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HEARING ON SUBJECT OF GENOCIDE HELD ON CAPITOL HILL
DeFacto Agency
June 25 2008
Armenia
Hearing entitled, "From Nuremberg to Darfur: Accountability for Crimes
against Humanity," scheduled by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on
Human Rights and the Law was held today, on June 25, on Capitol Hill,
the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) reports. The hearing was held
by Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ranking Member Senator Tom Coburn
(R-OK).
In his opening statement, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, "The
United States led the first prosecutions for crimes against humanity
in the Nuremberg trials, following the Second World War. These crimes,
however, are still taking place. Our promise to hold accountable those
who commit the most unspeakable crimes will ring hollow unless we
lead the world in punishing those responsible for the gravest human
rights violations."
"The Assembly commends Chairman Durbin and this Subcommittee for taking
a leadership role on these critically important issues," said Executive
Director Bryan Ardouny. "Only with constant pressure, vigilance,
and genocide education awareness, will we be able to eradicate the
scourge of genocide and ensure that those responsible for committing
such heinous crimes are held accountable," Ardouny continued.
At the hearing, speaking about the ongoing genocide in Darfur,
Gayle Smith Co-Chair, ENOUGH Project, said "To be truly effective,
the international community must fashion an unbreakable chain of
accountability - one that ensures that the perpetrators of genocide
and crimes against humanity can neither seek nor secure safe haven
in any country on earth. To be truly effective, the international
community must also ensure that its stated support for accountability
is backed by meaningful pressure on those who attempt to evade it."
Also testifying at the hearing were Daoud Hari, Author of "The
Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur"; Diane Orentlicher,
Professor, Washington College of Law, American University and Joey
Cheek, Co-founder and President, Team Darfur.
In the Assembly's written testimony, Ardouny noted that "The United
States has, through its filing with the International Court of Justice
in 1951, concerning the United Nations Genocide Convention, squarely
acknowledged the Armenian Genocide" and urged the Subcommittee "to
continue to actively generate and introduce new mechanisms to better
protect potential victims from future genocides and the consequences
of genocide denial." Moreover, Ardouny stressed the importance for
the U.S. to continue to build on the proud legacy of Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau, as well as the late Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA),
House Foreign Affairs Chairman and House Congressional Caucus on
Human Rights Co-Chair, in their defense of human rights and action
to address man's inhumanity to man.
DeFacto Agency
June 25 2008
Armenia
Hearing entitled, "From Nuremberg to Darfur: Accountability for Crimes
against Humanity," scheduled by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on
Human Rights and the Law was held today, on June 25, on Capitol Hill,
the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) reports. The hearing was held
by Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ranking Member Senator Tom Coburn
(R-OK).
In his opening statement, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, "The
United States led the first prosecutions for crimes against humanity
in the Nuremberg trials, following the Second World War. These crimes,
however, are still taking place. Our promise to hold accountable those
who commit the most unspeakable crimes will ring hollow unless we
lead the world in punishing those responsible for the gravest human
rights violations."
"The Assembly commends Chairman Durbin and this Subcommittee for taking
a leadership role on these critically important issues," said Executive
Director Bryan Ardouny. "Only with constant pressure, vigilance,
and genocide education awareness, will we be able to eradicate the
scourge of genocide and ensure that those responsible for committing
such heinous crimes are held accountable," Ardouny continued.
At the hearing, speaking about the ongoing genocide in Darfur,
Gayle Smith Co-Chair, ENOUGH Project, said "To be truly effective,
the international community must fashion an unbreakable chain of
accountability - one that ensures that the perpetrators of genocide
and crimes against humanity can neither seek nor secure safe haven
in any country on earth. To be truly effective, the international
community must also ensure that its stated support for accountability
is backed by meaningful pressure on those who attempt to evade it."
Also testifying at the hearing were Daoud Hari, Author of "The
Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur"; Diane Orentlicher,
Professor, Washington College of Law, American University and Joey
Cheek, Co-founder and President, Team Darfur.
In the Assembly's written testimony, Ardouny noted that "The United
States has, through its filing with the International Court of Justice
in 1951, concerning the United Nations Genocide Convention, squarely
acknowledged the Armenian Genocide" and urged the Subcommittee "to
continue to actively generate and introduce new mechanisms to better
protect potential victims from future genocides and the consequences
of genocide denial." Moreover, Ardouny stressed the importance for
the U.S. to continue to build on the proud legacy of Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau, as well as the late Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA),
House Foreign Affairs Chairman and House Congressional Caucus on
Human Rights Co-Chair, in their defense of human rights and action
to address man's inhumanity to man.