On behalf of the partners and supporters of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, we would like to extend our gratitude to the United States House of Representatives for passing H. Res. 296 405-11, which recognizes by its true name, a genocide, the extermination of 1,5 million innocent Armenians by Ottoman Turkish Empire a century ago. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative noted this in a statement.

The statement also reads as follows:

Founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative seeks to empower modern-day heroes to offer life and hope to those in urgent need of basic humanitarian aid anywhere in the world. Now in its fifth year, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has launched a global movement of "Gratitude in Action" and supported more than 850,000 people in poverty and war-stricken areas across 15 countries. We strive to honor the memory of those who perished during the Armenian Genocide by recognizing modern-day heroes who step-up in the face of adversity by helping others in the direst circumstances.

The timing of this historic vote is particularly poignant as the $1M Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was awarded just two weeks ago to Mirza Dinnayi, a Yazidi human rights activist who helped the most vulnerable members of the Yazidi community in Iraq during the atrocities committed by ISIS.

Vartan Gregorian, Co-Founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Noubar Afeyan, Co-Founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Tom Catena, Chair, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative seeks to empower modern-day saviors to offer life and hope to those in urgent need of basic humanitarian aid anywhere in the world and thus continue the cycle of giving internationally. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is Gratitude in Action. It is an eight-year commitment (2015 to 2023, in remembrance of the eight years of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1923) to support people and promote global projects that tackle the needs of the most helpless and destitute and do so at great risk. This is achieved through the Initiative’s various programs: The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, the Aurora Dialogues, the Aurora Humanitarian Index, the Gratitude Projects and the 100 LIVES Initiative. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is the vision of philanthropists Vartan Gregorian, Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan. Our Chair, Dr. Tom Catena, draws on his experience as a surgeon, veteran, humanitarian and the 2017 Aurora Prize laureate to spread the message of Gratitude in Action to a global audience. The Initiative welcomes all who embrace a commitment to our shared humanity.

The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is represented by three organizations – Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Foundation, Inc. (New York, USA), the 100 Lives Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) and the IDeA Foundation (Yerevan, Armenia).