[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 24, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7010-S7013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Feingold):
  S. 1346. A bill to penalize crimes against humanity and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Crimes 
Against Humanity Act of 2009. This narrowly-tailored legislation would 
make it a violation of U.S. law to commit a crime against humanity. 
Congress must ensure that criminals who commit mass atrocities do not 
find safe haven in our country.
  I would like to thank the other original cosponsors of the Crimes 
Against Humanity Act, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Chairman of 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Russell Feingold of 
Wisconsin, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the 
Constitution and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Subcommittee on African Affairs.
  For generations, the U.S. has led the struggle for human rights 
around the world and has supported holding perpetrators of crimes 
against humanity accountable. Over 50 years before the Nuremberg 
trials, George Washington Williams, an African-American minister, 
lawyer and historian, called for an international commission to 
investigate ``crimes against humanity'' in the Congo, which was then 
ruled by Belgium's King Leopold II. Under King Leopold's iron fist, 
Congo's population was reduced by half, with up to 10 million people 
losing their lives. In a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. 
Williams decried the ``crimes against humanity'' perpetrated by King 
Leopold's regime.
  Over 50 years later, following the Holocaust, the U.S. led the 
efforts to prosecute Nazi perpetrators for crimes against humanity at 
the Nuremberg trials. Crimes against humanity were first defined in the 
Nuremberg Charter in 1945. Sixteen men were found guilty of crimes 
against humanity in the Nuremberg trials, including Hermann Goring, 
commander of the Luftwaffe and the highest-ranking official to order 
the ``Final Solution.''
  Since then, the U.S. has supported efforts to prosecute perpetrators 
of crimes against humanity, including Nazi war criminals who had 
escaped accountability. In 1961, Adolf Eichman, the ``architect of the 
Holocaust,'' was convicted in Israel for committing crimes against 
humanity. Michael Musmanno, a U.S. Naval officer and judge at the 
Nuremberg trials, was a key prosecution witness. In 1987, Klaus Barbie, 
the ``Butcher of Lyon'', was convicted in France for crimes against 
humanity he committed while heading the Gestapo in Lyon.
  The U.S. has also supported the prosecution of crimes against 
humanity before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 
Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the 
Special Court for Sierra Leone.
  More recently, we have seen crimes against humanity being committed 
on a massive scale in Darfur in western Sudan. In this region of six 
million people, hundreds of thousands were killed and as many as 2.5 
million were driven from their homes in recent years. Part of the 
solution to the carnage in Darfur is arresting and prosecuting the 
perpetrators. Otherwise, these perpetrators will continue to act with 
impunity and victims will feel they have no recourse but to resort to 
violence themselves.
  We have also seen crimes against humanity being committed in the 
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, most disturbingly through the use 
of rape as a weapon of war. The systematic and deliberate use of mass 
rape to humiliate, expel and destroy communities in the eastern 
Democratic Republic of Congo offends our common humanity.
  However, it is not only Darfur and the eastern Democratic Republic of 
Congo that are safe havens for the perpetrators of crimes against 
humanity. Perpetrators of mass atrocities have sought to escape 
accountability for their actions by coming to our own country. 
According to the Department of Homeland Security, over 1000 war 
criminals have found safe haven in the United States.
  I am the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Human Rights and the 
Law Subcommittee. Last year I held a Human Rights and the Law 
Subcommittee hearing entitled ``From Nuremberg to Darfur: 
Accountability for Crimes Against Humanity.'' This hearing identified a 
glaring loophole in U.S. law--currently, there is no U.S. law 
prohibiting crimes against humanity. As a result, the U.S. government 
is unable to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity found in 
our country. In contrast, other grave human rights violations, 
including genocide, using or recruiting child soldiers, and torture, 
are crimes under U.S. law.
  We heard testimony in the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee that 
many U.S. allies have incorporated crimes against humanity into their 
criminal codes, including Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, 
New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Argentina and the United Kingdom.
  Expert witnesses testified before the Subcommittee about the urgent 
need for the United States to enact similar legislation. Gayle Smith, 
the Co-Founder of the Enough Project, testified that it is in our 
national interest to enact crimes against humanity legislation:

       If unchallenged, the violence that defines crimes against 
     humanity feeds on itself: conflicts spread, institutions 
     crumble, economies decline and young people are taught the 
     dangerous lesson that violence is more potent tool for change 
     than hope. . . . Ensuring that those who commit crimes 
     against humanity are in violation of U.S. law is in our 
     national interests, and clearly in the interests of the 
     victims who have few if any protectors or defenders.

