Dandenong City Council in southeast Melbourne, Australia is believed to be the world’s first government body to recognize the “Hazara Genocide” in Afghanistan.
Dandenong is home to around 12,000 Hazaras, according to the city council statistics, SBS Australia reported.
On October 24th of this year, representatives of the Dandenong City Council acknowledged the “Stop Hazara Genocide” motion with a majority of votes and confirmed that the Hazaras are facing “systematic discrimination and violence” by state-run institutions and extremist groups in Afghanistan.
“The Hazaras have long been subjugated and subjected to discrimination, forced displacement and genocide primarily because of their ethnic and religious identity”, the motion reads.
Hazaras living in Dandenong held a memorial service for the victims of the attack on Kaaj educational centre. They also asked the Australian government to recognize the “Hazara Genocide”.
On September 30, a deadly suicide attack on the Kaaj Educational Centre, in a predominantly Hazara area in the West of Kabul killed around 60 students, mostly girls and wounded 126. This attack caused global protests and protesters started the “StopHazaraGenocide” movement and raised their voices for the recognition of the ‘Hazara Genocide’ in Afghanistan.
