[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 124 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 124

                  Declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2004

Mr. Brownback (for himself, Mr. Corzine, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
     DeWine, and Mr. Feingold) submitted the following concurrent 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
                  Declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Whereas Article 1 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and 
        Punishment of the Crime of Genocide states that ``the contracting 
        parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in 
        time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to 
        prevent and to punish'';
Whereas Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide declares that ``in the present Convention, genocide 
        means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in 
        whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as 
        such: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or 
        mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the 
        group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical 
        destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to 
        prevent births within the group; and (e) forcibly transferring children 
        of the group to another group'';
Whereas Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide affirms that the ``following acts shall be punishable: 
        (a) genocide; (b) conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) direct and public 
        incitement to commit genocide; (d) attempt to committed genocide; and 
        (e) complicity in genocide'';
Whereas in Darfur, Sudan, an estimated 30,000 innocent civilians have been 
        brutally murdered, more than 130,000 people have been forced from their 
        homes and have fled to neighboring Chad, and more than 1,000,000 people 
        have been internally displaced;
Whereas Andrew Natsios, the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
        International Development, has predicted that 300,000 civilians in 
        Darfur will die within the year under ``optimal conditions'' in which 
        humanitarian assistance is provided, and that as many as 1,000,000 
        civilians in Darfur are at risk; and
Whereas in March 2004 the United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator 
        stated: ``[T]he war in Darfur started off in a small way last year but 
        it has progressively gotten worse. A predominant feature of this is that 
        the brunt is being borne by civilians. This includes vulnerable women 
        and children . . . The violence in Darfur appears to be particularly 
        directed at a specific group based on their ethnic identity and appears 
        to be systemized.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) declares that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur, 
        Sudan, are genocide;
            (2) reminds the President and the international community 
        of their international legal obligations, as affirmed in the 
        1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 
        of the Crime of Genocide;
            (3) urges the President to call the atrocities being 
        committed in Darfur, Sudan by their rightful name: 
        ``genocide'';
            (4) commends the leadership of the President in seeking a 
        peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan and in 
        addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by that conflict, 
        including the provision of assistance to meet immediate 
        humanitarian needs in Darfur, Sudan and Eastern Chad;
            (5) urges the President to seek a United Nations Security 
        Council resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations 
        Charter that directs the Member States of the United Nations to 
        impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for the 
        atrocities committed in Darfur, Sudan, authorizes a 
        multinational force to guarantee humanitarian access and 
        security for foreign aid workers and internally displaced 
        persons, urges a halt to violence committed by armed militias 
        and by the armed forces of Sudan and the safe, secure, and the 
        sustainable return of internally displaced persons and refugees 
        to their homes, creates a Commission of Inquiry to investigate 
        the unfolding genocide, recommends measures to create 
        accountability in Darfur, Sudan, and calls for the 
        establishment of a formal peace process for permanent 
        resolution of grievances between Darfurians and the Government 
        of Sudan;
            (6) calls on the Administrator of the United States Agency 
        for International Development to establish a Darfur 
        Resettlement, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Fund to fund 
        assistance for those driven off their land so that they may 
        return and begin to rebuild their communities; and
            (7) urges the President to provide political and financial 
        support to the African Union to promote its effective 
        intervention in Darfur, Sudan to achieve security, humanitarian 
        assistance, and accountability.
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