  Diane Orentlicher, a law professor at American University's 
Washington College of Law and one of our country's leading experts on 
human rights crimes, testified:

       The United States has, since Nuremberg, provided 
     indispensable leadership in ensuring prosecution of crimes 
     against humanity by various international tribunals, as well 
     as by other countries we have supported. So it's quite 
     remarkable that we of all countries don't have a law on our 
     books making it possible to prosecute this crime when 
     perpetrators show up in our own territory.

  The crimes against humanity loophole has real consequences. When the 
U.S. government learned that Marko Boskic, who allegedly participated 
in the Srebrenica massacre in the Bosnian conflict, was living in 
Massachusetts, he was charged with visa fraud, rather than crimes 
against humanity. ``They should condemn him for the crime,'' said Emma 
Hidic, whose two brothers were among the estimated 7,000 men and boys 
killed in the Srebrenica massacre, upon learning that Boskic had been 
charged only with visa fraud.
  The Crimes Against Humanity Act would close this loophole in U.S. law

[[Page S7011]]

and give our government the authority to prosecute those found in the 
U.S. who commit crimes against humanity. In keeping with the principles 
the U.S. and our allies established after World War II, this 
legislation would help ensure that the perpetrators of crimes against 
humanity do not find safe haven in our country.
  This bill would make it a violation of U.S. law to commit a crime 
against humanity, i.e. any widespread and systematic attack directed 
against a civilian population that involves murder, enslavement, 
torture, rape, arbitrary detention, extermination, hostage taking or 
ethnic cleansing.
  I am the author of the Genocide Accountability Act, the Child 
Soldiers Accountability Act, and the Trafficking in Persons Act, 
legislation passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law by 
President George W. Bush that denies safe haven in the United States to 
the perpetrators of genocide, child soldier recruitment and use, and 
human trafficking. The Crimes Against Humanity Act is the next logical 
step. It would subject perpetrators of crimes against humanity to 
criminal sanctions, in the same way that perpetrators of genocide, 
child soldier recruitment and human trafficking are subject to criminal 
sanctions under U.S. law.
  Ensuring U.S. law prohibits crimes against humanity is consistent 
with the longstanding U.S. support for the prosecution of crimes 
against humanity perpetrated in World War II, Rwanda, the former 
Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone, among other places.
  This legislation will send a clear message to perpetrators of crimes 
against humanity that there are real consequences to their actions. By 
holding such individuals criminally responsible, our country will help 
to deter crimes against humanity.
  The Crimes Against Humanity Act is supported by a broad coalition of 
human rights and religious groups, including Armenian Assembly of 
America, Center for Justice and Accountability, Center for Victims of 
Torture, Enough Project, the Episcopal Church, Genocide Intervention 
Network, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, International Justice 
Mission, Jubilee Campaign USA, Inc., Physicians for Human Rights, 
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, Save Darfur 
Coalition, the United Methodist Church, and U.S. Campaign for Burma. 
Today I received a letter of support for the Crimes Against Humanity 
Act from 29 organizations, including all of those I have named. As the 
letter explains:

       This legislation would fill an existing gap in U.S. law by 
     allowing U.S. prosecutors to hold the perpetrators of mass 
     atrocities accountable for their acts. While often less 
     publicized than genocides, crimes against humanity are as 
     devastating to their victims and as worthy of vigorous and 
     unbending attention from the United States government. We 
     must ensure that perpetrators of mass atrocities cannot evade 
     justice by coming to the United States.

