For Citizens for Global Solutions, the 2010 lame-duck Congress was anything but lame. Immediately after ratifying the New START nuclear weapons treaty, for which CGS strongly advocated, the Senate unanimously approved S. Con. Res. 71, a bipartisan resolution condemning genocide and laying out plans for how the U.S. government can improve its approach on the issue.
CGS, as a member of the Prevention and Protection Working Group, helped to get S. Con. Res. 71 introduced and urged Senators from both parties to support it. The resolution, introduced by former Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), was cosponsored by 20 other senators-one-fifth of the entire Senate! For a complete list of cosponsors, visit http://thomas.loc.gov. Please take a moment to thank the senators who cosponsored the resolution.
As a resolution, S. Con. Res. 71 is not legally binding, but puts Congress on record against genocide and mass atrocities and asserts the need for our government to better respond to and prevent these tragedies from occurring. It also sets the stage for the next step-the introduction of binding genocide prevention legislation-in 2011.
CGS is excited by the passage of S. Con. Res. 71, and we will continue working hard to get new genocide prevention legislation introduced in the 112th Congress. To learn more about CGS's work on genocide prevention, click here.