III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 151
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should recognize
the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’’.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. R
OUNDS(for himself and Mr. COONS) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States
should recognize the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the
genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’’.
Whereas, in 2018, the United Nations General Assembly
amended the title of the annual observance of the geno-
cide in Rwanda on April 7 to be the ‘‘International Day
of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in
Rwanda’’;
Whereas United States officials have noted publicly that the
genocide in Rwanda was ‘‘intended to destroy Tutsi’’;
Whereas, on April 7, 2023, Secretary of State Blinken stated,
‘‘The U.S. stands with Rwanda . . . in remembering the
Tutsi victims of genocide. We also mourn the others who
were murdered for their opposition to a genocidal re-
gime.’’;
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•SRES 151 IS
Whereas the United States Integrated Country Strategy for
Rwanda (approved March 14, 2022) refers to the ‘‘1994
genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group’’;
Whereas Rwandan officials, in appropriately opposing geno-
cide denial or revisionism, aptly note that any nomen-
clature that does not specifically use the phrase ‘‘geno-
cide against the Tutsi’’ is ‘‘ambiguous’’ and conducive to
genocide denial or revisionism;
Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
notes in its public educational materials on the ‘‘genocide
in Rwanda’’ that the victims were ‘‘predominantly Tutsi’’
and that the goal of Hutu extremist leaders was for
‘‘Rwandan Tutsis to be exterminated’’;
Whereas the United States-based nongovernmental organiza-
tion Human Rights Watch, which played a central role
in documenting the genocide in Rwanda and in sup-
porting international efforts to bring the perpetrators to
justice, found that the ‘‘Tutsi were being targeted for
elimination’’;
Whereas European diplomats refer to the ‘‘genocide against
the Tutsi’’ in public statements;
Whereas, starting in 2022, the Government of the United
Kingdom has used the terminology ‘‘genocide against the
Tutsi’’; and
Whereas the United States is the only major country in the
world to publicly reject the terminology ‘‘genocide against
the Tutsi’’: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 1
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•SRES 151 IS
(1) the United States should recognize the 1994 1
genocide in Rwanda as ‘‘the genocide against the 2
Tutsi in Rwanda’’; 3
(2) the Secretary of State should publicly af-4
firm that terminology; and 5
(3) other types of atrocities occurred alongside 6
the genocide against the Tutsi, and the history of 7
the genocide should clearly affirm the other experi-8
ences of mass violence against Rwandans during the 9
same period, including the killings and other violence 10
experienced by Hutus and the Indigenous Twa com-11
munity, perpetrated by Hutu extremist militias. 12
Æ
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