U.S. Senate Must Pass Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act

Refugees International joined 61 organizations in signing the below letter urging U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead in passing the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, H.R.3030.

Dear Majority Leader McConnell:

We write in support of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. We urge your leadership to advance expedited passage of the House version of the bill, H.R.3030, via the Senate’s unanimous consent process.

The Elie Wiesel Act highlights the importance of preventing atrocities and genocide in the context of U.S. national security, supports the White House-led Atrocities Prevention Board that has been convened under both Presidents Obama and Trump, requires a report on U.S. government-wide efforts to prevent atrocities, and requires atrocities prevention training for Foreign Service Officers.

H.R.3030 passed overwhelmingly in the House on July 17 by a vote of 406-5 with the bipartisan support of both the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. While the House and Senate bills are nearly identical, the provision related to the training of Foreign Services Officers is stronger and more effective in the House version. Therefore, H.R.3030 best embodies the deep and abiding commitment to atrocities prevention of the bill’s namesake – Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, and advocate – Elie Wiesel.

September 30 would have been Elie Wiesel’s 90th birthday. Senate passage of H.R.3030 would be a meaningful way to remember and advance Elie Wiesel’s remarkable contributions to human rights and to the promise of “never again.”

We have been pleased to see the bipartisan, bicameral support that the Elie Wiesel Act has garnered. We are particularly hopeful that the bill can be enrolled and sent to the president to sign into law as soon as possible. Now, your leadership is needed to pass H.R.3030 in the Senate.

Sincerely,

Dr. Randel Everett
President
21st Century Wilberforce Initiative

Eric Cohen
Co-Founder
Act for Sudan

Joyce Ajlouny
Executive Director
American Friends Service Committee

David Harris
Chief Executive Officer
AJC (American Jewish Committee)

Liz Hume
Vice President, Acting CEO
Alliance for Peacebuilding

Arthur C. Evans, Jr., Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
American Psychological Association

Sharon Nazarian
Senior Vice President
Anti-Defamation League

Aram Hamparian
Executive Director
Armenian National Committee of America

Peter Yeo
President
Better World Campaign

Dorothy Chambers
Executive Director
CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center

C. Dixon Osburn
Executive Director
Center for Justice and Accountability

Scott Roehm
Director of the Washington Office
The Center for Victims of Torture

Kay Guinane
Director
Charity & Security Network

Nathan Hosler, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Peacebuilding and Policy, Church of the Brethren

Rev. Susan Taylor
National Public Affairs Director
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office

Roz Duman
Founder/Executive Director
Coalition Against Global Genocide

Henry F Knight
Director and Professor of Holocaust and
Genocide Studies
Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Eli McCarthy
Director of Justice and Peace
Conference of Superiors of Men (Catholic)

Richard Sribnick, MD
Chairman
Darfur Action Group of South Carolina

Cory Williams
Co-Founder
Darfur and Beyond

Niemat Ahmadi
President
Darfur Women Action Group

Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston
Executive Director
Disciples Center for Public Witness

Kate W. English
Executive Director
Educators’ Institute for Human Rights

Andrew Albertson
Executive Director
Foreign Policy for America

Chris Sacarabany
Executive Director
Foundation for Ethnic Understanding

Diane Randall
Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation

Reza Uddin
President
Friends of Rohingya USA

Dr. Simon Adams
Executive Director
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Sarah L Weiss
Executive Director
Holocaust & Humanity Center

Randy Newcomb
President
Humanity United Action

James Chen
Executive Director
Institute for Global Engagement

Susan Morgan
Co-Founder
Investors Against Genocide

Lisa Dougan
President & CEO
Invisible Children

David Bernstein
President and CEO
Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Susan Freudenheim
Executive Director
Jewish World Watch

Sister Kate O’Donnell OSF
Justice, Peace and Integrity for Creation
Committee of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Gerry Lee
Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

William Rosenfeld
Director
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur

Neal Keny-Guyer
Chief Executive Officer
Mercy Corps

Jim Winkler
General Secretary/President
National Council of Churches

Lauren Fortgang
Executive Director
Never Again Coalition

Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
Operation Broken Silence

Marie Dennis
Co- President
Pax Christi International

Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins
Director
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness

Bridget Moix
Senior US Representative
Peace Direct

David L. Rosenberg
Coordinator
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition

Louise R Davis
President
PRBB FOUNDATION

Dr. Douglas Jackson
President/CEO
Project C.U.R.E.

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Executive Director
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Eric P. Schwartz
President
Refugees International

Adam F. Berrey
Executive Chairman
Search for Common Ground

Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus
CEO
Shalom Austin

Maggie Conley
Director, Institute Justice Team
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Institute
Justice Team

Russell Moore
President
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Casey Bush and Grace Fernandes
Student Directors
STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities

Katie-Jay Scott
Program Coordinator
Stop Genocide Now

Esther Sprague
Founder and Director
Sudan Unlimited

David Estrin
Founder & CEO
Together We Remember

Eskinder Negash
President and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Sandy Sorensen
Director, Washington D.C. Office
United Church of Christ

Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe
General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church

Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D.
Executive Director
World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law