We are proud of our Executive Director Krishanti Dharmaraj for being a featured speaker on women’s and minority rights at a recent conference organized by South Asia Democracy Watch, in partnership with the Embrey Human Rights Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
The conference focused on minority rights in South Asia. It called for international pressures on South Asian governments to stop violence against religious minorities and offered sessions on political, economic, legal and cultural perspectives on discrimination and violence against minorities in the region.
Other speakers included renowned Pakistani scholar and member of the UN Advisory Board for Nuclear Disarmament Matters, Pervez Hoodbhoy; Attorney Amjad Mahmood Khan; Peter Bhatti, brother of the slain federal minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Bhatti; Political activist Aftab Siddiqui; Islamic Scholar Dr. Husnain Walji; and Professor of sociology at Texas A&M University Dr. Raghu Singh.
Krishanti Dharmaraj identified national symbols and icons and their message of intolerance against minorities in Sri Lanka. ‘Our flag and national emblems,’ she deplored, ‘not only marginalize minorities but also send aggressive message that only the majority has human rights, not others.’
The conference was organized to promote awareness of the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in South Asian countries.