  Daoud Hari is a refugee from Darfur now living in our country and 
author of The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur. I urge my 
colleagues to contemplate the challenge that Mr. Hari posed at the 
Human Rights Subcommittee hearing on crimes against humanity: while 
none of us individually can stop the crimes against humanity committed 
in Darfur and other countries around the globe, failing to take action 
only ensures that these horrific atrocities will continue.
  With far too few exceptions, we have failed to prevent and stop 
crimes against humanity. The promise of Nuremberg remains unfulfilled. 
We have a moral obligation to take action to help the survivors of 
crimes against humanity around the world and to help prevent this 
horrific crime by holding perpetrators accountable.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and 
a letter of support be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1346

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Crimes Against Humanity Act 
     of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

       (a) In General.--Part 1 of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after chapter 25 the following:

                 ``CHAPTER 25A--CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

``Sec.
``519. Crimes against humanity.

     ``Sec. 519. Crimes against humanity

       ``(a) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any person to 
     commit or engage in, as part of a widespread and systematic 
     attack directed against any civilian population, and with 
     knowledge of the attack--
       ``(1) conduct that, if it occurred in the United States, 
     would violate--
       ``(A) section 1111 of this title (relating to murder);
       ``(B) section 1581(a) of this title (relating to peonage);
       ``(C) section 1583(a)(1) of this title (relating to 
     kidnapping or carrying away individuals for involuntary 
     servitude or slavery);
       ``(D) section 1584(a) of this title (relating to sale into 
     involuntary servitude);
       ``(E) section 1589(a) of this title (relating to forced 
     labor); or
       ``(F) section 1590(a) of this title (relating to 
     trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary 
     servitude, or forced labor);
       ``(2) conduct that, if it occurred in the special maritime 
     and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would 
     violate--
       ``(A) section 1591(a) of this title (relating to sex 
     trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion);
       ``(B) section 2241(a) of this title (relating to aggravated 
     sexual abuse by force or threat); or
       ``(C) section 2242 of this title (relating to sexual 
     abuse);
       ``(3) conduct that, if it occurred in the special maritime 
     and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and 
     without regard to whether the offender is the parent of the 
     victim, would violate section 1201(a) of this title (relating 
     to kidnapping);
       ``(4) conduct that, if it occurred in the United States, 
     would violate section 1203(a) of this title (relating to 
     hostage taking), notwithstanding any exception under 
     subsection (b) of section 1203;
       ``(5) conduct that would violate section 2340A of this 
     title (relating to torture);
       ``(6) extermination;
       ``(7) national, ethnic, racial, or religious cleansing;
       ``(8) arbitrary detention; or
       ``(9) imposed measures intended to prevent births.
       ``(b) Penalty.--Any person who violates subsection (a), or 
     attempts or conspires to violate subsection (a)--
       ``(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 
     than 20 years, or both; and
       ``(2) if the death of any person results from the violation 
     of subsection (a), shall be fined under this title and 
     imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
       ``(c) Jurisdiction.--There is jurisdiction over a violation 
     of subsection (a), and any attempt or conspiracy to commit a 
     violation of subsection (a), if--
       ``(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United 
     States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence;
       ``(2) the alleged offender is a stateless person whose 
     habitual residence is in the United States;
       ``(3) the alleged offender is present in the United States, 
     regardless of the nationality of the alleged offender; or
       ``(4) the offense is committed in whole or in part within 
     the United States.
       ``(d) Nonapplicability of Certain Limitations.--
     Notwithstanding section 3282 of this title, in the case of an 
     offense under this section, an indictment may be found, or 
     information instituted, at any time without limitation.
       ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Arbitrary detention.--The term `arbitrary detention' 
     means imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical 
     liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such 
     procedure as are established by the law of the jurisdiction 
     where such imprisonment or other severe deprivation of 
     physical liberty took place.
       ``(2) Armed group.--The term `armed group' means any army, 
     militia, or other military organization, whether or not it is 
     state-sponsored, excluding any group assembled solely for 
     nonviolent political association.
       ``(3) Attack directed against any civilian population.--The 
     term `attack directed against any civilian population' means 
     a course of conduct in which a civilian population is a 
     primary rather than an incidental target.
       ``(4) Ethnic group; national group; racial group; religious 
     group.--The terms `ethnic group', `national group', `racial 
     group', and `religious group' have the meanings given those 
     terms in section 1093 of this title.
       ``(5) Extermination.--The term `extermination' means 
     subjecting a civilian population to conditions of life that 
     are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group 
     in whole or in part.
       ``(6) Lawfully admitted for permanent residence; national 
     of the united states.--The terms `lawfully admitted for 
     permanent residence' and `national of the United States' have 
     the meanings give those terms in section 101(a) of the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).
       ``(7) National, ethnic, racial, or religious cleansing.--
     The term `national, ethnic, racial, or religious cleansing' 
     means the

