Toronto, November 25:  Dr. Adam Muller, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba, and co-editor of Genocide Studies International (GSI)*, recently said: “…we don’t lack understanding of what’s going wrong in the world, we lack the courage to act in light of what we know…..’’

He then added “…Given the current global state of affairs, and the apparent willingness of so many ordinary people to go along with their leaders’ moral indifference, nationalist chauvinism, and gross indifference to human rights and human dignity – not to mention neo-fascism – all of which are causing enormous human suffering at home and around the world, it is easy to cynically think that all the social justice and mass atrocity prevention work we’ve been doing since the adoption of the UDHR in 1948 has been vain. It can be easy, in other words, to lose hope.”

*(GSI) is a respected academic journal, owned and operated by Zoryan Institute and published by the University of Toronto Press, that has spent the last 20 years ra ising awareness and advancing knowledge on human rights, genocide, and related mass atrocities. As a peer-reviewed platform, it offers a forum for critical analysis that connects scholarly research with policy-making and civil society action.

Should Zoryan Institute continue its mission and ask its donors to continue supporting its genocide studies programs?

Dr William Schabas, OC, Professor of International Law at Middlesex University, had this to say in response to the question raised above.

“….Our role is education and that means we are not always at the forefront of advocacy, even though we often train those who are. There are now four genocide cases at the ICJ, an unprecedented situation. After 75 years, the Genocide Convention has never been more important. The word is on everybody’s lips. This is not the time to be despondent about our [Zoryan Institute’s] work and our mission…” 

Dr. Maureen Hiebert, the chair of Zoryan Institute, and professor of political science at the University of Calgary replying to the question above:

“… we need Zoryan, the GSI, GHRUP [Genocide and Human Rights University Program]  and all the other stuff we [Zoryan Institute] do now more than ever. We are witnessing internationally and domestically a deepening crisis of the rule of law. This is leading to new conflicts, the prolongation of established ones, various atrocities, and the whittling away in peacetime of fundamental rights and freedoms in a number of countries, democracies included. And of course, there’s the climate crisis, which some governments are more than willing to ignore. Zoryan can help illuminate these trends and help come up with, or at least gesture towards, possible responses and mitigation. 

So, I see the dumpster fire that is the world as a call to action for Zoryan Institute. If we want to preserve human rights and prevent/punish atrocities and address the ways climate change is creating new insecurity and conflicts, now is the time to redouble our efforts. I would hope that donors [Zoryan’s] would respond to such an appeal…..”