[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10342-S10346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GENOCIDE
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today is a day which can be historic.
Important items will be discussed on the floor of the Senate, including
health insurance for literally millions of American kids. At the same
time, there is a debate that has been started in New York at the United
Nations Security Council. It is a debate about a genocide.
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It is, thank goodness, rare that we have to address the issue of
genocide in this world, but today we must. We are talking of a genocide
today, in New York, at the Security Council, that has caused untold
human misery, mass murder, dislocation, torture, rape, and the torching
of entire villages. For 4 years the world has watched this tragedy.
That's right, for 4 years.
Haven't we learned our lesson when it comes to letting genocide
continue without taking action?
There is a great Senate story involving former Wisconsin Senator Bill
Proxmire. In 1967, Senator Proxmire began a streak in the Senate that
has never been broken. Mr. President, 18 years earlier, in 1949,
President Truman had sent the United Nations Genocide Convention to the
Senate for advice and consent. In 1967, it was still languishing, held
up by a small band of Senators who opposed it. Many Senators just shook
their head because of this opposition. Bill Proxmire rose to his feet.
Starting in 1967, Senator Proxmire made a speech every day the Senate
was in session, for 19 years, imploring the Senate to adopt the
Genocide Convention. All together, he gave 3,211 speeches--each one of
them different. In 1986 the Senate gave its consent to the treaty.
Why did Senator Proxmire continue to give all those speeches, day
after day, year after year? It wasn't just stubbornness. It was a moral
obligation, and because he understood genocide was happening again. At
that time it was happening in Cambodia.
Between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge murdered 2 million people. The
United States wisely and bravely led the international effort to hold
the Nazi co-conspirators to account at Nuremberg. We and the rest of
the world failed to act while Cambodia was being turned into killing
fields.
In 1994 we failed to act again when between 800,000 and 1 million
people were murdered in Rwanda in 1 month.
Sadly, we have failed to take the necessary action to stop the
genocide in Darfur. More than 2\1/2\ years have passed since the U.N.
commission of inquiry concluded that:
Crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed
in Darfur and may be no less serious and heinous than
genocide.
Earlier this year, President Bush declared:
For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the
hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing,
murder and rape of innocent civilians. My administration has
called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. The
world has a responsibility to put an end to it.
Yesterday, the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in a
joint press conference with President Bush that:
Darfur is the greatest humanitarian crisis the world faces
today.
Yet it is not simply enough to acknowledge genocide. We need to
follow Senator Proxmire's example in having the courage, in real time,
to act against it.
The crisis in Darfur has been repeated over and over. Paul Salopek, a
Chicago Tribune reporter, was captured and jailed by the Khartoum
government for 34 days last year. He wrote a haunting description of
what one sees when you fly over the villages of Darfur. This is what he
wrote:
Their torched huts seen from the air, look like cigarette
burns on a torture victim's skin.
Most recently, Refugees International released a report documenting
that:
Rape on a mass scale is one of the hallmarks of the
conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. An estimated 300,000
people in Darfur have been killed during this genocide;
300,000 people in a country of 40 million. In the United
States that would be the equivalent of over 2 million people
killed.
Incredibly, the Sudanese Government claims the atrocities are part of
their war on terror. At a press conference in Washington earlier this
summer, Sudan's Ambassador to the United States compared the slaughter
to a family quarrel, and he said:
Just you and your cousin fighting with you.
Just this last week, Sudanese President Bashir visited Darfur and
said:
Most of Darfur is now secure and enjoying real peace.
People there are ``living normal lives.''
These are lies. This is genocide. It is calculated. It is happening
on our watch, in our time.
This week, the global community has a chance to finally make a
difference. I am going to join today with Senators Feingold and
Menendez in calling for a decisive vote at the United Nations on an
expanded peacekeeping force and renewed diplomatic effort in Darfur.
The U.N. Security Council will vote this week, maybe even today, on a
new United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force that can make a
dramatic difference in stemming the violence in Darfur. It also
provides an equally important opportunity for peace negotiations.
