[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 332 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 332
Observing the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 6, 2004
Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Leahy, Mr.
Sarbanes, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Coleman, and Ms. Collins)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
April 29, 2004
Reported by Mr. Lugar, without amendment
May 7, 2004
Considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Observing the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Whereas 10 years ago, during a 3-month period in 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were
killed in an organized campaign of genocide that targeted ethnic Tutsis
and political moderates;
Whereas the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda was dramatically scaled
back as the genocide occurred;
Whereas by mid-July 1994, 2,000,000 Rwandans became refugees and another
1,000,000 were internally displaced due to the genocide and civil war;
Whereas in 1994, the United Nations Security Council established the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to hold accountable those
responsible for the atrocities;
Whereas in March 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton acknowledged that
``we in the United States and the world community did not do as much as
we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred in
Rwanda in 1994'';
Whereas in 1999, the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of the United Nations
during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda found that ``the failure by the
United Nations to prevent, and subsequently, to stop the genocide in
Rwanda was a failure by the United Nations system as a whole'';
Whereas the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath played a significant part in the
destabilization of the entire Great Lakes region over the last decade;
and
Whereas today, the vast majority of Rwandan refugees have returned to their
country, and the Government of Rwanda is working to address the backlog
of genocide-related cases awaiting trial through the formal justice
sector and through community-based gacaca courts: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) solemnly observes the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan
genocide of 1994;
(2) recognizes and is saddened by the failure of the
international community, including the United States, to
prevent the genocide;
(3) reaffirms its commitment to the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, done at
Paris on December 9, 1948;
(4) supports ongoing efforts to educate the people of the
United States and of the world about the Rwandan genocide;
(5) commits to continuing efforts to strengthen
institutions working to bring to justice those responsible for
the genocide; and
(6) urges the President and the international community to
seize on the occasion of this anniversary to focus attention on
the future of Rwanda, and to support the people of Rwanda so
that they may--
(A) be free from the fear of ethnic violence, mob
violence, or state-sponsored violence;
(B) enjoy full civil and political rights and feel
free to voice legitimate disagreements honestly and
publicly without fear of violence or intimidation;
(C) have confidence in the independence of the
judiciary and the rule of law in Rwanda; and
(D) experience sustained economic growth and
development that improves the standard of living in
Rwanda.
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