BILL NUMBER: HR 12INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members DeVore and Tran APRIL 2, 2009 Relative to Southeast Asia Genocide Remembrance Week. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST WHEREAS, The Communist-run genocide in the Southeast Asian countries of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos is one of the great crimes of history; and WHEREAS, The Communist intent to commit genocide in Southeast Asia was foreshadowed as early as the 1954 ethnic cleansing of Vietnamese Catholics from North Vietnam; and WHEREAS, The Communists methodically executed former government officials, civil servants, and military personnel following the 1975 fall of the Republic of Vietnam; and WHEREAS, The Communist regime in Vietnam continues to repress ethnic and religious minorities including Khmers, Montagnards, Catholics, and some Buddhist sects, thereby perpetuating the foundations of genocide; and WHEREAS, The Laotian Communists conducted a decades-long campaign against the Hmong people that included chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, and the attempted eradication of Hmong culture; and WHEREAS, The Laotian Communist regime continues the legacy of genocide with organized and persistent repression of the Hmong people; and WHEREAS, Millions of Cambodians were forcibly taken from their homes and sent to forced labor camps set up by the Communist Khmer Rouge regime; and WHEREAS, The Communist Khmer Rouge executed former government officials, military personnel, civil servants, professionals, and other educated persons; and WHEREAS, An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died of starvation or execution at the hands of the Communist Khmer Rouge; and WHEREAS, Amnesty International has determined that between 1.2 million and 2.5 million Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Laotian people have perished in the Communist-run genocides in Southeast Asia since 1975; and WHEREAS, Refugees continue to flee the Communist regimes in Southeast Asia by any means available; and WHEREAS, The world must be made aware of the terrible reality and tragedy of the Southeast Asia genocide, and of its nature as an inevitable result of Communist rule; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly hereby proclaims the week of April 19 to April 25, 2009, inclusive, Southeast Asia Genocide Remembrance Week; and be it further Resolved, That the Assembly urges all Californians to learn more about the Southeast Asia genocide and the nature of Communist rule; and be it further Resolved, That the Assembly urges all Californians to participate in the activities of Southeast Asia Genocide Remembrance Week; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.