Museum Letter to Senate Sponsors of Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act

December 14, 2018

The Honorable Ben Cardin
U.S. Senate
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Todd Young
U.S. Senate
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Cardin and Young:

On behalf of the Wiesel Family and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, we want to congratulate you on securing Senate passage of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. Your leadership on this bill honors Professor Wiesel’s vision for the Museum as a living memorial that would help save victims of future genocides and in doing so honor the victims of the Holocaust.

This legislation is an important step toward developing a bipartisan Congressional blueprint for making “never again” real by taking practical steps to mitigate the systematic persecution of vulnerable groups. This was a core recommendation of the 2007 bipartisan Genocide Prevention Task Force convened by the Museum, the United States Institute of Peace and the American Academy of Diplomacy and led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. The report noted that genocide and related crimes against humanity are not inevitable and “preventing genocide is a goal that can be achieved with the right organizational structures, strategies, and partnerships - in short, with the right blueprint.”

Thank you for all that you do to give voice to the victims of genocide and atrocities, and to help ensure that the US and other governments have tools, and policies to effectively prevent genocide and other mass atrocities before they occur.  

Sincerely,

Elisha Wiesel

Sara J. Bloomfield, Director

Tags:   contemporary genocidegenocide prevention task force