IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1171 

Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda and joining 

people in Rwanda and around the world in remembering and mourning 

the victims of the genocide. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2024 

Ms. OMAR (for herself, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARSON, 

and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda 

and joining people in Rwanda and around the world 

in remembering and mourning the victims of the genocide. 

Whereas, 30 years ago, for approximately 100 days from 

April to June 1994, an estimated 800,000 people, the 

majority members of the Tutsi minority, were killed in 

the Rwandan Genocide; 

Whereas the genocide targeted Tutsis, Twa, and Hutus who 

opposed the genocide; 

Whereas nearly 70 percent of the Tutsi population of Rwanda was killed during the genocide; 


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•HRES 1171 IH 

Whereas the Rwandan Genocide is remembered for its particular brutality, wherein the majority of those killed 

were killed with hand-held weapons like machetes and 

clubs; 

Whereas the genocide included not just mass killings, but 

mass displacement, and the extensive use of rape as a 

weapon of war; 

Whereas the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, 

hereinafter referred to as ‘‘UNAMIR’’, was dramatically 

scaled down in the early days of the genocide, with many 

countries choosing to withdraw their contingents; 

Whereas the force commander of UNAMIR, Canadian General Rome ́o Dallaire, had accurately predicted the genocide months before it began, but was denied the additional resources and authorities he needed to help prevent 

it; 

Whereas the Clinton administration showed sustained public 

reluctance to refer to the genocide as a genocide, instead 

choosing to employ euphemism such as ‘‘acts of genocide’’ despite knowing that genocide was indeed occurring; 

Whereas President Clinton has, on several occasions, expressed profound regret for the United States inaction 

during the genocide, saying in 2013 that he believed that 

had the United States intervened, 300,000 lives could 

have been saved; and 

Whereas the United States was the first signatory of the 

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 

Crime of Genocide, but did not ratify it until 1988: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


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•HRES 1171 IH 

1 (1) recognizes the 30th anniversary of the geno2 cide in Rwanda; 

3 (2) joins people in Rwanda and around the 

4 world in remembering and mourning the victims of 

5 the genocide; 

6 (3) expresses profound regret at the United 

7 States and international community’s failure to ade8 quately respond to the genocide as it was unfolding; 

9 (4) reaffirms the commitment of the United 

10 States to the goals of the Convention on the Preven11 tion and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; and 

12 (5) reaffirms the importance of atrocity preven13 tion and justice as fundamental principles of Amer14 ican foreign policy. 

Æ 


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