The Second Annual Human Rights Essay Contest in Artsakh was launched September 1, 2017 at the Zabel Yessayan School in Arajamugh. The contest aims to introduce the students of Artsakh to a leading Armenian writer and human rights activist who bridged the history of Western and Eastern Armenia in the early 20th century. The contest encourages students to understand the battle for human rights in Artsakh and Armenia as part of an ongoing cultural and historical tradition.
Zabel Yessayan was a pioneering author and political activist who fought for human rights and free speech in the Ottoman Empire, Soviet Armenia, and the Soviet Union. Her life and work inspire us to explore our commitment to social justice.
The essay contest is held by the Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan and the liason from the United States, Judith Saryan and is targeted to high school students in grades 9 – 12. The students will write short essays (1200 words or less) based on the human rights discourse in Yessayan’s The Gardens of Silihdar, the memoir of her childhood in Constantinople (Istanbul) in the late 19th century. Students will answer the universal question of why human rights are important, and will address human rights issues raised by Yessayan and describe Zabel Yessayan’s experience compared to their own.
