1.1A Senate resolution
1.2proclaiming the month of April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month.
1.3WHEREAS, during the Second World War, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish
1.4descent, coined the term "genocide" to describe a coordinated plan of action aimed at the
1.5destruction of foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating a group
1.6itself, for example, by disintegrating a group's political and social institutions, culture, language,
1.7national feelings, religion, and economic existence, and destroying the personal security, liberty,
1.8health, dignity, and the lives of individuals belonging to the group; and
1.9WHEREAS, following the Holocaust, on December 9, 1948, the United Nations General
1.10Assembly adopted Resolution 260 (III) A, the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
1.11Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, declaring genocide to be a crime under international law,
1.12and defining genocide to include the commission of certain acts, including killing members of the
1.13group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting
1.14conditions of life calculated to bring about a group's physical destruction in whole or in part,
1.15imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children
1.16of the group to another group, with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic,
1.17racial, or religious group; and
1.18WHEREAS, in 2008, the Genocide Prevention Task Force, convened by the United States
1.19Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the United States
1.20Institute of Peace, issued a report finding that in order to prevent future genocides and mass
1.21atrocities, effective prevention measures must be implemented before a crisis has erupted, and
1.22that educating the public can help to protect individual rights and promote a culture of lawfulness
1.23that will help prevent future genocides; and
2.1WHEREAS, many communities of Minnesota have endured acts of genocide or human
2.2rights atrocities in their countries of origin; and
2.3WHEREAS, the state of Minnesota condemns and desires to combat all acts of genocide
2.4and all human rights atrocities; and
2.5WHEREAS, educating the public about the evils of genocide and commemorating victims
2.6of genocide, including the adoption of a Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month, are effective
2.7tools that will further these goals; and
2.8BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Minnesota that it proclaims the month of
2.9April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month.
2.10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is directed to prepare a
2.11copy of this resolution, to be authenticated by his signature and that of the Chair of the Senate
2.12Rules and Administration Committee, and transmit it to World Without Genocide.