After years of duplicity in the genocide, Sudanese President Bashir
agreed last month to the significant expanded joint United Nations-
African Union peacekeeping force. Yet a series of his recent comments
contradict that commitment, and a history of involvement in violence
makes immediate action all the more important.
The need is simple--rapid deployment of the new peacekeeping force
and a renewed diplomatic effort at a long-term political settlement.
I have tried in some small way to urge the members of the United
Nations Security Council to act swiftly. I discussed urgency of these
matters with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Ambassadors of
China, Ghana, Republic of Congo, Russia, and South Africa. All were
current or permanent members of the Security Council. It is the first
time I have ever picked up the phone to call Ambassadors from other
countries about a vote in the United Nations Security Council, but I
think it is that important. It is my hope that our U.N. Ambassador,
Zalmay Khalilzad, will work closely with these nations and Secretary
General Ban to make these steps a reality.
I stressed to the Secretary General and to the Ambassadors that the
Security Council should be firm in its mandate. We need a force with
sufficient resources and numbers; a strong mandate to protect
civilians, peacekeepers, and humanitarian workers; a clear U.N. command
and control structure, and benchmarks with the threat of sanctions that
hold the Sudanese Government accountable; no room for further stalling
or delay by the Sudanese Government; a renewed diplomatic effort to
bring about a long-term political settlement, including naming a
Special Representative of the Secretary General to monitor
implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement; and the force must
be deployed as quickly as possible.
Congress, the administration, and the private sector--we all need to
take action to end the genocide in Darfur. In Congress we have passed
the Genocide Accountability Act, which allows the prosecution of
genocide committed by anyone currently in the United States, regardless
of where the genocide occurred. We have passed language in the Iraq
supplemental bill that requires the Treasury Department to submit to
Congress a report that lists the companies operating in the Sudanese
natural resources industry, and requires the General Services
Administration to report to Congress on whether the U.S. Government has
an active contract with any of those companies.
Later today the House is expected to pass a bill that would support
State and local divestment efforts, require companies to disclose
Sudanese-related business activities, investigate whether the Federal
Retirement Thrift Investment Board has invested funds in any of these
companies operated in Sudan, and bar the U.S. Government from operating
with any companies operating to benefit the Sudanese regime.
A few weeks ago, the Senate passed the International Emergency
Economic Powers Enhancement Act, which increases civil and criminal
penalties associated with violating American economic sanctions such as
those against Sudan. I encourage our House counterparts to pass this
bill as well.
I have introduced legislation similar to the bill the House is
expected to pass today that would support State governments that decide
to encourage public funds to divest from Sudan-related investments.
That bill has strong bipartisan support, nearly a third of the Senate.
We tried to pass it, but someone in the Senate has put a hold on that
bill.
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They have decided we should not move quickly to try to divest and
discourage genocide. I urge whatever Republican colleague on that side
has put a hold on this bill to seriously stop and consider the impact
of this political move. We need to make sure the House and the Senate
are on record on a bipartisan basis, clearly, unequivocally.
I have also included in the Senate Financial Services and General
Government Appropriations Act language requiring the administration to
report on the effectiveness of the current sanctions regime and
recommended steps Congress can take.
Personally, some of us have decided to divest from Sudan-related
investments in our own portfolios as a gesture of solidarity. The
administration has taken some important steps. In April of this year,
at the Holocaust Museum, President Bush declared rightly that the
United States has a moral obligation to stop the genocide in Darfur.
Recently the President took the first step toward meeting that
obligation by ordering the U.S. sanctions against Sudan be tightened.
The Treasury Department is adding 30 companies that are owned or
controlled by the Government of Sudan to a list of firms that are
barred from U.S. financial assistance. The Office of Foreign Assets
Control within the Treasury Department, working with other agencies,
has worked hard to tighten economic and political sanctions.
Although these are important steps, I wish the U.S. Government, the
Congress, and the President, had taken these steps sooner. Ultimately,
we and the private sector must do all we can to ensure the genocide in
Darfur once and for all is brought to an end.
I am going to end today with a quote from Nobel laureate and
Holocaust survivor Eli Weisel:
Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the
victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented.
I see on the floor my colleagues from Wisconsin and New Jersey who
join me today in this floor effort, this message to the United Nations.
