The Centre for Genocide Studies has a mission to accomplish four sets of activities.
First is research. Apart from having critical research on 1971 Bangladesh genocide and the ones that occurred elsewhere in the past or since then, there should be a concerted effort to collect the 鈥榣ife stories鈥� of each and every dead and living victim as well as of perpetrators of Bangladesh genocide. In fact, students each year of various faculties will be mobilized to work on this time consuming task. This would not only bring down the cost of the research but would also allow the students to be exposed to what is certainly a tragic episode in the country鈥檚 history.
Second is teaching. Courses of all kinds, semester-wise or year-long, including those designed for the professionals, will be offered by the Centre for Genocide Studies. Such courses on genocide and mass violence need not be limited to social science students but would also be offered to the students of science and business faculties. It may be mentioned that given the task of unearthing mass graves and various killing fields specialized branches like forensic medicine, forensic science, forensic anthropology or forensic pathology will be developed at the Centre for Genocide Studies. This would certainly attract students from diverse faculties.
Third is having 鈥榞enocide tour鈥� for the public. The birth of Bangladesh, as indicated earlier, cannot be contemplated without taking into consideration the glorious role and the painful sacrifice of Dhaka University. As a result the campus has become a destination for the tourists, both local and foreign. But such touristic exposure of Dhaka University needs to be made more informative, authentic and efficient, and the Centre for Genocide Studies with student-volunteers as tour guides can certainly play a role.
Last but not least is housing a genocide museum and an archive. The Centre for Genocide Studies would take the responsibility of attracting a large number of people from within the country and beyond for collecting genocidal relics and printed and visual materials of all kinds, including posters, photos and pamphleteers, relating to genocide and mass violence. And this need not be of Bangladesh alone but would be of places and times wherever state machineries and humans have unleashed their darkest side of being and resorted to torture, rape, killing and other forms of mass violence. A cue could be taken from various genocidal museums around the world, including Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (Kampuchea), Kigali Memorial Centre in Kigali City (Rwanda), Armenian Genocide Museum of America and Holocaust Museum both in Washington DC (USA). A critical awareness of genocide and mass violence is bound to embolden the person in the vital task of putting an end to all crimes against humanity. As the epicenter of genocide let Dhaka University and the Centre for Genocide Studies embark upon this noble task!