The federal government concedes there’s no “single approach” to preventing atrocities such as the murder of Christians in the Middle East and attacks on Muslims in China.
But the Trump administration is going to have a good try at it.
The government on Thursday announced the White House-led, interagency Atrocity Early Warning Task Force.
“We will never, ever be silent in the face of evil again … and we pledge: never again,” Trump said.
The government already works with the United Nations, non-profits and like-minded nations to “develop joint actions to address the risk of atrocities.”
Going forward, the White House said, the government will refine its toolset “and build institutional capacity to prevent, mitigate, and respond to atrocities.”
Included in the plans is “standardized atrocity prevention training for United States government personnel.”
It also will “monitor developments in atrocity risk globally … improve interagency coordination on the prevention, mitigation, and response to atrocities to address gaps and lessons-learned …. [and] facilitate the development and implementation of policies to build the capacity of the United States government to prevent, mitigate, and response to atrocities.”
At-risk countries will be identified and the information maintained will include “an overview of perpetrators and their motives and means, target groups, influential third parties, underlying grievances, resiliencies against atrocities, and circumstances in which risk might be heightened or mitigated.”
The government also will leverage the nation’s foreign assistance as a deterrent.
“The Department of the Treasury uses a range of economic and financial tools to prevent, combat, and deter atrocities and violations and abuses of human rights,” the announcement said.
Sanctions, which are intended to “isolate, deter, and deprive foreign actors of the resources necessary to commit atrocities,” already are being used against individuals from Belarus, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Nicaragua, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Offenders are to be barred from entering the United States.
The report said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has arrested more than 400 people for human rights violations and facilitated the removal of more than 900 known or suspect violators from the United States.
American personnel also will be trained to identify the earning warning signs.
