President Barack Obama signed into law legislation Tuesday that establishes a new section within the Justice Department’s Criminal Division to handle human rights crimes.

The House cleared the Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009 by a 416-3 vote last week. The bill had passed the Senate last month by unanimous consent.

The legislation lays the foundation for merging the Office of Special Investigations and the Domestic Security Section into the new section. The Office of Special Investigations — which was established to probe ex-Nazi war criminals living in the United States — has jurisdiction over U.S. citizens accused of human rights crimes. The Domestic Security Section focuses on non-U.S. citizens accused of violating human rights laws and who are now in the United States.

The new section will prosecute torture, genocide, child soldiers and war crimes that are committed by any person who is in the United States.

The House sent legislation to the White House today that would create a new section within the Justice Department Criminal Division to handle human rights crimes.

The House approved the Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009 by a 416-3 vote.  Republican Reps. Paul Broun (Ga.), Ron Paul (Texas) and Don Young (Alaska) were the only lawmakers to vote against the bill. The legislation cleared the Senate last month by unanimous consent.

The bill would lay the groundwork for folding the Office of Special Investigations and the Domestic Security Section into the new section. The Office of Special Investigations — which was created to probe ex-Nazi war criminals living in the United States — has jurisdiction over U.S. citizens accused of human rights crimes. The Domestic Security Section focuses on non-U.S. citizens accused of violating human rights laws and who are now in the United States.

The new section would prosecute genocide, child soldiers, torture and war crimes that are committed by any person who is in the United States. Criminal Division chief Lanny Breuer said this fall that he supports the establishment of a human rights section. Read our previous report here.

The Senate passed legislation Saturday night that would create a new section within the Justice Department Criminal Division to handle human rights crimes.

The Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009, which was approved by unanimous consent, would lay the groundwork to merge the Office of Special Investigations and the Domestic Security Section into the new section. The Office of Special Investigations — which was created to probe Nazi criminals living in the United States — handles U.S. citizens who committed human rights crimes. The Domestic Security Section focuses on non-U.S. citizens who violated human rights laws and who are now in the United States.

The new section would prosecute torture, genocide, child soldiers and war crimes that are committed by any person who is in the United States. Criminal Division chief Lanny Breuer said last month that he supports the establishment of a human rights section. Read our previous report here.

The bill is sponsored by Democrat Richard Durbin of Illinois and Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who are the chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary panel’s Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee. There is no companion House bill.

This post has been corrected from an earlier version.

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed legislation Thursday that would create a new section within the Justice Department Criminal Division to handle human rights crimes.

The Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009, which was approved by voice vote, would lay the groundwork to fold the Office of Special Investigations and Domestic Security Section into the new section. The Office of Special Investigations — which was created to probe Nazi criminals living in the United States — focuses on U.S. citizens who committed human rights crimes. The Domestic Security Section prosecutes non-U.S. citizens who violated human rights laws and are in the United States.

The new section would prosecute torture, genocide, child soldiers and war crimes that are committed by any person who is in the United States. The bill is sponsored by Senate Judiciary human rights and the law chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

Criminal Division chief Lanny Breuer said last month that he supports the establishment of a human rights section. Here are his remarks from a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on human rights enforcement:

“While no structural reform can take place without the approval of the Office of Management and Budget and notification to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, based on my review, I have recommended to the Attorney General that our already outstanding efforts in this area would be enhanced by a merger of the Domestic Security Section and the Office of Special Investigation into a new section with responsibility for human rights enforcement, MEJA/SMTJ cases, and alien-smuggling and related matters.  That new section would be called the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. The Attorney General has indicated his support for this change and the Department’s strong commitment to enforcing human rights, and we expect to move forward with this.”

This post has been updated and corrected from an earlier version.