On January 14, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, a ground-breaking genocide prevention law, overwhelmingly adopted by the Senate and House, which codifies earlier measures including those implemented by the Obama Administration, and puts in place a set of clear policies and processes to prevent new atrocities.

The law states that U.S. must regard the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes as a core national security interest and moral responsibility. To that end, it calls for the creation of a task force to strengthen State Department efforts and assist other agency efforts at atrocity prevention and response. The law also calls for the training of Foreign Service Officers “on recognizing patterns of escalation and early warning signs of potential atrocities, and methods of preventing and responding to atrocities, including conflict assessment methods, peacebuilding, mediation for prevention, early action and response, and appropriate transitional justice measures to address atrocities.”

As part of the new provision, the President is required to transmit a report to Senate and House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Appropriations, offering a review of countries and regions at risk of atrocity crimes, the most likely pathways to violence, specific risk factors, potential perpetrators, and at-risk target groups.

The law also calls on the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to support programs and activities to prevent or respond to emerging or unforeseen foreign challenges and complex crises overseas, including potential atrocity crimes.

This bill states that it is U.S. policy to regard the prevention of genocide and other atrocity crimes as a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility.

The President shall instruct the Department of State to establish a Mass Atrocities Task Force to strengthen State Department efforts and assist other agency efforts at atrocity prevention and response.

The Foreign Service Act of 1980 is amended to provide for the training of Foreign Service Officers in conflict and atrocity crimes prevention.

The Director of National Intelligence is encouraged to include in his or her annual testimony to Congress on threats to U.S. national security: (1) a review of countries and regions at risk of atrocity crimes; and (2) specific countries and regions at immediate risk of atrocity crimes, including most likely pathways to violence, specific risk factors, potential perpetrators, and at-risk target groups.

The bill establishes the Complex Crises Fund to enable the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to support programs and activities to prevent or respond to emerging or unforeseen foreign challenges and complex crises overseas, including potential atrocity crimes. Fund amounts may not be expended for lethal assistance or to respond to natural disasters.

The bill was signed into law by President Trump a few days before International Holocaust Day on January 27. Entitled formally the “International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, ” the day was designed by a UN General Assembly resolution adopted on November 1, 2005.. On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the biggest Nazi concentration camp in the then occupied Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau.