| 1 | 1 | | III |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. RES. 151 |
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| 5 | 5 | | Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should recognize |
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| 6 | 6 | | the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’’. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. R |
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| 10 | 10 | | OUNDS(for himself and Mr. COONS) submitted the following resolution; |
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| 11 | 11 | | which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations |
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| 12 | 12 | | RESOLUTION |
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| 13 | 13 | | Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States |
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| 14 | 14 | | should recognize the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the |
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| 15 | 15 | | genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’’. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Whereas, in 2018, the United Nations General Assembly |
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| 17 | 17 | | amended the title of the annual observance of the geno- |
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| 18 | 18 | | cide in Rwanda on April 7 to be the ‘‘International Day |
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| 19 | 19 | | of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in |
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| 20 | 20 | | Rwanda’’; |
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| 21 | 21 | | Whereas United States officials have noted publicly that the |
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| 22 | 22 | | genocide in Rwanda was ‘‘intended to destroy Tutsi’’; |
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| 23 | 23 | | Whereas, on April 7, 2023, Secretary of State Blinken stated, |
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| 24 | 24 | | ‘‘The U.S. stands with Rwanda . . . in remembering the |
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| 25 | 25 | | Tutsi victims of genocide. We also mourn the others who |
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| 26 | 26 | | were murdered for their opposition to a genocidal re- |
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| 27 | 27 | | gime.’’; |
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| 29 | 29 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •SRES 151 IS |
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| 31 | 31 | | Whereas the United States Integrated Country Strategy for |
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| 32 | 32 | | Rwanda (approved March 14, 2022) refers to the ‘‘1994 |
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| 33 | 33 | | genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group’’; |
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| 34 | 34 | | Whereas Rwandan officials, in appropriately opposing geno- |
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| 35 | 35 | | cide denial or revisionism, aptly note that any nomen- |
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| 36 | 36 | | clature that does not specifically use the phrase ‘‘geno- |
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| 37 | 37 | | cide against the Tutsi’’ is ‘‘ambiguous’’ and conducive to |
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| 38 | 38 | | genocide denial or revisionism; |
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| 39 | 39 | | Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |
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| 40 | 40 | | notes in its public educational materials on the ‘‘genocide |
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| 41 | 41 | | in Rwanda’’ that the victims were ‘‘predominantly Tutsi’’ |
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| 42 | 42 | | and that the goal of Hutu extremist leaders was for |
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| 43 | 43 | | ‘‘Rwandan Tutsis to be exterminated’’; |
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| 44 | 44 | | Whereas the United States-based nongovernmental organiza- |
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| 45 | 45 | | tion Human Rights Watch, which played a central role |
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| 46 | 46 | | in documenting the genocide in Rwanda and in sup- |
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| 47 | 47 | | porting international efforts to bring the perpetrators to |
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| 48 | 48 | | justice, found that the ‘‘Tutsi were being targeted for |
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| 49 | 49 | | elimination’’; |
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| 50 | 50 | | Whereas European diplomats refer to the ‘‘genocide against |
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| 51 | 51 | | the Tutsi’’ in public statements; |
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| 52 | 52 | | Whereas, starting in 2022, the Government of the United |
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| 53 | 53 | | Kingdom has used the terminology ‘‘genocide against the |
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| 54 | 54 | | Tutsi’’; and |
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| 55 | 55 | | Whereas the United States is the only major country in the |
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| 56 | 56 | | world to publicly reject the terminology ‘‘genocide against |
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| 57 | 57 | | the Tutsi’’: Now, therefore, be it |
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| 58 | 58 | | Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •SRES 151 IS |
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| 62 | 62 | | (1) the United States should recognize the 1994 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the genocide against the 2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | Tutsi in Rwanda’’; 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (2) the Secretary of State should publicly af-4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | firm that terminology; and 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (3) other types of atrocities occurred alongside 6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | the genocide against the Tutsi, and the history of 7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | the genocide should clearly affirm the other experi-8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ences of mass violence against Rwandans during the 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | same period, including the killings and other violence 10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | experienced by Hutus and the Indigenous Twa com-11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | munity, perpetrated by Hutu extremist militias. 12 |
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| 74 | 74 | | Æ |
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