Introduction

The Nuremburg Trials held perpetrators of genocide accountable for crimes committed during the Holocaust. Nuremburg remains a testament to an international code of justice and a beacon for international law to this day. The United States has ratified the statute for the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, proving a long-held U.S. commitment to upholding the rule of law. Unfortunately U.S. implementation is narrow in scope and legal analysts and human rights advocates are calling for measures to move the U.S. criminal code closer to complimentarity with international law. Passed unanimously by the Senate (S.888) in March 2007, the House version of the “Genocide Accountability Act of 2007” (H.R.2489) would close an important legal loophole in the U.S. criminal code.

Basic Facts

The current U.S. criminal code concerning the prosecution of genocide -- Title 18 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 1091 - only pertains to a narrow set of criteria; the law applies only to U.S. nationals or U.S. territory. H.R.2489 would amend and expand the legal code for the prosecution of genocide to include U.S. nationals, lawful aliens with permanent residence in the U.S., stateless persons with habitual residence in the U.S., or alleged offenders brought into or found in the United States, even if genocide is committed outside of U.S. territory. The amended law would allow for prosecution of genocide so long as the individual is on U.S. territory for prosecution.

H.R.2489 brings U.S. law closer to the complimentarity clause of the Rome Statute with similar provisions for prosecution of genocide. Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), coupled with the ICC’s Elements of Crimes, provide a strong legal basis for investigating and prosecuting genocide. Importantly, the breadth and scope of the elements of genocide also set a high evidentiary standard that the Prosecutor must meet to prove the commission of this crime.

Closing the Legal Gap

Closing the legal loophole in the U.S. criminal code is an important step toward increasing accountability for perpetrators of genocide and confirming a U.S. commitment to the rule of law:

• An amended U.S. Genocide Code expands U.S. ability to prosecute genocidaires in its borders. The current U.S. law is too narrow to provide adequate accountability for individuals in the United States who have committed genocide. According to the Genocide Intervention Network, the U.S. Justice Department has identified individuals who participated in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides and currently live in the United States. Under current law, these individuals cannot be arrested or prosecuted because they are not U.S. nationals and the genocides they perpetrated did not take place in the United States.

• A U.S. role in prosecuting genocidaires - even those who commit crimes outside of the U.S. - helps enforce an international code of justice. For example, the amended U.S. Code could allow for some of the worst perpetrators of genocide to be prosecuted in U.S. Courts. The current gap in the law has proven problematic; former U.S. officials have stated that the United States wanted to arrest and prosecute Cambodian dictator Pol Pot but couldn’t because of gaps in the U.S. criminal code.

• H.R.2489 moves the U.S. toward a complimentary legal system. Under the Genocide Convention, State Parties are obligated to prevent and punish genocide wherever it occurs. These jurisdictional gaps under the U.S. Genocide Code must therefore be addressed for complementarity as well as impunity reasons-the U.S. must contribute to preventing and punishing the crime of genocide by ensuring jurisdiction over every scenario of an offender committing this crime.

Take Action

Join with Genocide Intervention Network to ask your representative to co-sponsor the “Genocide Accountability Act of 2007” and help amend U.S. law to hold all perpetrators of genocide accountable. Call 1-800-Genocide or visit www.1800genocide.com to find out more.

What We Do

Citizens for Global Solutions envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone. This vision requires effective democratic global institutions that will apply the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and local communities. We work to build political will for our vision in the United States by educating Americans about our global interdependence, communicating global concerns to public officials, and developing proposals to create, reform, and strengthen international institutions such as the United Nations.

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Updated July 18, 2007.