WASHINGTON, DC—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) today welcomed the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) to the coalition of ethnic, religious, educational, and human and civil rights groups supporting legislation before Congress to commemorate the 15th anniversary of U.S. implementation of the Genocide Convention.

“We are very pleased to be cooperating in support of the Genocide Resolution with MALDEF, an organization with a long and proud track record of defending the civil rights of our nation’s forty million Latinos,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We also look forward to working together on the many domestic and foreign policy issues of shared concern to our communities, and to strengthening the bonds between Latinos and Armenians—here in Washington and around the nation, in places like—California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida.”

Founded in 1968 in San Antonio, Texas, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) fosters sound public policies, laws and programs to safeguard the civil rights of the 40 million Latinos living in the United States and to empower the Latino community to fully participate in American society. Headquartered in Los Angeles, MALDEF has regional offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., with a satellite office in Sacramento and program offices in Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Houston. MALDEF has a staff of seventy-five employees, including twenty-two attorneys. For additional information about MALDEF, visit: www.maldef.org/policy/index.htm.

Representatives George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) introduced the Genocide Resolution in the U.S. House on April 10th. With 110 cosponsors, the legislation (H.Res.193) was unanimously adopted by the Judiciary Committee on May 21st and currently awaits consideration by the full House. Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) introduced the Senate version of the resolution (S.Res.164), which currently has 34 co-sponsors. Both the Senate and House versions specifically cite the Armenian Genocide as well as the Holocaust and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides as instances of past genocide.

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