I wish to thank Senator Menendez for his continuing interest in this
Darfur genocide. He has carried on in the Senate a tradition started
when I first came here by his predecessor, Senator Corzine.
I also wish to thank Senator Feingold, who is chairman of the African
Subcommittee of Foreign Relations. He has a special interest in that
continent and a special dedication to ending the genocide in Darfur.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I wish to thank my distinguished
colleague, Senator Durbin, for bringing us together today to talk about
the ongoing genocide in Darfur and, more specifically, the upcoming
U.N. Security Council resolution and for his continuing efforts in the
Senate.
I am also honored and pleased to be with Senator Feingold, who has
been such an incredibly powerful voice on this issue, both in his
position as the chairman of the African Subcommittee on Foreign
Relations and in his principle position itself. I am honored to join
with them in this effort.
Today, as we speak on the Senate floor, the U.N. Security Council is
negotiating a new Darfur resolution. So today we are on the Senate
floor to send a loud and clear message to the United Nations. The
people of Darfur need a strong and meaningful resolution that puts into
action the end of the genocide and ensures that a United Nations-
African Union troop force gets into Darfur.
Today, we are here to add our voices to those who call for a U.N.
resolution with strong authority, for a robust hybrid United Nations-
African Union force, and a full mandate and speedy deployment. It has
long been clear that the overstretched and underfunded African Union
troops cannot end the genocide. If this new force is not allowed in,
the carnage and the destruction we have witnessed now for over 4 years
will continue.
We have known that a U.N. force is the key to ending the violence in
Darfur, and we have tried in the past to put it into place. Over a year
ago, when I first came to the Senate, I got the Senate to pass an
amendment for $60 million to fund the U.N. peacekeeping force in
Darfur. I was joined by my colleagues in that effort.
Almost 1 year ago, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1706,
which called for 22,500 U.N. troops and police officers to support the
African Union force in Sudan. Yet we still see no hybrid force on the
ground. We still hear of attacks on humanitarian workers, we still
learn of atrocities against civilians.
The lives of these millions of displaced persons now hang in a
delicate balance between life and death. If we were in the refugee
camps being attacked, who among us would be content with the counsels
of: patience, patience, and delay. Who?
Let's be frank; it has been the Government of Sudan that has kept
this force from entering. Now they recently have agreed to allow a
force in. Yet we have heard these words before. Words mean little
without real action. That is why I am pleased this new U.N. Security
Council will likely include the transfer of authority to a hybrid
United Nations-African Union mission that will allow the use of force
to ensure the security and movement of the mission's personnel and
humanitarian workers.
But to be meaningful, this force must be deployed, and it must be
deployed as quickly as humanly possible. I am disappointed, however,
that after rounds of negotiations, the resolution was ultimately
watered down. From what I understand, there will be no reference to
sanctions, there will be no right to seize and dispose of illegal arms,
there will be no reference to the jingaweit, the brutal pro-Khartoum
militia force responsible for many of the atrocities.
While I understand the need to negotiate a resolution that will pass,
ultimately, we cannot let this manipulation continue. We cannot let
Sudan's Ambassador have veto power over these lives. We cannot let
nations with permanent seats and veto power on the Council continue to
act irresponsibly. That is where I wish to close.
China says they generally approve, generally approve of the new
resolution. They have been working, however, behind the scenes to
weaken it. They reportedly helped remove references to sanctions. They
reportedly objected to its ``controversial tone'' about genocide.
Simply put, they continue to act in their own economic interest. We
have seen them take some positive steps in the past, and it is positive
that they are reportedly not going to block this resolution and that
they may even support it.
But such a small step when China is under public international
pressure is simply not enough. That is why I am pleased my resolution
on China and Darfur passed the Senate last night. This resolution,
which my colleagues on the floor supported, calls on China to use its
unique influence and economic leverage to stop the genocide and
violence in Darfur.
China has longstanding economic and military ties with Sudan, and
they must use their economic leverage to do more than fill their
wallet. As China prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Summer Games, we
must hold the Chinese Government accountable to act consistently with
the Olympic standard of preserving human dignity around the world,
including in Darfur.
