WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Georgia State Senate adopted SR 991, a resolution “Recognizing the month of April, 2016, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month” in this US state, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
The resolution states that “when coining the term ‘genocide,’ Raphael Lemkin was moved to investigate the forced assimilation, deportation, and near eradication of the Armenian population and other Christian communities, beginning in April, 1915, prompting Adolf Hitler to remark in 1939, ‘Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?’”
“The resolution had bipartisan support and we will continue our efforts to broaden genocide recognition and human rights education in our school curriculum,” stated Dr. Vahan Kassabian, Armenian Assembly Georgia State Chair, who was present at the capitol to witness the bill’s passage.
The resolution goes on to reference the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II, as well as the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, Sudan, and the current brutality of the Islamic State (aka ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) in Syria and Iraq as outstanding examples.
SR 991 was sponsored by State Senators Elena Parent (D-GA), David Shafer (R-GA-), Renee Unterman (R-GA), Joshua McKoon (R-GA), Nan Orrock (D-GA), and Harold Jones II (D-GA).
“The Assembly appreciates the work of the Georgia State Senate, particularly Senators Parent, Shafer, Unterman, McKoon, Orrock, and Jones, as well as our state chair Dr. Vahan Kassabian,” stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “These anti-genocide activists in Georgia and across the U.S. are playing a major role in advancing human rights education and we look forward to the day when all 50 states incorporate the teaching of the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide in our schools.”
To note, 43 of 50 US states have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide.