies the lessons they have learned from similar trials in other parts of the world. It will also help us document the Genocide and broaden our own understanding of how to chart this complicated and heretofore un-trodden road and will generate new ideas for dealing with it pragmatically and innovatively. We also expect that in time, the entire society will organize itself under a broad platform so that such atrocities can never be repeated, here or elsewhere and so that truth is unveiled and justice is delivered.
Prominent amongst the speakers will be Dr. Suzannah Linton from Hong Kong, Ms. Yasmin Sooka from South Africa, Mr. Helmut Scholz from Germany, Prof. Ohashi Massaki from Japan, Prof. Chanwhan Kim from Korea, Dr. David Matas from Canada, other academicians and prominent social activists of Bangladesh.
Other themes that will find expression through these discussions is the subject of re-awakening the world about the Bangladesh Genocide, building a global alliance on research and studies on Genocide studies for a fuller understanding of the traumas and tribulations of the victims and the way forward for the trial of perpetrators of Bangladesh Genocide.
The Liberation War Museum is hopeful that this Conference will trigger a continuous series of programmes of multidimensional activities that may be taken up for a sustained campaign by academic as well as other institutions, helping to keep the issue of Genocide alive in the public domain and to build-up awareness about this forgotten Genocide of ours as well as other Genocides.
