Success! Senate Passes Genocide Prevention Resolution

Posted on 12/27/2010 @ 09:30 AM

Tags: Peaceful Prevention

On Wednesday, December 22nd, the Senate passed the Genocide Prevention Resolution (S Con Res 71) by unanimous consent. The resolution’s passage represents a victory for FCNL’s Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program, as well as a capstone for a year of hard work alongside FCNL’s partners in the Prevention Protection Working Group. S Con Res 71 affirms that it is in the national interest of the US to work vigorously with international partners to prevent and mitigate mass violence and lays out specific steps the United States can take to improve its abilities to help prevent genocide and mass atrocities. The resolution, originally sponsored by Sens. Feingold (WI) and Collins (ME), had a strong slate of bipartisan cosponsors, including Sens. Brownback (KS), Durbin (IL), and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee like Sens. Kerry (MA) and Lugar (IN) all joined S. Con. Res. 71. At passage, S Con Res 71 had 22 cosponsors, or more than one-fifth of the Senate! S Con Res 71 is non-binding and was not introduced in the House, but the resolution’s passage in the Senate lays fertile ground for more substantive bipartisan legislation next year, when FCNL will continue to lobby hard to improve US civilian capacities to help peacefully prevent deadly conflict

You can read more about S Con Res 71 in this previous Prevent War update.