**Statement of Rep. Howard L. Berman**

**in Support of S. 888**

**The Genocide Accountability Act of 2007**

**December 5, 2007**

M. Speaker, the first legal application of the term Agenocide@ came
during the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Before then, there was not a word
in our language to adequately express the brutality and evil that this
crime embodies. The purpose of the Genocide Accountability Act is to
ensure that no perpetrator of genocide is able to use the United States
as a safe haven from prosecution.

After the Holocaust, the Genocide Convention was the embodiment of the
world=s pledge B the promise of ANever again.@ And yet, this promise has
proven to be one of the world=s most unfulfilled.

Not very long ago, genocide was the scourge of Bosnia, and before that,
Rwanda. Two years ago, this body passed a resolution acknowledging that
the devastation and murderous violence occurring in the Darfur region of
Sudan was a genocide.

Unfortunately, the genocide in Darfur remains an ongoing crime today.
The struggle to prevent and punish genocide has been, and unfortunately
will be, winding and long.

The bill we=re considering today acknowledges that in some cases the
perpetrators of this evil have ended up not just on the doorstep of the
United States, but living inside our house. Current law allows us to
deport them, but procedural limitations in our laws can keep us from
delivering justice for their crimes.

Because current U.S. law lacks an extraterritorial jurisdiction clause
for genocide, procedurally, the Department of Justice is limited in its
ability to charge an individual who is not a U.S. national for
involvement in a genocide committed outside the United States, even if
the victims include American citizens.

In 1948, the United States was the [first]{.underline} nation to sign
the Genocide Convention. Twenty years ago, with the AProxmire Act@ we
added to our criminal code provisions to fulfill the obligations of that
Convention B to prevent and punish genocide. S. 888 will strengthen the
reach of U.S. laws to prosecute any individuals found in our country who
have taken part in acts of genocide, in Darfur or anywhere else.

As the atrocities in Darfur continue, it is imperative that we enact the
measures in this bill to stand against genocide wherever it occurs and
hold fully accountable the perpetrators of genocide who are able to
escape justice.

M. Speaker, the term genocide was first proposed by Rafael Lemkin, a man
of Polish-Jewish descent. In 1941 he came to the United States, and on
the day of his arrival he gave a speech explaining to an American
audience the international responsibility to respond to genocide. I=ll
paraphrase what he said:

AIf you learned that a mass of women, children, and old people were
being murdered a hundred miles from here, wouldn=t you feel compelled to
run to their aid? Why then, if the distance were 3,000 miles instead of
a hundred, would you restrain this decision of your heart?@

By passing this bill today, we are taking Lemkin=s words to heart. We
will work to punish and prevent the crime of genocide not just in our
own country, but wherever it occurs in the world.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.