January 31, 2005
“The UN never called Rwanda a genocide, and look what happened there,” said Rep. Lee. “We can’t wait for 800,000 people to die, we must act quickly to stop the violence.”
In May, 1994, The UN Security Council passed a resolution stating that “acts of genocide may have been committed,” despite International Red Cross estimate that 500,000 Rwandans had already been killed.
Rep. Lee returned last Wednesday from a Congressional Delegation to visit refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border, and what she saw there reinforced her belief that genocide is taking place.
“The missing limbs, the eyes of the girls who had been raped, the accounts of coordinated attacks, everything we witnessed has strengthened my conviction that Congress was right to call this genocide, and the President was right to agree,” said Rep. Lee.
According to the report’s executive summary, the panel found that “government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, throughout Darfur,” and recommended referring the cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that is supported by most Security Council members, but opposed by the US.
The Bush administration favors creating a new court, possibly in Tanzania , but critics say that setting up a new court would be costly and take significantly longer than going to the ICC.
“We can’t dilly-dally while people are dying just because the Bush administration doesn’t like the ICC. It is imperative that we act quickly to stop this carnage. There is bipartisan support for sanctions against Khartoum , and the ICC is a good vehicle for accountability,” said Rep. Lee.
Representative Lee is a leading voice in the growing movement to divest state pension funds from companies doing business in Sudan . In an Op Ed in Sunday’s Los Angels Times, she called on the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to begin the process of divesting from such companies. The New Jersey State Assembly approved divestment legislation last week, and similar legislation is being considered in Massachusetts .
Congresswoman Lee is the senior Democratic Woman on the House International Relations Committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee.
# # #
Rep. Lee Rejects UN Sudan Finding, Urges Action Warns Darfur May be Another Rwanda
( Washington , DC ) – Representative Barbara Lee responded to the release of a UN panel’s report that the Sudanese government and militia had committed war crimes in Darfur , but not genocide. Rep. Lee disputed the panel’s finding, and emphasized the need to take action.“The UN never called Rwanda a genocide, and look what happened there,” said Rep. Lee. “We can’t wait for 800,000 people to die, we must act quickly to stop the violence.”
In May, 1994, The UN Security Council passed a resolution stating that “acts of genocide may have been committed,” despite International Red Cross estimate that 500,000 Rwandans had already been killed.
Rep. Lee returned last Wednesday from a Congressional Delegation to visit refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border, and what she saw there reinforced her belief that genocide is taking place.
“The missing limbs, the eyes of the girls who had been raped, the accounts of coordinated attacks, everything we witnessed has strengthened my conviction that Congress was right to call this genocide, and the President was right to agree,” said Rep. Lee.
According to the report’s executive summary, the panel found that “government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, throughout Darfur,” and recommended referring the cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that is supported by most Security Council members, but opposed by the US.
The Bush administration favors creating a new court, possibly in Tanzania , but critics say that setting up a new court would be costly and take significantly longer than going to the ICC.
“We can’t dilly-dally while people are dying just because the Bush administration doesn’t like the ICC. It is imperative that we act quickly to stop this carnage. There is bipartisan support for sanctions against Khartoum , and the ICC is a good vehicle for accountability,” said Rep. Lee.
Representative Lee is a leading voice in the growing movement to divest state pension funds from companies doing business in Sudan . In an Op Ed in Sunday’s Los Angels Times, she called on the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to begin the process of divesting from such companies. The New Jersey State Assembly approved divestment legislation last week, and similar legislation is being considered in Massachusetts .
Congresswoman Lee is the senior Democratic Woman on the House International Relations Committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee.
# # #