[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14926-14927]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 307--REAFFIRMING SUPPORT OF THE CONVENTION ON THE 
PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE AND ANTICIPATING THE 
COMMEMORATION OF THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENACTMENT OF THE GENOCIDE 
CONVENTION IMPLEMENTATION ACT OF 1987 (THE PROXMIRE ACT) ON NOVEMBER 4, 
                                  2003

  Mr. TORRICELLI submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 307

       Whereas, in 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust, the 
     international community responded to Nazi Germany's 
     methodically orchestrated acts of genocide by approving the 
     Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 
     Genocide;
       Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
     the Crime of Genocide confirms that genocide is a crime under 
     international law, defines genocide as certain acts committed 
     with intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial or 
     religious group, and provides that parties to the Convention 
     undertake to enact domestic legislation to provide effective 
     penalties for persons who are guilty of genocide;
       Whereas the United States, under President Harry Truman, 
     stood as the first nation to sign the Convention on the 
     Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
       Whereas the United States Senate ratified the Convention on 
     the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on 
     February 19, 1986;
       Whereas the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 
     (the Proxmire Act) (Public Law 100-606), signed into law by 
     President Ronald Reagan on November 4, 1988, amended the 
     United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1091) to criminalize genocide 
     under the United States law;
       Whereas the enactment of the Genocide Convention 
     Implementation Act marked a principled stand by the United 
     States against the crime of genocide and an important step 
     toward ensuring that the lessons of the Holocaust, the 
     Armenian Genocide, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, 
     among others, will be used to help prevent future genocides;
       Whereas, despite the international community's consensus 
     against genocide, as demonstrated by the fact that 133 
     nations are party to the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and through other 
     instruments and actions, denial of past instances of genocide 
     continues and many thousands of innocent people continue to 
     be victims of genocide; and
       Whereas November 4, 2003 is the 15th anniversary of the 
     enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 
     1987 (the Proxmire Act): Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) reaffirms its support of the Convention on the 
     Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
       (2) anticipates the commemoration of the 15th anniversary 
     of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation 
     Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003; and

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       (3) encourages the people and Government of the United 
     States to rededicate themselves to the cause of bringing an 
     end to the crime of genocide.

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