Today, the Department of State submitted the annual report to Congress consistent with section 5 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. The 2024 Elie Wiesel Act Report details U.S. interagency efforts to address genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity around the world. It also chronicles whole-of-government work over the past year to promote atrocity prevention programs, protect civilians at risk, and hold perpetrators accountable in places where some of the most heinous crimes have been committed.
This year’s Elie Wiesel Act Report reflects several Administration priorities. As part of ongoing work to incorporate women’s rights and inclusion into atrocity prevention efforts, the report incorporates gender-based violence as a potential early warning sign of atrocities and reinforces that conflict-related sexual violence should never be considered an inevitable result of armed conflict. The report also notes critical documentation work through the Conflict Observatory program, which calls out human rights violations and abuses in Sudan and Ukraine. The report further highlights how the United States and likeminded partners examine data from early warning analytic tools and programs to provide concrete recommendations to guide atrocity prevention policy and programming.
The United States promotes respect for human rights globally and pursues accountability for those responsible for atrocities consistent with the U.S. Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities. Departments and agencies across the U.S. Government promote accountability through documentation, evidence collection, visa restrictions, financial sanctions, the Global Criminal Justice Rewards Program, and criminal investigations at home and abroad. The United States also advances transitional justice with foreign partners, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders. Preventing atrocities, wherever and whenever possible, remains a core U.S. national security interest.