Genocide Accountability Act introduced in U.S. House of Representatives

PanARMENIAN.Net - Congressmen Howard L. Berman (D-CA) and Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced the Genocide Accountability Act in the House of Representatives last week, the Armenian Assembly of America reports. The bipartisan legislation would make a non-U.S. national who commits genocide outside of the United States also accountable under U.S. law.



"This bill is urgently needed to ensure that the United States can bring to justice those who commit this atrocious crime when they are not prosecuted elsewhere," Berman said in a press statement.



Under current law, genocide is only a crime if it is committed within the United States or by a U.S. national outside of the country. Although the Justice Department has identified perpetrators of the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides who are living in the United States, it does not have the jurisdictional right to interview or charge any of these individuals.



"The fact that we know who these people are and where they are, yet are unable to prosecute them is an injustice to all those who suffered from genocide," said Berman. "This bill must be enacted as swiftly as possible to provide the Justice Department with the tools they need."



"We applaud Congressmen Berman and Pence for introducing this significant piece of legislation, which strengthens the U.S. commitment to fighting and stopping genocide," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "The Assembly has been advocating for the prevention and prosecution of current and ongoing atrocities around the world for just as long as it has been calling for affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. Affirmation and prevention are one and the same principle for ending the scourge of genocide."



A similar bill introduced in the Senate by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), was unanimously passed in March.