In the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, the global community came together to recognize genocide formally as a crime under international law and an affront to the values of a civilized world. On this day of remembrance, we honor the memory of the victims of these unspeakable crimes by recommitting to ourselves to what should always be a shared ethos of "Never Again."

The United States stands with persecuted communities wherever they are. When the so-called Islamic State targeted religious and ethnic minorities in northern Iraq for genocide, the Trump Administration began working closely with local and faith-based organizations, to ensure our assistance reaches Iraq's minority communities to help them rebuild, recover, and return. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded projects are helping children return to school, doctors re-open clinics, and communities restore essential services. USAID will continue to work hand-in-hand with local communities, breaking through any barriers that slow down or divert the assistance they desperately need. We believe that pluralism, the cultural mosaic that has existed in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East for centuries, is worth preserving as a matter of development, as well as an expression of our values.

In Cambodia, USAID has supported the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) since inception its 2005 by assisting the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM) build a publicly accessible historical record of the Khmer Rouge's atrocities in the genocide in Cambodia. Up to two million people are believed to have died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Introduced as evidence during the trials, these records were part of public-education campaigns about the Khmer Rouge period, and appear in Cambodian textbooks to educate future generations about the regime's crimes. USAID is proud of our efforts around the world to safeguard the rights of the most-vulnerable, expand access to justice, and foster citizen-responsive governance.