On August 1, 62 organizations issued a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging expedited Senate consideration of the House version of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act (H.R.3030).
August 1, 2018
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
United States Senate
S-230 U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Majority Leader McConnell:
We write in support of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. We urge your leadership to advance expedited passage of the House version of the bill, H.R.3030, via the Senate’s unanimous consent process.
The Elie Wiesel Act highlights the importance of preventing atrocities and genocide in the context of U.S. national security, supports the White House-led Atrocities Prevention Board that has been convened under both Presidents Obama and Trump, requires a report on U.S. government-wide efforts to prevent atrocities, and requires atrocities prevention training for Foreign Service Officers.
H.R.3030 passed overwhelmingly in the House on July 17 by a vote of 406-5 with the bipartisan support of both the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. While the House and Senate bills are nearly identical, the provision related to the training of Foreign Services Officers is stronger and more effective in the House version. Therefore, H.R.3030 best embodies the deep and abiding commitment to atrocities prevention of the bill’s namesake – Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, and advocate – Elie Wiesel.
September 30 would have been Elie Wiesel’s 90th birthday. Senate passage of H.R.3030 would be a meaningful way to remember and advance Elie Wiesel’s remarkable contributions to human rights and to the promise of “never again.”
We have been pleased to see the bipartisan, bicameral support that the Elie Wiesel Act has garnered. We are particularly hopeful that the bill can be enrolled and sent to the president to sign into law as soon as possible. Now, your leadership is needed to pass H.R.3030 in the Senate.
Sincerely,
Dr. Randel Everett
President
21st Century Wilberforce Initiative
Eric Cohen
Co-Founder
Act for Sudan
Joyce Ajlouny
Executive Director
American Friends Service Committee
David Harris
Chief Executive Officer
AJC (American Jewish Committee)
Liz Hume
Vice President, Acting CEO
Alliance for Peacebuilding
Arthur C. Evans, Jr., Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
American Psychological Association
Sharon Nazarian
Senior Vice President
Anti-Defamation League
Aram Hamparian
Executive Director
Armenian National Committee of America
Peter Yeo
President
Better World Campaign
Dorothy Chambers
Executive Director
CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center
C. Dixon Osburn
Executive Director
Center for Justice and Accountability
Scott Roehm
Director of the Washington Office
The Center for Victims of Torture
Kay Guinane
Director
Charity & Security Network
Nathan Hosler, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Peacebuilding and Policy, Church of the Brethren
Rev. Susan Taylor
National Public Affairs Director
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office
Roz Duman
Founder/Executive Director
Coalition Against Global Genocide
Henry F Knight
Director and Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Eli McCarthy
Director of Justice and Peace
Conference of Superiors of Men (Catholic)
Richard Sribnick, MD
Chairman
Darfur Action Group of South Carolina
Cory Williams
Co-Founder
Darfur and Beyond
Niemat Ahmadi
President
Darfur Women Action Group
Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston
Executive Director
Disciples Center for Public Witness
Kate W. English
Executive Director
Educators’ Institute for Human Rights
Andrew Albertson
Executive Director
Foreign Policy for America
Chris Sacarabany
Executive Director
Foundation for Ethnic Understanding
Diane Randall
Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Reza Uddin
President
Friends of Rohingya USA
Dr. Simon Adams
Executive Director
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Sarah L. Weiss
Executive Director
Holocaust & Humanity Center
Randy Newcomb
President
Humanity United Action
James Chen
Executive Director
Institute for Global Engagement
Susan Morgan
Co-Founder
Investors Against Genocide
Lisa Dougan
President & CEO
Invisible Children
David Bernstein
President and CEO
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Susan Freudenheim
Executive Director
Jewish World Watch
Sister Kate O’Donnell OSF
Justice, Peace and Integrity for Creation Committee of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Gerry Lee
Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
William Rosenfeld
Director
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
Neal Keny-Guyer
Chief Executive Officer
Mercy Corps
Jim Winkler
General Secretary/President
National Council of Churches
Lauren Fortgang
Executive Director
Never Again Coalition
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
Operation Broken Silence
Marie Dennis
Co-President
Pax Christi International
Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins
Director
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness
Bridget Moix
Senior US Representative
Peace Direct
David L. Rosenberg
Coordinator
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition
Louise R Davis
President
PRBB FOUNDATION
Dr. Douglas Jackson
President/CEO
Project C.U.R.E.
Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Executive Director
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Eric P. Schwartz
President
Refugees International
Adam F. Berrey
Executive Chairman
Search for Common Ground
Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus
CEO
Shalom Austin
Maggie Conley
Director, Institute Justice Team
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Institute Justice Team
Russell Moore
President
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Casey Bush and Grace Fernandes
Student Directors
STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities
Katie-Jay Scott
Program Coordinator
Stop Genocide Now
Esther Sprague
Founder and Director
Sudan Unlimited
David Estrin
Founder & CEO
Together We Remember
Eskinder Negash
President and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Sandy Sorensen
Director, Washington D.C. Office
United Church of Christ
Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe
General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church
Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D.
Executive Director
World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
