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Nine students from the Lafayette chapter of STAND, the student-led anti-genocide movement, attended the national Pledge2Protect Anti-Genocide Conference in Washington, D.C., last month.
With more than 1,000 student activists and young leaders participating, the conference consisted of numerous workshops, panel discussions, and training sessions featuring world-renowned experts and policy makers, with the discussion focusing on human rights violations occurring in Sudan, Congo, and Burma. The event ended with a lobby day when the students met with U.S. Senators to discuss specific action to end genocide.
“It was very energizing to see that so many other people actually care about what kind of world we live in,” says Ivan Dimitrov ’10 (Pavlikeni, Bulgaria), a double major in international affairs and economics and business.
Before the conference, students recorded numerous videos calling on legislators to “make ‘never again’ a reality when it comes to genocide.” During the lobby day, the students presented an edited and innovative version of these videos, urging Senators “not to stand for genocide, and to make genocide prevention policies law.”
“What I like about STAND is that we not only identify issues of grave importance, but we also raise awareness about them, and most importantly, we take concrete steps to resolve the issue,” says Ben Swartout ’11 (Upton, Mass.), a civil engineering major. Swartout stressed that the conference focused mainly on passing legislation implementing the conclusions of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Other students who attended the conference include Alec Bernstein ’11 (Colts Neck, N.J.), a civil engineering major; Brad Hennessy ’11 (Durham, N.H.), a double major in Spanish and government & law; Rachel LeWitt ’13 (Berwyn, Pa.); Martin Melendro ’11 (Bogota, Colombia), an electrical and computer engineering major; Jessie Ryan ’13 (Great Falls, Va.); Minuro Takano ’11 (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo); and David Wenger ’12 (Montville, N.J.), a mechanical engineering major.