APR2P was please to host the VR Experince Nobody's Listening on 3rd July 2025 . This immersive, award-winning virtual reality experience that commemorates the Yazidi Genocide of 2014 in Northern Iraq. This 15-minute journey combines 360-degree documentary filmmaking, breathtaking Yazidi artwork, and cutting-edge virtual reality technology. Starting in Kocho village, Sinjar, the experience transitions to the internally displaced camps, offering a poignant and powerful narrative.
A pulic seminar Advancing Advocacy through Technology for Atrocity Prevention showed a condensed screening of Nobody’s Listening, followed by an engaging discussion on the current state of the Yazidi community and ongoing efforts to achieve justice and accountability for genocide survivors. The expert insights provided by Mr Ryan D’Souza, Exhibition Director and Founder of Nobody's Listening and Mr Thikran Mato, a Yazidi genocide survivor, human rights activist, and Director of Nobody’s Listening were extremly moving and powerful .
Ryan D’Souza, Exhibition Director / Founder Nobody’s Listening has been working on human rights advocacy and genocide prevention for the past 10 years. He has worked for the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISI. Before joining the United Nations peace operation in Somalia, he led advocacy and policy at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and during this time, he supported efforts by Yazda, Nadia Murad, and Amal Clooney to mobilize the UN Security Council to hold ISIS accountable for the genocide in northern Iraq.
Mr Thikran Mato, Director Nobody’s Listening is a human rights activist and Yazidi genocide survivor from Kocho, a village near Mount Sinjar in Iraq. He was forcibly separated from his family and held in captivity by ISIS for two years. After his rescue, Thikran and his family were resettled in Germany through a program for genocide survivors.
We also heard from Ms Kelsey Beaumont, Director of Programs, You Belong who oversees delivery of services across SE QLD. We welcomed back Kelsey who garduated from a Bachelor of International Studies (majoring in Peace and Conflict, and Spanish) in 2021. We note she was the Vice President of the Refugee Tutoring Club in her final year (and an active member of the club throughout her time at UQ).
