National secur it y

NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

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exchanges in our hemisphere. And we are catalyzing economic growth and innovation within societies 

by lifting up and promoting entrepreneurship.

Prevent Mass Atrocities  

The mass killing of civilians is an affront to our common humanity and a threat to our common security. It 

destabilizes countries and regions, pushes refugees across borders, and creates grievances that extrem-

ists exploit. We have a strong interest in leading an international response to genocide and mass atroci-

ties when they arise, recognizing options are more extensive and less costly when we act preventively 

before situations reach crisis proportions. We know the risk of mass atrocities escalates when citizens 

are denied basic rights and freedoms, are unable to hold accountable the institutions of government, 

or face unrelenting poverty and conflict. We affirm our support for the international consensus that 

governments have the responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities and that this responsibil-

ity passes to the broader international community when those governments manifestly fail to protect 

their populations. We will work with the international community to prevent and call to account those 

responsible for the worst human rights abuses, including through support to the International Criminal 

Court, consistent with U.S. law and our commitment to protecting our personnel. Moreover, we will 

continue to mobilize allies and partners to strengthen our collective efforts to prevent and respond to 

mass atrocities using all our instruments of national power.

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