The United States Congress may be lame-duck when it comes to other issues, but a bipartisan group is aggressively pushing forward genocide and atrocity-prevention legislation in the last few weeks of the session, which is spectacular news!
Today alone has already brought three incredible developments:
- The Senate, by unanimous consent, on Wednesday, Dec. 12, passed the ELIE WIESEL GENOCIDE AND ATROCITY PREVENTION ACT (GAPA), finally completing its passage in both chambers! This has been a cornerstone of Jewish World Watch’s advocacy efforts for years. It’s incredible to finally see this vision of coordinated, holistic, and comprehensive genocide prevention realized! Thank you to both California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris for co-sponsoring this critical piece of legislation, which establishes the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes as a core national security interest and fundamental moral imperative. Read more here.
- The House of Representatives declared GENOCIDE in Burma/Myanmar. What we’ve been calling genocide for months has finally been recognized as such by the U.S. House! In a roll call vote on H. Res. 1091, the representatives voted 394 Yay, 1 Nay, and 37 abstained. A powerful statement of near unanimity, proving once again that the issue of genocide and mass atrocity is bi-partisan!
Read more here. [maxbutton id=”23″] - In a historic bipartisan rebuke to the Trump Administration, U.S. Senators passed a bipartisan resolution today to END U.S. SUPPORT for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen! Senators also assigned responsibility for the slaying of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the erratic de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, whom President Trump has repeatedly defended in the aftermath of Khashoggi’s assassination. The resolution had failed in the Senate in March, but was revivified in the wake of the brutal murder of Khashoggi and the ensuing awareness over the shocking number of civilians killed by Saudi bombing campaigns throughout the war. Read more here.
- Following months of deadly battles, the warring parties in Yemen agreed on Dec. 13 to a CEASEFIRE in Hodeidah, the flashpoint port city, which is Yemen’s main link to the outside world. This is an enormous breakthrough in what the UN calls the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” with rampant war crimes and crimes against humanity coupled with disease and imminent war-induced famine. Read more here.