Urge your Senators to Support Critical Legislation on Mass Atrocities

by Heather Harms, Crimes Against Humanity Program Intern Last month Senators Feingold (D-WI) and Collins (R-ME) introduced S. Con. Res. 71, a bipartisan resolution focused on enhancing the capacity of the U.S. government to prevent and respond to mass atrocities. Please help us to encourage broad bipartisan support for this resolution by taking action today. The measures laid out in this resolution would help ensure the U.S. is better prepared to address threats of atrocities in places like Sudan, where administration officials, including the former Director of National Intelligence, have sounded an alarm about the potential for violence and atrocities against civilians in Southern Sudan around two key referenda in January. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to the situation there recently as a “ticking time-bomb.” S. Con. Res. 71 encourages the President to develop and communicate a whole-of-government approach to anticipate, prevent, and mitigate acts of genocide and other mass atrocities. It also recognizes the crucial role played by third-party actors that enable atrocities by asking the Departments of Treasury and State to consider how sanctions and other financial tools can be used against these actors. The list of co-sponsors of the resolution is growing but we need your help to encourage a greater number of Senators to lend their support to this important congressional initiative. As the U.S. steps up its efforts on Southern Sudan, the crucial task of improving U.S. capacities to effectively prevent mass atrocities there and elsewhere can be advanced through S. Con. Res. 71.