Once again, the international community finds itself with another
opportunity to bring about real change in Darfur. The resolution being
passed by the U.N. Security Council will only be meaningful if measures
with teeth are included.
As John Prendergast, senior adviser to the International Crisis
Group, said recently in testimony before Congress:
Barking without biting is the diplomatic equivalent of
giving comfort to the enemy.
Time has run out for negotiations. Time has run out for the Khartoum
Government to balk. Time has run out for watered down U.N. Security
Council resolutions. We must get that hybrid force on the ground. We
must end the genocide.
If ``never again'' is to have real meaning, if those words we use are
to have real meaning, it has to have strong action to stop the
genocide, strong action that history will judge as among the righteous,
anything less will lend to our collective condemnation, and to the
ever-nagging conscience that will not rest as others die.
That is the choice before the U.N. Security Council. I am glad those
of us here are making our voices felt so, hopefully, the Council will
act and we can have meaningful action to ``never again.''
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Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues on
the floor today to raise the critical and timely issue of the U.N.
Security Council's authorization of an expanded peacekeeping mission
for the Darfur region of Sudan. Senator Durbin has been a stalwart
advocate for the people of Darfur for years and I admire and appreciate
his dedication to keeping their plight at the top of Congress's agenda
and to making sure we finally take strong action to help the more than
2 million displaced Darfuris who are languishing in squalid camps and
punish those who continue to be responsible for their plight.
The United Nations Security Council is currently considering a
resolution expected to authorize a robust peacekeeping mission to
protect the innocent people of Darfur. This is of course a welcome, and
overdue, effort. By now, there is little disagreement anywhere in the
world that the current force of just over 7,000 courageous but
underequipped and beleaguered African Union peacekeepers is not
adequately protecting civilians or aid workers from attacks by rebels
and government-sponsored militias, nor are they able to sufficiently
safeguard humanitarian access to the tens of thousands whose survival
now depends upon outside assistance. The AU force in Darfur has
repeatedly been deprived of adequate resources and equipment, and yet
despite this inconsistent support they have remained committed to the
job. Support from the United Nations has been in theory forthcoming,
for quite some time. In principle, the roadblocks have been many and
the unfortunate result of this hobbled mission transition has been more
violence, more displacement, and more death throughout Darfur.
The recent acceptance to expedite the transition of this mission to a
more robust U.N.-AU mission is a step in the right direction, but we
must bear in mind the number of agreements that have long since been
overlooked, ignored, or flat-out rejected by the Sudanese Government.
And while a draft resolution being circulated indicates that the
international community is actively moving forward to deploy this
hybrid force, I am very disappointed that the resolution's cosponsors
have succumbed to pressure from the Sudanese and deleted language which
condemned the government for violations of past U.N. resolutions and
peace agreements and removed the threat of sanctions in the event of
continued noncompliance. The United States Ambassador to the United
Nations, Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad suggests that the United States has been
``flexible'' and ``open minded in terms of non-core issues'' when
negotiating this resolution, and I can only hope the administration
will not .show flexibility when firmness is required. I certainly
understand the necessity of diplomatic compromise; however, I feel
strongly that the draft resolution being circulated in New York has
been unacceptably weakened.
The amended resolution begins by ``Recalling all its previous
resolutions and presidential statements concerning the situation in
Sudan.'' In fact, however, this new proposal steps back from nearly a
dozen Security Council resolutions, dating back to July 2004. Those
resolutions were not just addressing the ``situation in Sudan''--they
were expressing concern over the rising violence in Darfur and the role
of the Sudanese Government in perpetuating the conflict. The
distinction here is an important one and should not be overlooked.
The preamble goes on to detail the development and endorsement of the
so-called Addis Ababa Agreement, which laid out the three-phased
approach to an unprecedented joint United Nations-African Union
``hybrid'' peacekeeping mission. At that time--8 months ago--then-
Secretary-General Kofi Annan seemed confident that troops would be
mobilizing soon, and the U.S. administration promptly welcomed what it
called ``the successful outcome of this historic meeting.''
