A Resolution Related to Genocides That Have Occurred Since the Twentieth Century
A Resolution to be Submitted to the Township of East Brunswick, New Jersey
Sponsor: Committee on Conscience—New Jersey

REQUESTING THE TOWNSHIP OF EAST BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY TO REMEMBER AND BE AWARE OF GENOCIDES OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT AND TO TAKE GREATER SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND POLITICAL ACTION ON STOPPING AND PREVENTING GENOCIDE.

WHEREAS throughout Eastern Europe between 1933 and 1945, Nazis systematically persecuted and executed 11 million people, 6 million of whom were Jews, in what became known as the Holocaust;

WHEREAS in 1948 the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and 40 years later the United States ratified it;

WHEREAS in Cambodia in 1975 through 1979, approximately 1.7 million people (21% of the country’s population) were murdered, and to date no Khmer Rouge leader has ever faced justice;

WHEREAS in 1991, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia led to several wars, noted for violent targeting of minority ethnic groups, and, in particular, in Srebrenica in 1995, 7,800 Muslim men and boys were murdered by Serb forces—the largest single massacre in Europe since the Holocaust;

WHEREAS in Rwanda, during a period of 100 days from April 6th through mid-July 1994, an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in the Rwandan Genocide, mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups;

WHEREAS in Darfur, Sudan, as of July 2006 an estimated 400,000 innocent civilians have died, and many more continue to die at a rate of 30,000 per month, and more than 3 million people have been internally displaced or have become refugees, while the international community fails to protect civilians or to influence the Sudanese government to do so; and

WHEREAS several more genocides have occurred since the twentieth century almost all of which, if not all of which, have left the international community unsure of how to respond or what to do;

WHEREAS the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, created pursuant to P.L.1991.c.193 (C.18A:4A-1 et seq.), expanded its mission to study and recommend curricular material on a wide range of genocides, and in which, effective since the 1994-1995 school year, “[e]very board of education shall include instruction on the Holocaust and genocides in an appropriate place in the curriculum of all elementary and secondary school pupils, and [t]he instruction shall enable pupils to identify and analyze applicable theories concerning human nature and behavior: to understand that genocide is a consequence of prejudice and discrimination and to understand that issues of moral dilemma and conscience have a profound impact on life. The instruction shall further emphasize the personal responsibility that each citizen bears to fight racism and hatred whenever and wherever it happens”;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Township of East Brunswick that:

1. History since the Holocaust, which gave us the term “genocide,” has been one of recurring genocide;

2. Ignorance and indifference are two enemies that must be addressed in order to stop and prevent genocide;

3. The Committee on Conscience—New Jersey (CoC—NJ), founded in East Brunswick in 2006 as a chapter of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s standing Committee on Conscience, which is based in Washington, D.C., is mandated to stop genocide and crimes against humanity;

4. CoC—NJ objectives are to (a) alert the community conscience, (b) educate our youth and adults, and (c) influence policymakers;

5. CoC—NJ works within an already existing infrastructure in New Jersey and works with humanitarian and human rights organizations, regardless of religious, ethnic, or cultural affiliations, to achieve its objectives;

6. CoC—NJ answers the need of people who want to take action but do not know what to do, answers the need of our society by educating our children so that future genocides are prevented, and answers the call to our conscience; and

7. CoC—NJ is a leader and valued partner in taking greater social, educational, and political action on stopping and preventing genocide.