The European Bangladesh Forum, a platform of Bangladeshi diaspora in Europe, will organize an international conference at a university in The Hague on Thursday.
The conference will be convened on the issue titled ‘Bangladesh: Justice after Genocide’ at Leiden University, Wijnhaven Campus.
The conference is being organized in collaboration with the Leiden University UNICEF Student Team the Hague & SESA (South East and South Asian) Club by CIROS (Community of International Relations and Organisations Students).
A number of experts, academics, diplomats, university teachers, researchers from the U.K., USA (Washington), Germany, Netherlands and University student leaders will take part in the conference as speakers.
The speakers include Husain Haqqani, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States & Director, South and Central Asia, Hudson Institute, Washington, USA- ‘Bangabandhu and the Struggle for Bangladesh’ and Dr Wolfgang-Peter Zingel, South Asia Institute (SAI), University of Heidelberg, Germany.
A 10-minute documentary film titled, ‘War Crimes 1971’ will also be screened on the day.
During the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh, the Pakistan military deliberately harmed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi citizens. Rights group says the horrors of 1971 are considered one of the worst mass atrocities in history.
The damage they inflicted can be described in the following numbers. As many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 200,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter.