Bill Text: GA SR1081 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month; recognize April 2012

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-02-29 - Senate Read and Adopted [SR1081 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2011-SR1081-Enrolled.html

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12 LC 93 1069

Senate Resolution 1081

By: Senator Hill of the 32nd

A RESOLUTION

Recognizing the month of April, 2012, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month at the capitol; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, the goal of Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month is to educate the public about the history of previous and contemporary genocides; how to advocate against future genocides; to focus attention on the specter of genocide so that policies, strategies, and programs geared towards combating the evils of genocide can be developed; and to commemorate the victims of genocide; and

WHEREAS, during World War II, a Polish lawyer of Jewish decent, Raphael Lemkin, coined the term "genocide" to describe the coordinated plan of actions aimed at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups with the aim of annihilating a group itself by disintegrating a group's political and social institutions, culture, language, national feelings, religion, and economic existence and destroying the personal security, liberty, health, and dignity, as well as the lives, of individuals belonging to the group; and

WHEREAS, throughout history, numerous genocides originated or stemmed from events that occurred in April, and as a result, many institutions around the world have designated April to be a month of genocide prevention and awareness; and

WHEREAS, in April of 1933, the Nazis issued a decree preparing the way for the "Final Solution" defining non-Aryans as "anyone descended from non-Aryan, especially Jewish, parents or grandparents"; and

WHEREAS, in April of 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and initiated wide-scale massacres that turned cities into killing fields; these massacres resulted in the deaths of two million people, and in April of 1992, the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital city, ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2,000 Bosnian Serbs; and
WHEREAS, in April of 1994, the Rwandan president's airplane was shot down, which led to the slaying of moderate leaders by Hutu hardliners, and over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered; and

WHEREAS, in April of 2003, the displacement of Darfurians began in Sudan, which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions; and

WHEREAS, the Genocide Prevention Task Force released its report on December of 2008 to spotlight genocide prevention as a national priority; and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is a state agency whose mission is to use the lessons of the Holocaust to educate the citizens of Georgia on the consequences of unchecked hate and the need for social justice, and to encourage strong moral character and citizenship; and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide operates as a proactive group with a mission to develop a permanent antigenocide constituency in Georgia, and it depends on citizen support to engage elected officials at the state and national levels through advocacy and action and by creating awareness within the community; and

WHEREAS, it is abundantly fitting and proper to recognize the contributions of the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body recognize the month of April, 2012, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month at the capitol and commend the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide for its dedicated efforts in preventing genocide.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide.