Format: In-Person
Program Fee:
Free for Members & Non-Lawyers | $15 for Non-Member Lawyers
Non-Lawyers please call Customer Relations at 212-382-6663 to register.
Description:
April 7 marks the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. April has also been designated as Genocide Awareness Month.
Please join us as we reflect on the 30th Anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and acknowledge the start of the mourning period for the over million innocent men, women, and children who were mercilessly murdered in just 100 days. This remembrance event will commemorate and draw lessons from the Genocide. Panelists will discuss transitional and reparative justice responses to the Genocide, intergeneration transmission of trauma and ways to mitigate trauma-related intergenerational effects, sexual violence as a weapon of genocide and climates of hate as pre-cursors to ethnic violence and genocide. The panel will include survivors of the Genocide, who will share their testimonies about surviving the Genocide and their lives since.
Welcome:
Catherine van Kampen, Co-Chair, United Nations Committee, New York City Bar Association
Moderator:
Jacqueline Murekatete, Survivor & Founder, Genocide Survivors Foundation
Panel:
Consolee Nishimwe, Survivor, Author & Global Human Rights Activist
Dr. Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, Co-Chair, United Nations Committee, New York City Bar Association
Dr. Michelle Sanders, Licensed Psychologist, Co-Founder, FAFI (Female Advocacy Foundation International), Advisory Board Member and Co-Chair Yazidi Working Group, International Center for the Multi-Generational Legacies of Trauma
Honorary UN Speaker:
Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide
Closing Remarks:
His Excellency Ernest Rwamucyo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations
Sponsoring Committee:
United Nations, Ervin Nina, Sophia Murashkovsky, & Catherine van Kampen, Co-Chairs
Cosponsoring Committees:
African Affairs, Melissa Verpile, Chair
Council on International Affairs, Mark A. Meyer, Chair
Cosponsoring Organizations:
Female Advocacy Foundation International (FAFI)
Genocide Survivors Foundation (GSF)
Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation
Program Fee:
Free for Members | $15 Non-Members
Description:
This program will serve as an interactive, immersive discourse and educate participants to be aware of the dangers of intolerance, racism and to be an advocate for global peace and equality for all. Reports and information will be shared from scholars, in the fields of antisemitism, foreign policy and counterterrorism as well as first-hand accounts of genocide committed against the Jews during World War II, as recounted by Holocaust Survivors. An in-depth discussion will ensue on discriminatory practices, genocide and ethnic cleansing with the rise of the Far-Right Populist Movement in Europe and the causes and consequences of the radical right as it fuels antisemitic tropes and draws on the pogroms of the past to threaten civil society.
This program is a follow-up to the program held on April 19, 2023, The Sound of the Siren: Commemorative Reflection on the History of the Holocaust and the Rise of Global Antisemitism. Recording of the 2023 program is available here.
Opening Remarks:
Susan Kohlmann, President, New York City Bar Association
Speakers:
Honorable Angel Angelov, Ph.D., Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria in New York
Yfat Barak-Cheney, World Jewish Congress, Director of International Affairs and Director of Technology and Human Rights
Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
Professor Steven Goldberg, Director of Education, Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center
Dan Karson, Member, New York City Bar European Affairs Committee, Author of report on the history and rise of antisemitism in Europe
Trevor Norwitz, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz, LLP, The Times of Israel
Scott Richman, Anti- Defamation League: Regional Director, New York and New Jersey
Deborah Rosenbloom, Jewish Women International
Asia Shindelman, Holocaust Survivor; Speaker at the UN
Sami Steigmann, educator, motivational speaker and Holocaust Survivor
Moderator:
Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, Co-Chair of the United Nations Committee/Touro University School of Law
Sponsoring Committee:
United Nations, Catherine van Kampen, Ervin Nina & Sophia Murashkovsky Co-Chairs
Co-Sponsoring Committees:
European Affairs, Katherine Gonzalez & Rafael Carmona, Co-Chairs
Council on International Affairs, Mark A. Meyer, Chair
International Human Rights, Ramya Jawahar Kudekallu, Chair
Rule of Law Task Force, Marcy Kahn, Chair
Middle Eastern and North African Affairs, Hon. Elizabeth Stong & Robert E. Michael, Co-Chairs
Co-Sponsoring Organization:
New York State Bar Association, Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Asian Hate
Thank you to our sponsors:
A.B. Data, Ltd.
