[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3499-S3500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GENOCIDE IN SUDAN

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Each 
year, our Nation commemorates this tragic event with a week-long period 
of remembrance, and this Thursday, I will join several of my colleagues 
in a ceremony honoring the victims of the Holocaust in the Capitol 
Rotunda. The theme for this year's ``Days of Remembrance,'' the 
``Legacies of Justice,'' honors the courage and fortitude of those who 
testified during the trials of Nazi war criminals.
  As many of my colleagues know, I have a personal connection to those 
trials. My father, Senator Thomas Dodd, then a young lawyer, was asked 
by the chief counsel for the United States at Nuremberg, U.S. Supreme 
Court Justice Robert Jackson, to join his prosecutorial team. My father 
served as vice-chairman of the Review Board and as executive trial 
counsel, and his experiences at those trials greatly influenced his 
thinking on human rights and the importance of international justice 
for the rest of his life.
  One of the major accomplishments of the prosecutors and witnesses at 
Nuremberg was publicly exposing the scope of depravity of Nazi crimes. 
My father and his colleagues went to great lengths to meticulously 
record that evidence, and their efforts formed the basis of much of our 
current knowledge about the Holocaust. According to the U.S. Holocaust 
Memorial Museum, for example, it was during the Nuremberg trials that 
the world first heard the estimate of 6 million Jewish deaths.
  I believe that my father and his colleagues placed so much emphasis 
on revealing the extent of Nazi crimes in large part because they 
understood that the Nuremberg proceedings had the potential to reach an 
audience that far exceeded the four members and four alternate members 
of the Tribunal sitting in judgment of the defendants. These trials 
would reveal to the world and to future generations that such 
unthinkable crimes were possible, and that the international community 
must, therefore, stand up to injustice and abuse wherever they occur.
  The evidence uncovered by the Tribunal was truly horrific. Indeed, 
the crimes committed by the Nazis were so heinous that they required a 
new lexicon to describe them. These crimes were prosecuted under the 
legal terminology of ``crimes against humanity,'' but later, an 
entirely new word describing them was formalized: genocide. Genocide 
refers to certain actions committed with the ``intent to destroy, in 
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.''
  Sadly, the crime of genocide is not unique to the Holocaust. In 
Bosnia, Cambodia, and, of course, Rwanda, too many innocents died while 
the world looked away. And today, in Darfur, Sudan, escalating violence 
is claiming thousands of additional lives in a conflict that the 
Congress unanimously declared genocide almost 2 years ago, in July 
2004. Secretary of State Colin Powell made that same declaration in 
September of that year.
  Several weeks ago, I received a DVD about the situation in Darfur 
made by a group of Danbury, CT, high school students. The DVD, entitled 
``The Promise,'' is truly a wake-up call. The title, of course, refers 
to the promise made by the world after the Holocaust--the promise of 
``Never Again.''
  Yet, as these students so vividly portray, the people of Darfur 
continue to suffer while the world takes too little notice. By some 
estimates, as many as 300,000 people, many of them civilians, may have 
lost their lives in Darfur since the start of the conflict. The 
Government of Sudan has refused to curtail, and in many instances has 
actively supported, the activities of Jingaweit militias that have 
attacked and targeted tribal groups of African decent.
  In a particularly moving segment of their DVD, the Danbury students 
display some of the artwork of children who have fled their homes in 
Darfur. As the students say, so much can be learned through the eyes of 
a child, and these images, produced by the children without any 
prompting, are of war, fire, and death. I think of my own children and 
shudder to imagine them suffering through the terror that afflicts the 
children of Darfur every day. Indeed, despite all that we have learned 
since Nuremberg, I am sad to say that the promise of ``Never Again'' 
remains a promise unfulfilled.
  But while the story of Darfur is clearly one of tragedy, it is also 
one of hope. Since the start of the conflict, I have been impressed by 
the dedication and advocacy demonstrated by the people of Connecticut 
on this issue. If we are ever to fulfill ``the promise,'' it will be 
due to the extraordinary efforts of dedicated individuals such as these 
Danbury High School students. I am proud that these students, just like 
the brave individuals who stood up to testify at the Nuremberg 
Tribunals 60 years ago to demand justice, are standing up to demand 
action in Darfur today.
  In their DVD, the Danbury High School students cite a famous 
statement by Ghandi: ``Be the change you wish to see in the world.'' I 
can think of no greater compliment to these students and the numerous 
individuals in Connecticut and across this country who have advocated 
for increased international action in Darfur, than to say that they 
have lived up to that admonition. I ask unanimous consent that the 
names of the Danbury students who made this DVD be included in the 
record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. DODD. Today is a day of remembrance, but in remembering, we are 
also called to action. This week, we are debating the President's 
emergency supplemental request. To his credit, the President has 
included in that request substantial funds to support the African Union 
peacekeeping operation in Darfur and new humanitarian assistance.
  Moreover, the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations is 
scheduled to brief the Security Council tomorrow, on potential U.N. 
missions in Darfur. It is my hope that they will advocate a strong 
United Nations Peacekeeping force, despite Sudanese objections. It is 
also my fervent hope that we in the Senate actively support an 
increased international role in Darfur. Because only with our support 
can any international force hope to meet the enormous challenge of 
protecting the civilian population and providing a safe environment to 
supply humanitarian relief.
  Finally, just as at Nuremberg the international community enforced 
justice where justice had too long been blind, I call on the Bush 
administration to actively support the work of the International 
Criminal Court in prosecuting those individuals who have committed 
crimes against the people of Darfur and against all humanity. I know 
the ICC is not popular in some circles of the Bush administration, but 
I believe it is the best tool we have to enforce the vision of 
universal justice that was inspired by Nuremberg.
  Following the trials of the major war criminals before the 
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, President Truman 
declared: I have no hesitancy in declaring that the historic precedent 
set at Nuremberg abundantly justifies the expenditure of effort, 
prodigious though it was.
  Individuals such as my father expected that the historic precedent 
described by President Truman would long inspire nations to take action 
against crimes such as those prosecuted at Nuremberg. The lesson of 
Nuremberg to these individuals was indeed the promise of ``Never 
Again.'' I hope that on this somber day of remembrance, we will commit 
ourselves to renewing that promise.

