AJR 41 Summary

• Commends Near East Relief organization for humanitarian assistance to survivors of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) and Assyrian Genocide, during which 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire's Young Turks regime

• Recognizes Near East Relief as the first congressionally sanctioned American philanthropic organization created to rescue Armenian and other Christian minorities, founded at the direction of President Woodrow Wilson following U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Jr.'s pleas for assistance

• Documents that Near East Relief delivered $117 million in aid between 1915 and 1930, including food, clothing, shelter materials, and established refugee camps, clinics, hospitals, and orphanages that saved over one million refugees and 130,000 orphans

• Notes that Near East Relief evolved into the Near East Foundation in 1930 and continues providing humanitarian aid throughout the Middle East and Africa

• Directs the Assembly Chief Clerk to transmit copies of the resolution to the President, Vice President, congressional leadership, and all California members of Congress