Calling for the Suspension of Sudan's Membership on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

CALLING FOR THE SUSPENSION OF SUDAN'S MEMBERSHIP ON THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2004)

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), for yielding me time.

I want to join the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) and others in congratulating the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for his leadership, his tenacious, unwavering leadership on this issue, calling the Congress's attention, calling America's attention, indeed, focusing the international community's attention on the genocide that is occurring before our eyes.

Mr. Speaker, the international community can no longer avert its eyes from the humanitarian and human rights catastrophe that is occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan today. Secretary of State Powell has labeled the killings in Darfur as genocide, pointing out that the attacks on innocent men, women, and children by the Sudanese government and the Arab militia group called the Janjaweed are part of a "coordinated effort, not just random violence." This is an intentional, considered act of murder.

The United Nations calls the situation the "world's worst humanitarian crisis." An estimated 30,000 civilians have been murdered. More than 400 villages have been destroyed. One million people have been displaced, and 130,000 have fled to neighboring Chad. And still, and still the international community stands on the sidelines.

Mr. Speaker, inaction in the face of genocide must not be an option. The international community and the United States must be prepared to act to end the armed conflict at the heart of this crisis. Regrettably, the U.N.'s record of responding to crises of this type and magnitude, notably in Rwanda and the Balkans, has been shameful, shameful. The United Nations talks about it, but it does not walk. The United Nations rings its hands but does not raise its hands to stop the killing.

I watched with grief as the United Nations blue helmets were on the ground in Bosnia, watching genocide be perpetrated, and they did nothing to stop it. We watched as the world, ourselves included, lamented what was happening in Rwanda and 800,000 defenseless, innocent souls perished because the mighty stood by and watched. History will not judge us well for that negligence.

Did the slaughter of hundreds of thousands 10 years ago not teach us anything? Does the painful memory of our inaction then not compel a different response today? The answer is muted at best.

We pass resolutions in this body. We talk in New York and people die. We continue to talk in New York and people are displaced. We continue to talk in New York and women are raped. We continue to talk in New York and children starve. Talk is cheap. Talk does not stop killing. Talk does not stop genocide.

It is time for the world to act. This resolution by itself will not diffuse the crisis or stop the bloodshed, but it is nevertheless a siren call to the world that we can no longer ignore the genocide, we can no longer rationalize those who commit it. We ought not to treat as citizens of the world and the United Nations nations who commit genocide.

This resolution is an explicit recognition that is not only a perverse, but a grotesque, situation that Sudan is allowed to retain its membership on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. What kind of world do we live in where the perpetrator of genocide is included on the nations of the world's Commission on Human Rights? Is there no intellectual honesty in the international community?

This resolution would urge our Nation's representatives at the U.N. to seek the immediate suspension of Sudan from the commission. I would go further than that. I would suggest the immediate suspension of Sudan from membership in the United Nations until this genocide stops. But this resolution is appropriate. It is not enough, but it is a step; and I support it.

I thank my friend from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for his leadership and for his yielding me time.