Press Release

On Monday, September 23, 2024, The International Commission for Human Rights & Religious Freedom (ICHRRF) is scheduled to hold our Second Annual Forgotten Genocides Convention featuring presentations by a diverse set of speakers from communities that have been or are victims of genocides that remain mostly ignored by the international community. It will be a day-long event in Lorton, VA, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at George Mason University’s Point of View International Retreat. Breakfast, lunch, tea, coffee, and snacks will be provided.

This will be the second in an annual series of such events to keep this sordid past and continuing history of violence in the public consciousness, identify patterns, and propose solutions uniquely from a polycentric perspective. Speakers at this 2nd annual convention will speak on the following subjects: The legal definition of genocide, Uighur Genocide in East Turkestan/Xinjiang, Conflict and Genocide in Africa, Roma Holocaust in Europe, Kurdish Genocide in Iraq and Syria, Genocide of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, and Genocide of Hindus in Sindh (Pakistan).

This convention is an excellent opportunity for students of history and advocates for social justice from diverse communities to share knowledge, interact with, support and exchange solution strategies with one another. Some communities that survived genocide have been through the painful process of fighting genocide denial, preserving and collating documentary evidence of what they went through, putting together a solid case before the international community, winning the acknowledgment and support of governments, and finally beginning the process of justice and reparations. This convention will feature representatives of some such communities to speak. Alongside them will be representatives from other communities who are much further behind in this arduous and challenging process. They, too, will speak about their experience.

ICHRRF believes that if several weak and under-represented communities unite and treat Human Rights as indivisible, the chances of justice increase exponentially. Genocides in different parts of the world typically have common roots in immature ideologies held in fanatical devotion. ICHRRF believes the best solutions to human problems are non-ideological, in the sense that secular and religious ideologies be held loosely and treated empirically, and individuals and communities be open to learning from knowledgeable experts across ideological lines. 

ICHRRF invites members of the Press, leaders from community organizations, and students of history, politics, and Human Rights to join in this unique event.