[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

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                               speech of

                       HON. DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN

                         of the virgin islands

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. 
Con. Res. 467, a bill that declares genocide in Darfur, Sudan and I 
commend its sponsor for introducing it.
  Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago, genocide occurred in Rwanda. In a little 
over three months, 800,000 people had died and 2 million more had fled 
their homes while the U.S. and other nations stood by and watched, 
later promising that it would never let such a crime happen again.
  Today, we have the opportunity to live up to our promise. We have the 
opportunity to perform our role as a contracting party in the United 
Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 
Genocide. We have the opportunity to prevent the continuation of the 
brutal murders that have already taken place in Darfur, Sudan. 30,000 
civilians have already been murdered, 130,000 more have fled to 
neighboring Chad, and around 1,000,000 more have been forced into 
refugee camps.
  If we do not act immediately, the death toll will continue to rise. 
Estimates say that within the next several months, the death toll could 
rise to 300,000 people or more. We cannot stand by, watch, and once 
again promise that we will never let such atrocities occur. We have the 
opportunity to support H. Con. Res. 467, thereby declaring genocide in 
Sudan and urging the President to act immediately to alleviate this 
terrible situation.
  Mr. Speaker, we must act immediately. I ask that we unite and support 
H. Con. Res. 467 to end the furtherance of these atrocious crimes 
against humanity.

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