[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1171 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1171

Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda and joining 
 people in Rwanda and around the world in remembering and mourning the 
                        victims of the genocide.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2024

Ms. Omar (for herself, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carson, 
    and Mr. McGovern) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda and joining 
 people in Rwanda and around the world in remembering and mourning the 
                        victims of the genocide.

Whereas, 30 years ago, for approximately 100 days from April to June 1994, an 
        estimated 800,000 people, the majority members of the Tutsi minority, 
        were killed in the Rwandan Genocide;
Whereas the genocide targeted Tutsis, Twa, and Hutus who opposed the genocide;
Whereas nearly 70 percent of the Tutsi population of Rwanda was killed during 
        the genocide;
Whereas the Rwandan Genocide is remembered for its particular brutality, wherein 
        the majority of those killed were killed with hand-held weapons like 
        machetes and clubs;
Whereas the genocide included not just mass killings, but mass displacement, and 
        the extensive use of rape as a weapon of war;
Whereas the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, hereinafter referred 
        to as ``UNAMIR'', was dramatically scaled down in the early days of the 
        genocide, with many countries choosing to withdraw their contingents;
Whereas the force commander of UNAMIR, Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, had 
        accurately predicted the genocide months before it began, but was denied 
        the additional resources and authorities he needed to help prevent it;
Whereas the Clinton administration showed sustained public reluctance to refer 
        to the genocide as a genocide, instead choosing to employ euphemism such 
        as ``acts of genocide'' despite knowing that genocide was indeed 
        occurring;
Whereas President Clinton has, on several occasions, expressed profound regret 
        for the United States inaction during the genocide, saying in 2013 that 
        he believed that had the United States intervened, 300,000 lives could 
        have been saved; and
Whereas the United States was the first signatory of the Convention on the 
        Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, but did not ratify 
        it until 1988: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the 30th anniversary of the genocide in 
        Rwanda;
            (2) joins people in Rwanda and around the world in 
        remembering and mourning the victims of the genocide;
            (3) expresses profound regret at the United States and 
        international community's failure to adequately respond to the 
        genocide as it was unfolding;
            (4) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to the 
        goals of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide; and
            (5) reaffirms the importance of atrocity prevention and 
        justice as fundamental principles of American foreign policy.
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