                               Exhibit 1


               Background--A Danbury High School Project

       ``The Promise'' is a Danbury High School student video 
     about genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. After school 
     for three months at the end of 2005, a group of students 
     worked with assistant principal Tim Salem on the project. The 
     result is an eight minute documentary meant to raise 
     awareness about the genocide and motivate action. The name 
     ``The Promise'' is a reminder of the promise the United 
     Nations and the world made in 1945 to hold people accountable 
     for crimes against humanity. With the backdrop of the 
     Holocaust, narration, images and quotations, the focus is on 
     the plight of

[[Page S3500]]

     the children of Darfur. The world was promised ``never 
     again''. The children and people of Darfur are waiting.


                                Credits

       All students are members of the class of 2006 Danbury High 
     School, Danbury, Connecticut.
       Created by: Timothy Salem and Brian Simalchik.
       With: Katherine Calle, Caitlin Eaglin, Catherine Trieu and 
     Lily Yeung.
       Written by: Timothy Salem.
       Narrated by: Emily DeMasi.
       Edited by: Brian Simalchik.
       Appearing: Katherine Calle, Emily DeMasi, Caitlin Eaglin, 
     Mathew Ficinus, Simone Hill, Nick Noone, Michael Steinmetz, 
     Catherine Trieu, Brian Wright.
       Special thanks to: Brianna English, William Najam, Emmanuel 
     Omokaro, Adam Pin, Greg Scalzo, David Shih, Iwonka Stepniak, 
     Allison Walker.

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