Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
DARFUR PEACE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT -- (Senate - September 29, 2006)
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, for over 3 years, genocide has been the order of the day in Darfur. For nearly as long, from pulpits, from street corners, from the world's editorial pages, from the floor of Congress, from the rostrum of the United Nations, and from the White House, people have decried the killing. But we haven't stopped it.
Today Darfur is on the edge of an abyss, teetering on the rim of even greater catastrophe. Unknown numbers have been killed, raped, and butchered. Millions of people have been driven from their homes. An estimated half a million people are beyond the reach of humanitarian aid today.
Humanitarian groups themselves are under attack and many are pulling back.
The Khartoum Government is reportedly engaging in indiscriminate bombing and massing forces in the region.
The U.N. Security Council has passed a resolution authorizing a 20,000 person peacekeeping force, but the Khartoum Government continues to reject it and to deny the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and endanger and threaten hundreds of thousands of others.
Now all of us who have spoken out have an obligation to do what we can to make that peacekeeping mission a reality, to help bring an end to genocide.
For the third time now, the Senate has passed a Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. I was an original cosponsor of the first of these bills and continue to support and work toward enactment of this important legislation.
This bill will impose sanctions against individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; will support measures for the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations; and will support peace efforts in the Darfur region.
Those efforts are in grave jeopardy. The hopes to see the Darfur Peace Agreement between the Khartoum Government and one of the opposition groups implemented, enforced, and expanded have not been fulfilled.
We must do all that we can to ensure that the peacekeeping mission authorized by the nations of the world through the United Nations under U.N. Security Resolution 2706 is deployed as soon as possible. This mission will build on the efforts of the African Union and will include African forces at its core.
The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act supports these measures. Consistent with the goals of this bill, a number of States have already acted to do their part to stop genocide.
My home State of Illinois was the first to enact a law suspending State investment in companies that conduct business in Sudan or with the Sudanese Government. The law mandates the divestment from all Illinois State Pension Systems of securities issued by any company doing business in Sudan and prohibits the State from investing in foreign government bonds of Sudan.
Illinois is following a tradition established during the campaign against apartheid in South Africa. Like that campaign, the Illinois law is a public expression that the citizens of my State and others that have passed similar legislation do not want to be party to supporting a foreign government that preys upon its own people. It is both symbolic and very tangible: the people of Illinois are choosing how they will invest their money. That is an act very much within their rights, and I salute their efforts.
Passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is an important and overdue step. But we must do more to ensure that the United Nations peacekeeping mission is implemented: the people of Darfur need UN boots on the ground, and the world must live up to its promises to end the genocide.
Mr. OBAMA. Because Senator Durbin has hit the major points, I will simply say that the atrocities in Darfur are a moral and humanitarian emergency, and the people of the United States should be searching for effective tools to help end this violence and bloodshed. While not the only answer, I believe that divestment by individual States can be a part of the solution--it certainly was so during the fight to end apartheid in South Africa.
I strongly support the provision in the House-passed bill on this issue. My sense is that there was bipartisan, bicameral support for this provision. But because of the objections of a few key members of Congress, this provision was dropped in the interest of passing the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which I believe has some important provisions, before the Congress recesses at the end of this month.
I am wondering if the senior Senator from Illinois, who is also the Assistant Democratic Leader, shares this view and if he could comment on this issue.
Mr. DURBIN. I agree with the junior Senator from Illinois. There is a very powerful commitment in both Houses to take a meaningful stand against the genocide in Sudan. State governments, universities, and other institutions from coast to coast have passed divestment measures. Those voices have been heard in Congress, and I agree there is strong bicameral, bipartisan support for divestment, but that no single provision could be allowed to jeopardize passage of this important legislation, given the situation on the ground in Darfur.
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