Female Advocacy Foundation International (FAFI)
Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation
Huntington Bank
Littler Mendelson LLP
Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, an International Human Rights Attorney, and the Co-Chair of the United Nations Committee of the City Bar, visited the Resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson last June 2023.
She was accompanied by the Director of the JCUN, Rabbi Shneor Zalmen Halperin. During the visit she lit a candle with the Director in memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been members of NATO since 2004, and Finland joined it just last year. Is NATO a benefit for investors when they consider investing abroad? Do businesses give a priority to NATO countries when expanding their businesses abroad? Join us at this discussion and get up-to-the-minute, first-person viewpoints from the highest-ranking diplomats from Finland and the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the advantages of NATO membership for investors and businesses.
Playwright Sophia Murashkovsky Romma is also an international human rights attorney and her plays often sound off against antisemetism. She organized and led a lunchtime panel April 19 at NY Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street, featuring experts, Holocaust survivors and advocates who battle Holocaust Denial. Recent reports of the New York City Bar Association were shared on subjects including antisemitic conspiracy theory, Holocaust Denial and Distortion and the rise of Antisemitism in Western and Eastern Europe.
One of the afternoon's most salient presentations was from The New York City Bar Association's European Affairs Committee, whose report surveys laws, proposed legislation and regulations, legal proceedings and political events that “suggest a revival of attempts at state-sponsored or state-sanctioned antisemitism in Europe.”
Following a recounting of antisemitic laws from the Early Middle Ages through the 2000s, the Committee's report cites the current resurgence of such legislation in countries throughout Europe, focusing on two themes:
• Legislation that prohibits speech alleging that a country collaborated with the Nazis or was responsible in any part for the Holocaust, notwithstanding the irrefutable historical record, and
• Legislation that restricts or prohibits religious practices, such as the ritual slaughter of animals (kashrut/kosher and halal) and circumcision.
The report called these "a reliable harbinger... of far more pernicious consequences."
Let me share this and some of the other presentations I saw for you to read (the next best thing to being there). I may be able to share more in subsequent newsletters.
New York City Bar Association, The Rise of Antisemitism in Europe: Could De Facto Again Become De Jure?
Sophia Murashkovski Romma, Esq., "The Plaguing Path to the Pestilence of Antisemitism"
Radio Bulgaria, "The Saving of the Bulgarian Jews discussed at a forum in New York"
Antisemitism has been on the rise around the world over the past several years. A study by Tel Aviv University last year identified the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia as among the countries experiencing a sharp increase in antisemitic events, energized by radical political movements and intensified by social media. The relentless rise of antisemitic hatred requires documentation lest we forget the atrocities of the past. This panel features experts, Holocaust survivors and advocates who work in the realm of battling Holocaust Denial. This event shares three recent reports (one from the European Affairs Committee) of the New York City Bar Association, which address the antisemitic conspiracy theory, Holocaust Denial and Distortion and the rise of Antisemitism in Western and Eastern Europe.
Speakers:
Yehudit Barsky, Middle Eastern Counterterrorism Analyst and Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy; Member, Middle Eastern and Northern African Affairs Committee
Daniel E. Karson, Chair, Subcommittee on Antisemitism, European Affairs Committee, New York City Bar Association
Karl Jacob Fisher, related to a family of Holocaust Survivors, Assistant Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department, United Nations Committee. New York City Bar Association
Asya Shindelman, Holocaust Survivor, United Nations Speaker
Sami Steigmann, Holocaust Survivor and motivational speaker from Israel, of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center
Scott Richman, Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League
Rabbi David A. Schwartz, Of Counsel, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Chair-Elect of the International Law Section of the American Bar Association; Talmud Teacher at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit; President of PORAT
Angel Angelov, Consul General of Bulgaria in New York
Yfat Barak-Cheney, Director of International Affairs and Director of Technology and Human Rights at the World Jewish Congress
Professor Bjorn Gruenwald, Holocaust Survivor
Moderator:
Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, Ph.D., Antisemitism/Extremism Fellow at Human Rights First/Legal Writing Specialist of the Graduate Writing Center at Touro University, Co-Chair, United Nations Committee, New York City Bar Association
Sponsoring Committees:
United Nations, Catherine Van Kampen, Ervin Nina and Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, Co-Chairs
European Affairs, Jonathan Halpern, Chair
Middle Eastern and North African Affairs, Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong and Robert Eli Michael, Co-Chairs
International Human Rights, Ramya Jawahar Kudekallu, Chair
Co-Sponsoring Committee:
Council on International Affairs, Mark A. Meyer, Chair
Co-Sponsoring Organizations:
Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
The International Association of the Lions Clubs
Seton Hall University Law School
New Jersey State Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
American Bar Association International Law Section - Women’s Interest Network
The Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation
Bank of America
Dr. Romma is the producing artistic director at The Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation
NEW YORK, NY, January 13, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sophia Romma, PhD, has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Leading a distinguished career in arts and entertainment, international law and human rights, and higher education, Dr. Romma is a successful playwright, screenwriter, theatre and film director, international human rights attorney, and university professor. Presently, she serves as the producing artistic director and the chief executive officer at The Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation in New York. Through her organization, Dr. Romma offers filmmaking, screenwriting, directing, and playwriting programs and workshops that further develop the skills of young writers and artists, particularly women in film and television.
