[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8792-S8793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 133, which was 
submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the concurrent 
resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 133) declaring 
     genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, today the Senate is taking historic 
action, stating clearly that the atrocities occurring in Darfur are 
genocide, reminding the world of its obligations under the Genocide 
Convention, and calling on the administration to lead an international 
effort to stop the genocide. This resolution, which I introduced with 
my colleague, Sam Brownback, has broad, bipartisan support, and its 
unanimous approval by the U.S. Senate sends a powerful message--that 
this body will not remain silent as genocide occurs.
  The situation remains, as U.N. officials have called it, ``the 
world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.'' At least 30,000 have been 
killed. Mr. President, 1.2 million have been violently displaced from 
their villages, of whom 200,000 have fled to Chad. The potential death 
toll is horrifying. Andrew Natsios, Administrator of the U.S. Agency 
for International Development, has predicted that 300,000 will die this 
year, even in an ``optimistic'' scenario in which humanitarian 
assistance is provided, and that up to one million are at risk.
  This disaster is the result of the deliberate policies of the 
Government of Sudan and the ``janjaweed'' militias under its control. 
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch reported how Sudanese government 
documents themselves prove Khartoum's complicity. Those documents 
describe, in plain terms, the government's military support for the 
militias--its, quote ``loyalist tribes''--and its policy of tolerating 
the abuse of civilians by the militias.
  What has been the result? Janjaweed militias, along with Sudanese 
forces, have engaged in systematic attacks against civilians in Darfur. 
As recently confirmed by U.S. Government satellite photographs, 
villages have been burnt to the ground. Livestock and food stock have 
been destroyed, and water sources poisoned. Humanitarian assistance has 
been denied. Militias have murdered civilians and abducted children.
  Just this week, on Monday, Amnesty International issued a report 
describing how rape has been used as a weapon of war in Darfur. Amnesty 
described how women and girls as young as 8 have been raped and 
abducted, often with the involvement or acquiescence of Sudanese 
authorities. Janjaweed militia have raped women in public, in front of 
their families, with the intent of adding humiliation to the violence. 
Amnesty reports gang rapes, rapes of pregnant women, and torture and 
killings in the context of sexual violence. Darfurian women, who are 
often reluctant to talk about these experiences, nonetheless described 
how they were abducted and held captive during the day, when militia 
members were looting villages, so that they could be raped at night. 
Amnesty reported how rapes have occurred during attacks on villages, 
during the flight of civilians, and in the camps, all with total 
impunity. Not a single member of the janjaweed or the Sudanese armed 
forces have been charged with committing rape or abducting civilians.
  In addition to stopping this violence, we must act now to prevent 
death from starvation and disease. Hundreds of thousands of civilians 
are currently crowded into camps, where conditions are simply stated, 
horrendous. Humanitarian organizations now estimate that nearly half of 
the internationally displaced civilians in Darfur have inadequate food 
and shelter, that 61 percent lack sufficient water, and that 87 percent 
lack adequate sanitation. Many of the camps are off limits to 
international relief workers, and much of the countryside is 
inaccessible as well.
  The rains are adding to the obstacles presented to the humanitarian 
organizations. So, too, is the lack of security created by the militias 
and Sudanese forces. The result may be a complete break in the food 
pipeline, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands. As U.N. Under 
Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egelan said last week, 
``We are now in this moment of truth, which will last for some weeks.''

  Along with my colleague, Senator Brownback, I have introduced a 
resolution declaring the situation in Darfur to be genocide. Why is 
this so? To begin with, it is undisputed that the murders, rapes, 
abductions of children, displacements and denial of humanitarian 
assistance have been directed at particular ethnic groups, specifically 
the ethnically African groups--the Fur, Zagahwa, and Massalit. Both the 
U.S. and the U.N. have stated that ``ethnic cleansing'' is occurring. 
The U.S. Ambassador for War Crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper, has said 
that there are ``indicators of genocide.''
  What does the Genocide Convention of 1948 state? It defines genocide 
as killing, causing serious bodily harm, and deliberately inflicting 
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction--
all of which have occurred in Darfur--committed with intent to destroy, 
in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial or religious group. 
The Convention does not require that a certain number have died before 
it is genocide, only that the acts are occurring.
  This declaration is important because of our obligation--and that of 
the world--to stop genocide before it is too late. After all, the full 
name of the Genocide Convention is the ``Convention on the Prevention 
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.'' Article I of the Convention 
states that the contracting parties ``undertake to prevent and punish'' 
genocide. The United States and every other permanent member of the 
U.N. Security Council is a party to the Genocide Convention.
  The Genocide Convention arose out of the horror of the Holocaust, in 
a moment of history in which the world vowed never again to permit this 
evil. But the world has spoken much more recently. In late January 
2004, 55 governments participated in the Stockholm International Forum, 
``Preventing Genocide; Threats and Responsibilities.'' Those 
governments, which included the U.S., the U.K., France and Russia, 
declared, quote:

