Political Quotes

“with the beginning of this new Congress, Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, honored my request to create a new subcommittee, entitled Human Rights and the Law. It is the first time in Senate history we have designated a subcommittee with that jurisdiction. Of course, the Foreign Relations Committee has responsibility for foreign policy, but what we are trying to focus on in this subcommittee I chair are laws that relate to fundamental human rights. The subcommittee's first hearing, seven weeks ago, was on the law relating to genocide and the situation in Darfur. We had spectacular witnesses: Diane Orentlicher, an American University law school professor; Sigal Mandelker, a representative from the administration; Don Cheadle, the star in 'Hotel Rwanda,' who has become a strong advocate for ending the genocide in Darfur; Romeo Dallaire, a Senator in Canada, who in 1994 was the head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Rwanda during the onset of the massacre. Their testimony was electrifying. It pointed not only to the experience in Rwanda but to what we face today in Darfur.”