On the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Zoryan Institute has co-organized a major international conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Organizing this conference is a great opportunity, not only to commemorate an important historical event, but also to raise awareness of the destructive phenomenon of genocide, a gross violation of human rights, Mr. George Shirinian, Executive Director of the Zoryan Institute told PanARMENIAN.Net.

This opportunity is particularly important for several reasons:

First, Brazil, one of the upcoming powers, is a country with a population of over 190 million—the fifth largest in the world—with an economy the second largest in the Americas and the ninth globally.

Second, the University of Sao Paolo, with its Laboratory for the Study of Ethnicity, Racism and Discrimination, is a distinguished academic partner, which engages in the study of racism, the various concepts and connotations of race, and the growing importance of ethnicity in contemporary social processes.

Third, Brazil was among the very first countries to vote for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, one of the very first countries to sign the UN Genocide Convention that same year, and one of the first countries to ratify the latter in 1952.

Finally, the State of Sao Paolo has officially recognized this classic case of the gross violation of human rights, the Armenian Genocide, since 1989.