Decades After Genocide: Is Justice Possible?

The Ottoman government’s systematic annihilation of its Armenian population took place 10 decades ago. The Khmer Rouge’s Killing Fields allowed for the massacre of nearly 2 million people four decades ago in Cambodia. These cases of state violence continue to test the international justice system as jurists, activists and politicians attempt to arrive at some definition of implementable justice. These and other cases will be the topic of discussion as the USC Institute of Armenian Studies welcomes international criminal prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian to its series of lunchtime talks at the USC Ground Zero Coffeehouse. Koumjian will be in conversation with USC Professor Hannah Garry. Their topic: Decades After Genocide – Is Justice Possible?

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For Immediate Release

USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, USA

Contact: Salpi Ghazarian, Director

Armenian@usc.edu

213.821.3943                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                   

DECADES AFTER GENOCIDE: IS JUSTICE POSSIBLE?

The Ottoman government’s systematic annihilation of its Armenian population took place 10 decades ago. The Khmer Rouge’s Killing Fields allowed for the massacre of nearly 2 million people four decades ago in Cambodia.

These cases of state violence continue to test the international justice system as jurists, activists and politicians attempt to arrive at some definition of implementable justice.

These and other cases will be the topic of discussion as the USC Institute of Armenian Studies welcomes international criminal prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian to its series of lunchtime talks at the USC Ground Zero Coffeehouse. Koumjian will be in conversation with USC Professor Hannah Garry. Their topic: Decades After Genocide – Is Justice Possible?

Koumjian is currently United Nations International Co-Prosecutor for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Prior to this posting, he was Senior Appeals Counsel for the prosecution of the former President of Liberia at The Hague. Koumjian also headed the UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor, and was a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dr. Hannah Garry is the founding director of USC Gould School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic. Her areas of research include international criminal law, human rights law and refugee law. Professor Garry has been a Senior Legal Adviser to the Supreme Court Chamber in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and a visiting professor in the Presidency of the International Criminal Court.

Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, says, “We are proud that our first luncheon event of this new academic year will feature guests of such distinction and we invite the community to the USC campus for this program. This, like our previous lunchtime programs, is not a lecture. It’s a conversation between two people who have spent many years studying THESE serious challenges. It’s an especially important conversation to be having on the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, as the term itself continues to cause political conflict.” The event will be live streamed at http://tinyurl.com/Nicholas-Koumjian so those who can’t attend can watch.

Lunch will be served. 

Directions and parking information:

Guests are advised to park in Parking Structure D, which is located at the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa (across from the Shrine). See attached map for the location of the event (USC Ground Zero Coffeehouse.)

Please call 213.821.3943 if you have any questions regarding the event, including parking and directions.

About the Institute

Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supports multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore and study the complex issues that make up the contemporary Armenian experience – from post-Genocide to the developing Republic of Armenia to the evolving Diaspora. The institute encourages research, publications and public service, and benefits from communication technologies that link together the global academic and Armenian communities.

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file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Dacades%20After-Koumjian&Garry-9-3-2015.pdf

August 19, 2015

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/USC-UPC%20map-Ground%20Zero-PSD.pdf