Statement

More than 150 religious leaders gathered to attend the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare at Princeton Theological Seminary on January 23-25, 2015. The attendees represented many of the world’s religions, and the Just War, Pacifist and Just Peace traditions.

FCNL calls on Congress to exercise its vital oversight role and is urging a Congressional hearing and inquiry into the U.S. lethal drones program. This is essential in order to inform the American people about the deliberate killing of Americans and non-nationals outside of declared war zones.

Today the global community faces the worst refugee crisis since World War II, with upwards of 60 million people displaced worldwide. Syrian refugees alone, either internally displaced or seeking resettlement, total approximately 12 million.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation has been working for constructive U.S. policy in order to respond to grievances and prevent future violence in Burundi. Elections scheduled for this summer have proven to be flashpoint for violent conflict.

Senator Ben Cardin, joined by Senator Thom Tillis and several others, introduced the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act to authorize a permanent, inter-agency Atrocities Prevention Board that mobilizes the U.S. government at the highest levels to focus on early prevention of violent conflict.

Twenty members of Congress, led by Representative Betty McCollum (MN), sent a letter to President Obama calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy for Palestinian Youth, in response to reports of widespread mistreatment of Palestinian minors in Israeli military detention.

The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123) takes an important step toward restoring judging authority to judges, reducing mandatory minimum sentences, and lowering the population of federal prisons.

This statement on behalf of the Friends Committee on National Legislation was submitted for the hearing: “Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences” to the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) applauds the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement that it will phase out contracts with private prison corporations.

FCNL wrote this statement the day after the September 11 attacks. Now and always, we seek a world free of war and the threat of war. We hold the victims, the survivors, their families, and all those affected in the Light.