ICSF tours Australia to drum up support

In an effort to achieve international recognition of the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, a four-member team of the International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF) took part in an international conference in Australia.

At the 13th meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars in Brisbane, Australia held on July 9-13, an ICSF panel comprising M Sanjeeb Hossain and Dr Rayhan Rashid presented two papers relating to the understanding and recognition of genocide in the context of Bangladesh, said a press release yesterday.

Other team members also included Dr Ahmed Ziauddin and Barrister Shah Ali Farhad.

Documents on Bangladesh genocide, the International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh and the recognition campaign were distributed among the delegates and observers of the conference.

Video messages were also collected from scholars, academics and experts present at the conference in support of international recognition of the 1971 genocide.

Apart from presenting papers, ICSF carried out extensive engagement over five days with around 200 fellow genocide scholars and activists from around the world for international recognition of the genocide, as part of its #Recognise1971Genocide campaign.

The ICSF team also participated in a briefing followed by a question-answer session with Bangladeshi expatriates and Australian-Bangladeshis in Brisbane for involving them in the campaign.

As part of the same tour, two members of ICSF participated in a seminar organised by "Bangladesh Studies Circle" at the Western Sydney University on July 17. Dr Rashid presented on "Recognition of Bangladesh Genocide" and Dr Ziauddin spoke on the "Bangladesh Genocide in the Asian Context".

On July 19, Rayhan Rashid made a presentation at the University of Canberra on "Global Recognition of Bangladesh Genocide: Strategic Considerations" in a discussion session titled: "Genocide and Humanity".

ICSF members also carried out engagement with Bangladeshi expatriates and Australian-Bangladeshis in Sydney and Canberra.