[[Page S7012]]

     intentional and forced displacement from 1 country to another 
     or within a country of any national group, ethnic group, 
     racial group, or religious group in whole or in part, by 
     expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they 
     are lawfully present, except when the displacement is in 
     accordance with applicable laws of armed conflict that permit 
     involuntary and temporary displacement of a population to 
     ensure its security or when imperative military reasons so 
     demand.
       ``(8) Systematic.--The term `systematic' means pursuant to 
     or in furtherance of the policy of a state or armed group.
       ``(9) Widespread.--The term `widespread' means involving 
     multiple victims.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters for part 1 
     of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
     after the item relating to chapter 25 the following:

519''.rimes against humanity.........................................
                                  ____


                                                    June 24, 2009.
     Hon. Richard J. Durbin,
     Chairman Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, Senate 
         Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Durbin: We write to express our strong 
     support for the Crimes Against Humanity Act of 2009. This 
     legislation would fill an existing gap in U.S. law by 
     allowing U.S. prosecutors to hold the perpetrators of mass 
     atrocities accountable for their acts. While often less 
     publicized than genocides, crimes against humanity are as 
     devastating to their victims and as worthy of vigorous and 
     unbending attention from the United States government. We 
     must ensure that perpetrators of mass atrocities cannot evade 
     justice by coming to the United States. We applaud your 
     leadership in ensuring that the United States is well 
     equipped to fight these grave crimes and we urge Congress to 
     enact the bill with all due speed.
       The United States government has long been at the forefront 
     of global efforts to seek accountability for the perpetrators 
     of the worst crimes known to humankind. In the years after 
     World War II, the United States was an essential player in 
     the formation of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Genocide 
     Convention, two key pieces of the foundation for all 
     international justice efforts that have followed. Since then, 
     in Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and Darfur, among 
     others, the U.S. government has steadfastly supported justice 
     for victims of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and 
     genocide, whether by supporting national justice systems or 
     by assisting in the creation of special tribunals.
       The bill defines crimes against humanity as widespread and 
     systematic attacks directed against a civilian population 
     that involve murder, enslavement, torture, rape, arbitrary 
     detention, extermination, hostage taking, or ethnic 
     cleansing. This category includes some of the most atrocious 
     crimes committed in recent history--the campaigns of 
     mutilation and murder of civilians in Sierra Leone and 
     Uganda, the systematic rape of women in ethnic areas of Burma 
     and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the ethnic 
     cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo. These crimes might look like 
     genocide to a layperson, but they are a distinct category of 
     crime and separate legislation is needed to provide United 
     States courts with jurisdiction to prosecute those who commit 
     them if they are present in the United States.
       Such legislation has not existed before today, despite the 
     U.S. government's sustained efforts to ensure accountability 
     for crimes against humanity elsewhere. Alleged perpetrators 
     of those crimes have therefore been able to escape 
     prosecution in the United States. Though U.S. law prohibits 
     grave human rights violations such as genocide and torture, 
     alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity may escape 
     accountability due not to their innocence of unforgivable 
     acts but to loopholes in the U.S. criminal code.
       The Crimes Against Humanity Act of 2009 would close this 
     illogical gap in U.S. law. Just as they may pursue those who 
     have committed related and similarly horrific crimes, U.S. 
     prosecutors would have the authority to ensure that those in 
     the United States who have committed crimes against humanity 
     may not evade accountability merely by fleeing to our 
     country.
       The United States has provided a means to prosecute those 
     who commit genocide and torture as well as those who use 
     child soldiers in war. Those who commit the similar crimes 
     that constitute crimes against humanity should face no better 
     future. We therefore urge Congress to enact this bill without 
     delay.
           Sincerely,
       The Advocates for Human Rights.
       Africa Action.
       AIDS-Free World.
       Armenian Assembly of America.
       Center for Justice and Accountability.
       Center for Victims of Torture.
       EarthRights International.
       Enough Project.
       The Episcopal Church.
       Equality Now.
       Citizens for Global Solutions.
       Genocide Intervention Network.
       Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program.
       Human Rights First.
       Human Rights Watch.
       International Justice Mission.
       Jubilee Campaign USA, Inc.
       National Immigrant Justice Center.
       National Immigration Forum.
       Open Society Policy Center.
       Physicians for Human Rights.
       Refugees International.
       Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights.
       Rocky Mountain Survivors Center.
       Save Darfur Coalition.
       United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and 
     Society.
       United Nations Association of the United States of America.
       U.S. Campaign for Burma.
       V-Day.

