American Sikh Council (ASC) representative Kavneet Singh attended the Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention (I-GMAP) Conference organized by Binghamton University at the downtown campus in Binghamton, NY from April 12 – 13, 2024, a states a release issued by ASC.
This was the fifth time a ASC representative participated in this conference which was organized by the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention at Binghamton University. This year’s I-GMAP Conference had over 70 attendees with mostly professors and researchers while the rest were practitioners and activists.
This was a panel style step up with most panels consisting of three to four panelists and a moderator. Additionally, there were Q & A sessions as part of the overall event that were also very interesting and enlightening. The conference started early in the morning and ran late into the evening on both days. Some of panelists were attorney activist practitioners who posed practical questions with suggestions based on their lived experience through the genocides happening currently.
Max Pensky, Jocelyn Kestenbaum, Kate Ferguson & Alexander Hinton at panel discussion
There were other panelists working on transactional justice from sexual violence to ethnic cleansing issues. Academics and activists representing several countries, which included; Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Columbia, Venezuela, and a few others.
There were seven full panel sessions with each running ninety minutes over the two days. The discussions were invaluable with extremely good information for activists to learn and use in the field especially for those who are involved in education and advocacy.
One of most interesting panels as on the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice: Apprising the Gambia versus Myanmar, Ukraine versus Russia, and South Africa versus Israel. The other very informative panel was on Generative AI, Online Misinformation, and Risks of Political Violence in Key 2024 Elections.
ASC representative Kavneet Singh displayed the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ brochures along with copies of the detailed book list of ‘Human Rights Violations against the Sikhs’ which were very well received by the attendees. The networking with other researchers and activists always helps build bridges and support to highlight each other’s suffering to the world at large.
Genna H remarked, “I have keenly followed the recent transnational repression against the Sikhs and now realize why the Indian state murdered several hundred thousand Sikhs, mostly young men for over a decade and a half.”
The networking and the outcome of the I-GMAP Conference was a great success, thanks to the great planning and quality of panelists who were invited to this conference.
ASC representatives have held conferences on the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ and continue to do them into the foreseeable future. Thanks to the tremendous effort put in by tireless ASC volunteers the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ is now part of the Holocaust and Other Genocides content being used in schools across the state of New Jersey.
In order to continue to sustain the ongoing work on this issue, ASC requests all the gurdwaras to generously support these very important educational initiatives in order to help our next generation so that they never forget and remember their history.
Suggested Readings –