       The Holocaust . . . challenged the foundations of human 
     civilization . . . We are committed to shouldering our 
     responsibility to protect groups identified as potential 
     victims of genocide, mass murder or ethnic cleansing, drawing 
     upon the range of tools at our disposal to prevent such 
     atrocities in accordance with international law and fully 
     upholding the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
     the Crime of Genocide.

  This was this January. What do these words mean without action? More 
words, mere condemnations are not sufficient. Nor is humanitarian 
assistance possible without real intervention. The lack of food, water 
and sanitation have reached critical levels. But the problem is caused, 
and compounded, by the lack of security. As Jan Egelan said last week, 
quote ``The number one problem now is lack of security. Our trucks are 
looted, our humanitarian workers are threatened and attacked.''
  We must find ways to stop this catastrophe. This resolution calls on 
the President to lead an international effort to stop this genocide. In 
my view,

[[Page S8793]]

to be effective, we must take whatever actions are necessary, including 
armed intervention, to save the hundreds of thousands of lives that are 
at stake. I have called for a U.N.-authorized multinational force, as 
well as the provision of assistance to the African Union's critically 
important, but thus far, inadequate mission.
  In the end, the only thing that will matter is whether we have saved 
these lives, whether we have done whatever it takes to stop this 
genocide. This resolution is a powerful statement. But it must also 
serve as an impetus to the administration and to the rest of the world 
to act. Morally and legally, we have no other option.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to this matter be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 133) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 133

       Whereas Article 1 of the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (signed at Paris on 
     December 9, 1948) 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) complicit 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; 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 Contracting Parties to the Convention on 
     the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
     (signed at Paris on December 9, 1948), particularly the 
     Government of Sudan, of their legal obligations under the 
     Convention;
       (3) declares that the Government of Sudan, as a Contracting 
     Party, has violated the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
       (4) deplores the failure of the United Nations Human Rights 
     Commission to take appropriate action with respect to the 
     crisis in Darfur, Sudan, particularly the failure by the 
     Commission to support United States-sponsored efforts to 
     strongly condemn gross human rights violations committed in 
     Darfur, and calls upon the United Nations and the United 
     Nations Secretary General to assert leadership by calling the 
     atrocities being committed in Darfur by their rightful name: 
     ``genocide'';
       (5) calls on the member states of the United Nations, 
     particularly member states from the African Union, the Arab 
     League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to 
     undertake measures to prevent the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, 
     from escalating further, including the imposition of targeted 
     means against those responsible for the atrocities;
       (6) commends the Administration's leadership in seeking a 
     peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, and in 
     addressing the ensuing humanitarian crisis, including the 
     visit of Secretary of State Colin Powell to Darfur in June 
     2004 to engage directly in efforts to end the genocide, and 
     the provision of nearly $140,000,000 to date in bilateral 
     humanitarian assistance through the United States Agency for 
     International Development;
       (7) commends the President for appointing former Senator 
     John Danforth as Envoy for Peace in Sudan on September 6, 
     2001, and further commends the appointment of Senator 
     Danforth as United States Ambassador to the United Nations;
       (8) calls on the Administration to continue to lead an 
     international effort to stop genocide in Darfur, Sudan;
       (9) calls on the Administration to impose targeted means, 
     including visa bans and the freezing of assets, against 
     officials and other individuals of the Government of Sudan, 
     as well as Janjaweed militia commanders, who are responsible 
     for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan; 
     and
       (10) calls on the United States Agency for International 
     Development to establish a Darfur Resettlement, 
     Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Fund so that those 
     individuals driven off their land may return and begin to 
     rebuild their communities.

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