Senate Passes Bill To Combat Genocide

Press Release

Senate Passes Bill To Combat Genocide

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn to crack down on genocide. The Genocide Accountability Act, S. 888, would close a current loophole in federal law that prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people in the United States who have committed genocide in other countries.

"I'm encouraged to see the Senate take action to crack down on the scourge of genocide," said Sen. Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee's Human Rights and the Law subcommittee. "This bill will hold those guilty of atrocities responsible and ensure they are brought to justice. We must continue working to end genocide in Darfur, which has become the world's most dire human rights and humanitarian crisis, and wherever it exists."

Under current law, genocide is only considered a crime if it is committed within the United States or by a U.S. national outside the United States. The Genocide Accountability Act would close the current loophole by amending the Genocide Convention Implementation Act to allow prosecution of non-U.S. citizens for genocide committed outside the United States. The bill was introduced by U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

The Justice Department has identified individuals who participated in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides and are living in the United States under false pretenses. Under current law, these individuals cannot be arrested or prosecuted for genocide because they are not U.S. nationals and the acts in which they were involved did not take place in the United States. In contrast, the laws on torture, material support for terrorism, terrorism financing and hostage taking are among the crimes that federal prosecutors can charge despite having been committed outside the United States by non-U.S. nationals.

The Genocide Accountability Act developed out of the first hearing of the Human Rights and the Law subcommittee, established this year. The February hearing addressed the genocide in Darfur and other parts of the world. The bill has been endorsed by numerous human rights organizations.

On a related note, Sen. Cornyn recently introduced the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act, S. 831, which will increase pressure on the Khartoum government to stop the genocide in Darfur. The legislation provides federal support for state and local divestment efforts and expresses the sense of Congress that states and other entities should be allowed to divest their efforts of certain holdings in opposition to the genocidal policies of the Sudanese government and authorizes—though does not require—such divestment.

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee's Airland subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.

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