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, I am pleased to join Senator Durbin 
and Senator Feingold in introducing the Crimes Against Humanity Act of 
2009. This legislation will make it a violation of United States law to 
commit a crime against humanity, and will help ensure that the 
perpetrators of crimes against humanity do not find safe haven in the 
United States. I commend Senator Durbin for his work on this 
legislation and for his leadership as chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Human Rights and the Law.
  Last Congress, I was pleased to work with Senator Durbin to create 
the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee, the first-ever congressional 
committee established to address human rights issues. The work that we 
have done through this Subcommittee has helped the Senate focus on 
important and difficult legal human rights issues, including genocide, 
human trafficking, child soldiers, war crimes, corporate accountability 
overseas, systematic rape, and torture.
  The work of the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee has already 
achieved important results. Last Congress, the President signed into 
law the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, which outlawed the abhorrent 
practice of recruiting and using child soldiers, and the Genocide 
Accountability Act, which closed a loophole that had allowed those who 
commit or incite genocide to seek refuge in our country without fear of 
prosecution for their actions. These legislative initiatives were a 
critical step toward showing the international community that the 
United States will not tolerate human rights abuses at home or abroad, 
and that those who commit these atrocities must be held accountable for 
their actions. I am pleased to join Senator Durbin to take the next 
step to protect victims of crimes against humanity in the United 
States, and to hold those responsible for these terrible crimes to 
account.
  Along with genocide and war crimes, crimes against humanity are among 
the most serious crimes under international law. We see such crimes 
against humanity by groups or governments as part of a widespread or 
systematic attack against a civilian population. These deplorable 
crimes include murder, enslavement, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, 
extermination, hostage taking, and ethnic cleansing, and they continue 
to take place around the world in places like Uganda, Burma, and Sudan.
  Although the United States has strongly and consistently for more 
than 60 years supported the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes 
against humanity, there is currently no United States law prohibiting 
crimes against humanity. As a result, the government is unable to 
prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity found in our country. 
This legislation will fix this loophole by enabling the Attorney 
General to prosecute crimes against humanity committed by a U.S. 
national, legal alien or habitual resident in the United States. The 
law will also enable the prosecution of any crimes against humanity 
committed in whole or in part within the United States, as well as 
offenses that occur outside the United States, if the offender is 
currently located in the United States.
  The actions prohibited by the Crimes Against Humanity Act of 2009 are 
appalling. They happen too often throughout the world. We must promote 
accountability for human rights violations committed anywhere in the 
world, and we must do whatever we can to prevent those who commit such 
crimes from escaping justice by finding a safe haven in the United 
States. A foreign policy that seeks to defend human rights will never 
fully achieve its goals if we undermine our own credibility by failing 
in our commitment to uphold the highest standards of human rights here 
at home. I urge

[[Page S7013]]

Senators on both sides of the aisle to support this important 
legislation to help this country take another step toward reclaiming 
our place as a guardian of human rights.

                          ____________________