[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3014-S3015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Young, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Durbin, 
        Mr. Rubio, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. 
        Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. 
        Shaheen, Mr. Franken, Mr. Peters, Mr. Coons, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
        Booker, Mr. Markey, Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 1158. A bill to help prevent acts of genocide and other atrocity 
crimes, which threaten national and international security, by 
enhancing United States Government capacities to prevent, mitigate, and 
respond to such crises; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, April was Genocide Awareness and 
Prevention Month. It commemorated some of the most horrific genocides 
and atrocities of the 20th century: the siege of Sarajevo in April 
1992, the Rwandan genocide in April 1992; the Cambodian genocide in 
April 1975; and, the Armenian genocide in April 1915. Last, Yom Hashoah 
or Holocaust Remembrance Day fell during the month of April this year.
  We must remember the past. And we must also be mindful of the present 
and the future. As we know all too well, criminal atrocities persist 
around the globe. In South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, a 
political and ethnic conflict is now in its fourth year. Tens of 
thousands of civilians were killed in mass atrocities and thousands 
more have fled the country fearing for their lives. In Iraq, ISIS has 
committed genocide against Yezidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims, a 
determination made by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last 
year. ISIS has killed, expelled, raped, and enslaved Yezidi men, women, 
and children in northern Iraq, and has committed similar atrocities 
against other groups living in areas under its control.
  In Burma, the Rohingya Muslim community faces such severe violence 
and dehumanization, including slaughtering and sequestration, that many 
experts believe their suffering amounts to genocide. Moreover, in 
Syria, repeatedly, we see a government committing atrocities against 
its own people. Children are being gassed. Hospitals are being bombed. 
Innocent people are being tortured to death.
  Too often, we have done too little, waited too long, or been caught 
unprepared by events that should not have surprised us. We continue to 
forget the lessons of the past and fail to live up to the post-
Holocaust pledge of ``Never Again.'' Ignoring the genocide, war crimes, 
and crimes against humanity that continue to rage around the world 
sends a message to the global community that criminal atrocities are 
tolerable. We must do better to see that atrocities never again occur 
on our watch.
  On April 7, I introduced the Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act, 
which expands the tools the U.S. government is using to document 
atrocities in Syria and hold President Bashar al-Assad and other 
perpetrators accountable. Today, under the heavy cloud of atrocities 
occurring in South Sudan, Iraq, Burma, Syria, and elsewhere, I am 
introducing another atrocity-related bill, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and 
Atrocities Prevention Act of 2017. This bill--named in honor of the 
courageous, inspiring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie 
Wiesel--strengthens the U.S. government's infrastructure to prevent and 
respond to mass atrocities, wherever they may occur.
  I am here today to stress that our job, our responsibility, is to 
make sure the United States has the full arsenal of tools--diplomatic, 
economic, and legal--to take meaningful action before atrocities occur. 
The costs--both human and economic--of addressing these atrocities too 
late or after-the-fact are skyrocketing. The United States must do a 
better job of responding earlier and more effectively to these crimes--
when warning signs begin to point towards possible atrocities 
occurring, and when strategic investments can have a greater impact in 
promoting stability and security. Essential to this effort is ensuring 
that the United States Government has structures in place and 
mechanisms at hand to better prevent and respond to potential 
atrocities.
  Atrocity prevention has long been a bipartisan cause. In 1988, 
President Reagan signed implementing legislation allowing the United 
States to become a party to the Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In the 2006 National Security 
Strategy, President George W. Bush highlighted the ``moral imperative 
that states take action to prevent and punish genocide.'' In 2008, the 
bipartisan Genocide Prevention Task Force, which was co-chaired by 
former Secretary of Defense William Cohen and former Secretary of State 
Madeleine Albright, stated: ``Genocide and mass atrocities . . . 
threaten core U.S. national interests.'' In 2010, the Senate 
unanimously passed a resolution recognizing ``the United States 
national interest in helping to prevent and mitigate acts of genocide 
and other mass atrocities against civilians, and supporting and 
encouraging efforts to develop a whole of government approach to 
prevent and mitigate such acts.'' In 2011, President Obama declared: 
``Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security 
interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of 
America.'' The same year, former U.S. Permanent Representative to the 
United Nations Samantha Power stated that preventing genocide 
``required a degree of governmental organization that matches the kind 
of methodical organization that accompanies mass-killings.''
  We need to continue taking proactive steps to enhance our Nation's 
capacity to quickly anticipate and address genocide and other atrocity 
crimes. I am introducing the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities 
Prevention Act of 2017 to ensure that we do just that. I am joined in 
this effort by Senators Young, Tillis, Durbin, Rubio, Menendez, 
Murkowski, Blumenthal, Warren, Whitehouse, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, 
Shaheen, Franken, Peters, Coons, Stabenow, Booker, Markey, Brown, 
Baldwin, and Wyden. This bill does a number of things. First, the bill 
authorizes the creation of a Mass Atrocities Task Force, which is a 
transparent, accountable, proactive, high-level, interagency body that 
includes representatives at the assistant secretary level or higher 
from departments and agencies across the U.S. Government. The Task 
Force would work collaboratively with representatives of governmental 
as well as nongovernmental organizations to oversee the development and 
implementation of U.S. policy on atrocity prevention and response.
  Second, 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 better equipped to see warning signs, analyze 
events, and engage early.
  Third, this bill calls on the Director of National Intelligence to 
include in his or her annual testimony to Congress on threats to U.S. 
national security a review of countries and regions at risk of mass 
atrocities as well as, whenever possible, specific risk factors, 
potential groups of perpetrators, and at-risk target groups. With this 
information, Congress will be better informed and better able to 
respond to mass atrocities that are brewing.
  Finally, this bill authorizes the Complex Crises Fund, which is a 
specifically dedicated portion of our foreign assistance budget for 
mitigating conflict. The Complex Crises Fund enables

[[Page S3015]]

us to rapidly respond to emerging crises overseas, including potential 
atrocities. We have already used the Complex Crises Fund to respond to 
crises in the Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, 
Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. Without this important tool, our ability to 
effectively prevent and mitigate crises is severely constrained.
  Mr. President, this is a good bill. It does good things, and places 
the United States on solid moral ground. However, the moral argument is 
not the only reason to support this bill. We must also remember that 
America's security, and that of our allies, is impacted 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 because of their ethnicity or 
religious beliefs and practices, and yet, we still lack a comprehensive 
framework to prevent and respond to genocide and other atrocity crimes. 
So, let this bill act as our framework, and 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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