The House Passes HR 390 to assist Genocide Survivors in Iraq and Syria, and it must now pass in the Senate!

Dear IDC Supporters,

The House of Representatives has heard your voice!

Since you started making calls and sending letters to your representatives asking them to co-sponsor H.R. 390 to assist genocide survivors in Iraq and Syria, the House brought the legislation to a vote. And this evening the House of Representatives unanimously passed the legislation!

But in order to become law, the legislation also needs to be passed in the Senate!

Please TAKE ACTION! Click HERE to write your Senator asking them to co-sponsor the Senate companion legislation to H.R. 390 to assist genocide survivors in Iraq and Syria!

The Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 390) will help Christian survivors of genocide in two critical ways:

1) Assistance for victims of genocide 

Directs the United States to provide assistance, including cash assistance, to support entities that are effectively providing assistance to genocide survivors from Iraqi and Syrian religious and ethnic minority communities. U.S. humanitarian assistance to Iraq and Syria has been supporting the operations of the United Nations and other international organizations. Most Christians are not receiving this aid, however, since they are not going to U.N. camps because they are often targeted for violence or because they fear sectarian retaliation. As a result, these minorities often do not get “official” aid.

2) Accountability for perpetrators of genocide

Directs the United States to provide funding and other assistance to support entities that are conducting criminal investigations, building Syrian and Iraqi investigative and judicial capacity, collecting evidence, and preserving the chain of evidence for eventual prosecution in domestic courts, hybrid courts, and internationalized domestic courts, against perpetrators. It also directs the United States to review existing U.S. criminal statutes for gaps in being able to prosecute Americans, or non-Americans present in the United States for crimes against humanity. This is important because if there is not further action to develop additional documentation and preservation, the physical evidence will be lost which will jeopardize justice for the victims of genocide.