[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Menendez, 
        Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
        Coons, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. 
        Casey, and Ms. Warren):
  S. 2551. A bill to help prevent acts of genocide and mass atrocities, 
which threaten national and international security, by enhancing United 
States civilian capacities to prevent and mitigate such crises; to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, on April 10, 2014, I introduced the Syrian 
War Crimes Accountability Act in this Chamber. Three days earlier, the 
world had marked the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, one of 
the most horrific events in modern history that unfolded as the world 
stood back and watched. At that time I noted that, ``[u]nfortunately, 
we have not learned the lessons of the past. We must do better to not 
only see that sort of atrocities never again occur under our watch . . 
.'' That statement was not only a reflection of my beliefs, but a 
promise to keep the issue of atrocity prevention in front of the Senate 
and the American people.
  So today, under the heavy cloud of atrocities occurring in Syria, 
South Sudan, and elsewhere, I come to address this body again. I am 
here today not to look backward about actions not taken. I am here 
today to stress that our job, our responsibility, is to make sure the 
United States has the tools--diplomatic, political, economic, and 
legal--to take effective action before atrocities occur. Essential to 
this is authorizing the Atrocities Prevention Board, and ensuring that 
the United States Government has structures in place and the mechanisms 
at hand to better prevent and respond to potential atrocities.
  President Obama, when he established the Atrocities Prevention Board 
in 2012, said that, ``preventing genocide [is] an `achievable goal' but 
one that require[s] a degree of governmental organization that matches 
the kind of methodical organization that accompanies mass killings''.
  I am introducing the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2016 
to ensure that we do just that. I am joined in this effort by Senators 
Tillis, Murphy, Menendez, Shaheen, Brown, Gillibrand, Blumenthal, 
Coons, Mikulski, Markey, Merkley, and Boxer. This bill authorizes the 
Board, which is a transparent, accountable, high-level, interagency 
board that includes representatives at the assistant secretary level or 
higher from departments and agencies across the U.S. Government.
  The Board will meet monthly to oversee the development and 
implementation of atrocity prevention and response policy, and 
additionally address over the horizon potential atrocities through the 
use of a wide variety of tools, so that we can take effective action to 
prevent atrocities from occurring.
  This bill gives our Foreign Service Officers the training they need 
to recognize patterns of escalation and early warning signs of 
potential atrocities and conflict. With this training, we will, over 
time, build atrocity prevention into the core skillset of our people on 
the ground. They will be equipped to see the warning signs, analyze the 
events, and engage early.
  This bill also codifies the Complex Crises Fund, which has been a 
crucial tool to our ability to quickly respond to emerging crises 
overseas, including potential mass atrocities and conflict. We used the 
Complex Crises Fund in Tunisia during their Arab Spring and in Sri 
Lanka after its civil war. We've used it to respond quickly in Kenya 
and Cote d'Ivoire, where it has helped save lives.
  Importantly, this bill builds greater transparency and accountability 
into the structure of the Atrocities Prevention Board. Civil society 
will have a say, and Congress will have a greater oversight role to 
make sure we are getting this right.
  Mr. President, this is a good bill. It does good things, and places 
the United States on solid moral ground. But the moral argument alone 
is not enough. We must also remember that America's security, and that 
of our allies, is affected when civilians are slaughtered. Our security 
is impacted when desperate refugees stream across borders. Our security 
is affected when perpetrators of extraordinary violence wreak havoc on 
regional stability, destroying communities, families, and livelihoods. 
We have seen groups like ISIS systematically targeting communities on 
the basis of their ethnicity or religious beliefs and practices, 
including Yezidi, Christian, and Turkmen populations, but over sixty 
years after the Holocaust, we still lack a comprehensive framework to 
prevent and respond to mass atrocities and genocide.
  So, let this bill act as our framework, and also our call to action, 
so that when we use the phrase `never again', we know that we are 
taking meaningful preventative action.
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