Human Rights and Genocide Awareness Month 2015 at University of Southern California

USC Shoah Foundation’s student association, DEFY (Defying Intolerance Through Education), is working with other University of Southern California student groups to produce several on-campus events in observation of April’s Human Rights and Genocide Awareness Month.

DEFY has teamed with Armenian Student Association, International Student Assembly, Academic Culture Assembly, USC Jewish Law Students Association, STAND, USC Shoah Foundation and USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies on a diverse lineup of events addressing issues of genocide, human rights and related topics. All events are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, April 14, there will be a lunchtime seminar on sexual assault misconceptions at 3 p.m. at Tutor Campus Center room 232. On Thursday, April 16, another lunchtime seminar will address the undocumented experience, also at 3 p.m. in Tutor Campus Center room 232.

A documentary film about human trafficking in South Korea, produced as part of the Jubilee Project, will be screened on Tuesday, April 21, at Taper Hall room 101.

USC will officially commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on Wednesday, April 22, at noon at Tommy Trojan. The commemoration will include musical performances and a talk by Armenian-American criminal defense lawyer Mark Geragos. Geragos was part of the team led by Vartkes Yeghiayan that won a settlement wit New York Life Insurance Company to pay beneficiaries of Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide who had purchased insurance from New York Life. Yeghiayan recently donated documents from the case to USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

Thursday, April 23, is a night of documentaries and short films created by filmmakers from Armenia and Turkey. The films include Neighbors by Gor Baghdasaryan and Barking Island by Serge Avedikian, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. The event is from 4-8 p.m. at the Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108.

Sunday, April 26 at Ground Zero Performance Café, STAND will produce an event on human rights.

Finally, a panel discussion titled “A Call to Action: Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Societies” will wrap up Human Rights and Genocide Awareness Month on Monday, April 27, 7:30-9:30 p.m. in Tutor Campus Center room 205.

From April 20-25, International Student Assembly (ISA) will also have a visual display of lesser-known genocides in front of Von KleinSmid Center.