Five activists from Rhode Island traveled last week to Washington, DC for the "End the Cycle of Genocide" advocacy days organized by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), reported the ANC of Rhode Island (ANC-RI).

"It is our duty as victims of genocide to meet and urge lawmakers to take action," commented ANC-RI Chair George Mangalo. "Decisive action needs to be taken to ensure the proper recognition of the Armenian Genocide as well as ending the genocide in Darfur."

Over the course of several days, ANC-RI activists met with the entire congressional delegation from the Ocean State. The group also met with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed. Throughout the meetings, the activists stressed the importance of recognition of the Armenian Genocide and asked for support to help end the genocide in Darfur. The activists also requested that the current aid levels to Armenia and Karabagh be increased and end to military aid to Azerbaijan. On all these issues, the Rhode Island activists received positive feedback from their Members of Congress.

On April 24th, Sen. Jack Reed, an active supporter of human rights issues, made a statement on the Senate floor in recognition of the Armenian Genocide.