[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 62 (Friday, April 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E697-E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTING MASS ATROCITIES ON THE 
                  ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JESSE L. JACKSON, JR.

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 27, 2012

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in somber 
recognition of the lives lost through heinous acts of violence against 
Armenian civilians following World War I. April 24th marked the 
symbolic recognition of a period in history when over 1 million 
Armenian people were killed.

[[Page E698]]

  Mr. Speaker, the atrocities committed during this period must never 
be forgotten. We cannot allow events such as these to be swept under 
the rug or we face the sad outcome of denying ourselves the ability to 
learn from the mistakes of our past. We must shape a brighter future 
for the global community. It is an absolute injustice to the Armenian 
people, as well as the global community, to refer to this atrocity as 
anything other than what it was: genocide. And the unfortunate truth is 
that the Armenian people are not the only ethnic group to be subjected 
to such an experience.
  Mr. Speaker, this week we saw Charles Taylor brought to justice for 
his unspeakable crimes against humanity. After nine years in the 
International Criminal Court Charles Taylor was found guilty on 11 
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity today, including 
terror, murder, and rape and conscription of child soldiers. Taylor 
gave soldiers of the Revolutionary United Front arms in exchange for 
blood diamonds, giving them means to slaughter approximately 50,000 
people in Sierra Leone. Yet, again, this is not an isolated incident in 
history.
  Mr. Speaker: In Nazi Germany and Nazi occupied Europe approximately 6 
million Jewish citizens were killed during World War II. In 1975 and 
through 1979 over 1.5 million were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge in 
Vietnam. In the Rwandan Spring/Summer of 1994 over 800,000 Rwandans 
were killed in a span of about 100 days.
  And today, as we speak, civilians are being massacred in the Darfur 
region of Sudan, with estimates saying over 300,000 have been killed to 
date.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe we have allowed too many heinous crimes 
against humanity to occur and this must stop. It's past time that we 
take a stand against all types of discrimination and expose the wrongs 
of the past so that we may grow from them. In remembering the victims, 
the families torn apart, the orphans left behind, and the generations 
lost, we learn from the past, and ensure a future free of such 
violence.
  I commend President Obama for establishing the Atrocities Prevention 
Board (APB). Comprised of experts from Universities and government 
agencies, the APB will assess our current capabilities, while 
developing new strategies to prevent genocide and mass atrocities. This 
is the first step of many to ensure a safe future for every human 
being, regardless of origin, race, culture, language, appearance or any 
other trait that makes each of us a unique member of the global 
community.

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