Professor Taner Akçam Receives ‘Upstander’ Award from World Without Genocide

WORCESTER — Clark University history professor Taner Akcam will be honored with the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization for his work promoting justice and the rule of law. He will formally receive the award at the organization’s annual gala in May of 2018 in Minneapolis.

Akçam is one of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, He holds the only endowed chair dedicated to research and teaching on this subject.

Akcam is an outspoken advocate of democracy and free expression since his student days at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, he is an internationally recognized human rights activist.

World Without Genocide works “to protect innocent people around the world; prevent genocide by combating racism and prejudice; advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators, and remember those whose lives and cultures have been destroyed by violence.”

Previous recipients of the World Without Genocide award include Eli Rosenbaum, Director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice; Claudia Paz y Paz, former Attorney General of Guatemala; and Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, a former prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.