[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 307 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 307

Reaffirming support of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 
of the Crime of Genocide and anticipating the commemoration of the 15th 
anniversary of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation 
          Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 2002

 Mr. Torricelli submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                    to the Committe on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Reaffirming support of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 
of the Crime of Genocide and anticipating the commemoration of the 15th 
anniversary of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation 
          Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003.

Whereas, in 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust, the international community 
        responded to Nazi Germany's methodically orchestrated acts of genocide 
        by approving the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide;
Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
        confirms that genocide is a crime under international law, defines 
        genocide as certain acts committed with intent to destroy a national, 
        ethnical, racial or religious group, and provides that parties to the 
        Convention undertake to enact domestic legislation to provide effective 
        penalties for persons who are guilty of genocide;
Whereas the United States, under President Harry Truman, stood as the first 
        nation to sign the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide;
Whereas the United States Senate ratified the Convention on the Prevention and 
        Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on February 19, 1986;
Whereas the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) 
        (Public Law 100-606), signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 
        November 4, 1988, amended the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1091) to 
        criminalize genocide under the United States law;
Whereas the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act marked a 
        principled stand by the United States against the crime of genocide and 
        an important step toward ensuring that the lessons of the Holocaust, the 
        Armenian Genocide, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, among others, 
        will be used to help prevent future genocides;
Whereas, despite the international community's consensus against genocide, as 
        demonstrated by the fact that 133 nations are party to the Convention on 
        the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and through other 
        instruments and actions, denial of past instances of genocide continues 
        and many thousands of innocent people continue to be victims of 
        genocide; and
Whereas November 4, 2003 is the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the 
        Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act): Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) reaffirms its support of the Convention on the 
        Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
            (2) anticipates the commemoration of the 15th anniversary 
        of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act 
        of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003; and
            (3) encourages the people and Government of the United 
        States to rededicate themselves to the cause of bringing an end 
        to the crime of genocide.
                                 <all>