Apart from running her foundation, Dr. Romma has been active as the producing artistic director at The O'Neill Film and Theatrical Foundation Inc. since 2013 and the president of The International Centre for Women Playwrights since 2015. Additionally, Dr. Romma has had the opportunity to serve as an antisemitism/extremism and foreign policy fellow at Human Rights First since 2018, a nonprofit, international human rights organization that is based in both New York City and Washington, D.C.
As an international law and human rights attorney, Dr. Romma has spent more than 20 years focusing her practice on such matters as minority, women's, and LGBTQ rights, antisemitism/extremism/holocaust denial, and counterterrorism. Furthermore, she is an experienced educator in the industry, having taught creative writing, screenwriting, and playwriting courses at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and the New York Film Academy. Dr. Romma is presently teaching as an adjunct professor at the New York School of Career and Applied Studies at Touro College. She also serves as the assistant director at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center on campus, as a special project designer for the Law Center's writing center, and as the assistant director and special legal writing advisor at the college's graduate writing center.
Previously, Dr. Romma co-chaired and served as the co-producer of the Oral History Series of the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) at the Lincoln Center Library. Dr. Romma was also a critical theater reviewer at Theater Pizzazz, a literary manager and instructor of playwriting and screenwriting at the Negro Ensemble Company, and a writer for Essence of Life/Essence of Art.
Among a myriad of works, Dr. Romma produced an award-winning feature-length film titled "Used and Borrowed Time." The film won 48 domestic and international film festival awards and premiered on the red carpet at the Quad Cinema in New York in 2021. Her extensive portfolio has also included 16 stage plays and numerous Off-Off Broadway/Off-Broadway plays, several of which received Obie Award nominations. Also, Dr. Romma has directed plays by Colonel Leslie Lee, August Wilson, and Austin Phillips. Looking toward the future, she intends to make several more films and begin making documentaries due to her special interest in human rights and various societal issues.
Dr. Romma has served an instrumental role on various educational and professional boards and committees, including on the board of directors and the alumni day committee and as a former member of the alumni board association at her alma mater, New York University (NYU). She is also a board member of the Polaris North Theatre Cooperative.
Highly educated, Dr. Romma first studied at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU through which she achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film and television and a Master of Fine Arts in drama and theater arts. Dr. Romma subsequently attended the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute, having acquired a Doctor of Philosophy in philology with a minor in French, followed by Fordham University School of Law with a Master of Laws in international human rights law and racial justice.
Dr. Romma is a professional member of several professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the LPTW as a member of the board, and the New York City Bar Association where she oversaw the Racial Justice and Right to Health Project. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association where she has been active as the co-chair of its united nations committee and as a member of its European affairs committee. In addition to these memberships, Dr. Romma holds a seat on the New York City Bar's Council for International Affairs. She previously served on the Council's international human rights committee and directed the Racial Justice and Human Rights/Criminal Justice and Police Brutality Project alongside another professor. Moreover, Dr. Romma is a member of the New York University Alumni Association, having served as a member of the communications and telemarketing committee and the volunteer services committee, and is a past president of the organization's Alumni Club of Long Island.
In addition to the multitude of awards she has received for her most recent film, Dr. Romma received several Vegas Movie Awards in 2020 and 2021. Dr. Romma credits her success to the ongoing support that she receives from those around her, including her mother and late sister for always supporting her endeavors throughout her career.
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.