Trump signs relief for genocide victims into law

President Donald Trump has signed into law the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Account­ability Act of 2018, which will provide humanitarian relief to victims of genocide in Iraq and Syria and hold the Islamic State perpetrators of genocide accountable, Catholic News Service reports.

“The legislation signed today [11 December] again reminds us of America’s earlier efforts to aid victims of genocide – Christian communities targeted by the Ottomans a century ago and Jewish survivors of the Shoah,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in a statement.

With the bill now law, “America speaks with bold moral clarity and political unanimity”, he added. Anderson and other officials of the Knights of Columbus took part in a signing ceremony at the White House.
As chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services praised the new law, calling it “a signal of hope for the critically vulnerable of this region”.

The law envisages financial and technical assistance for the humanitarian and recovery needs of former and current religious minority residents of Iraq and Syria and their stabilisation. The assistance may come through the federal government or other entities, including faith-based groups.

The act also enables the State Department in collaboration with other federal agencies to conduct criminal investigations into and apprehend individuals identified as alleged IS members – and to identify warning signs of genocide and threats of persecution.

The House of Rep­resentatives on 27 November unanimously passed the measure, known as H.R. 390. The Senate in an earlier vote also passed its version of the measure unanimously.

Republican Representative Chris Smith, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights, introduced the legislation in 2016 and again in 2017, with a Democratic co-sponsor, Anna Eshoo.

Since 2014, the Knights of Columbus has committed more than $20 million (£16 million) to relief efforts on behalf of Christians and other religious minorities in the region.
Other religious liberty organisations, human rights activists and faith-based advocacy groups also supported H.R. 390.