What appears to have been forgotten in November, and again in the
current U.N. debate, is that in August of 2006--just about a year ago--
the Security Council passed Resolution 1706, which authorized up to
22,500 U.N. troops and police officers for a robust United Nations
peacekeeping force with the power to use all necessary means to protect
humanitarian aid workers and civilian populations, as well as to seize
and dispose of illegal weapons. The new resolution currently being
considered in New York does not reference Resolution 1706 or the
Sudanese Government's defiant refusal to comply with its provisions.
Nor does it draw the appropriate lessons from the failed attempt to
deploy U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur almost a year ago.
Rather than include stronger monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to
ensure that the Sudanese Government and other parties to the conflict
abide by existing agreements and cooperate with the new peacekeeping
mission, the resolution's cosponsors appear to have backed down to
Sudanese pressure. Their weakened resolution omits a condemnation of
Sudan for failing to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need,
deletes reference to evidence of violations of the UNSC-mandated arms
embargo--which many outside experts have noted has been repeatedly
violated with little consequence--drops a request that the Secretary
General immediately report any breach of this or previous resolutions
and agreements, and removes a threat that the U.N. would take ``further
measures''--in other words, sanctions--in the event of noncompliance.
How can we believe that individuals will be held accountable for their
actions when we have seen such entrenched impunity?
In terms of the peacekeeping mission envisioned for Darfur,this new
resolution is much less ambitious than Resolution 1706. The new
``UNAMID'' mission is referred to as an ``operation,'' rather than a
``force,'' and rather than giving peacekeepers the authority to ``use
all necessary means'' to protect civilians and aid workers, the new
resolution allows them only to ``take all necessary action.'' These
semantic distinctions reveal a worrisome retreat from the robust,
capable mission authorized in Resolution 1706. And yet, the Sudanese
Government has criticized even this diluted resolution. As I said
before, diplomatic compromise is important, but not as important as
making sure we finally have the tools to punish and put a stop to
atrocities.
Sudan's obstruction of this most recent international effort to end
the genocide in Darfur should not surprise anyone. After all, this is
the same regime we saw attack its own citizens in indiscriminate
bombing raids and obstruct humanitarian access during 2 decades of
bloody civil war with southern Sudan. These same tactics are being used
today in Darfur.
Last week, in its first overall review of Sudan's record for more
than a decade, the U.N.'s independent Human Rights Committee said that
``widespread and systematic serious human rights violations--including
murder, rape, forced displacement and attacks against the civil
population--have been and continue to be committed with total impunity
throughout Sudan and particularly in Darfur.'' The only thing more
disturbing than the Sudanese Government's practice of organized
atrocities as a method of governance is the inability of the
international community so far to put a stop to these crimes and secure
justice for the victims.
How many more families must be displaced? How many more innocent
lives lost? How many more U.N. resolutions, presidential statements,
political speeches, and public rallies will be needed? How much
evidence of calculated persecution will it take before the
international community stands up to the Sudanese Government and the
rebels, brings them to the negotiating table, and deploys an expanded
peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and ultimately, help secure
the peace, in a region that for too long has received much attention
but little action?
Although the revised resolution omits the original reference to Chad
and the Central African Republic, it does express ``concern that the
ongoing violence in Darfur might further negatively affect the rest of
Sudan as well as the region.'' The short- and long-term impacts of the
crisis in Darfur are real, far-reaching, and very troubling. The
humanitarian consequences will require massive logical coordination and
rehabilitation assistance. Economically, the rebuilding of
infrastructure and livelihoods will demand additional resources and
technical support. And this will be required not just for
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Darfur but for the whole of Sudan, as well as the broader region.
If this U.N. resolution is passed as it currently stands, we can
expect the Sudanese Government to try to evade its requirements and
agreements without a single consequence. Should that happen, the toll
of the genocide in Darfur will continue to mount--in lives lost, in
persons displaced, and in fundamental human values that the
international community has failed to uphold.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. How much time remains in morning business?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. One minute on the Democratic side
and 1 minute on the Republican side.
Mr. DURBIN. I yield back the remaining time on our side and suggest
the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BAUCUS. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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