[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 137 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  1st Session

                            H. CON. RES. 137

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                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the 
 urgent need for an international criminal tribunal to try members of 
             the Iraqi regime for crimes against humanity.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 137

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                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas the regime of Saddam Hussein has perpetrated a litany of human rights 
        abuses against the citizens of Iraq and other peoples of the region, 
        including summary and arbitrary executions, torture, cruel and inhumane 
        treatment, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, disappearances and the 
        repression of freedom of speech, thought, expression, assembly and 
        association;
Whereas Saddam Hussein and his associates have systematically attempted to 
        destroy the Kurdish population in Iraq through the use of chemical 
        weapons against civilian Kurds, the Anfal campaigns of 1987-1988 that 
        resulted in the disappearance of more than 182,000 persons and the 
        destruction of more than 4,000 villages, the placement of more than ten 
        million landmines in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the continued ethnic cleansing 
        of the city of Kirkuk;
Whereas the Iraqi Government, under Saddam Hussein's leadership, has repressed 
        the Sunni tribes in western Iraq, destroyed Assyro-Chaldean churches and 
        villages, deported and executed Turkomen, massacred Shi-ites, and 
        destroyed the ancient Marsh Arab civilization through a massive act of 
        ecocide;
Whereas the status of more than six hundred Kuwaitis who were taken prisoner 
        during the Gulf War remain unknown and the whereabouts of these persons 
        are unaccounted for by the Iraqi Government, Kuwait continues to be 
        plagued by unexploded landmines six years after the end of the Gulf War, 
        and the destruction of Kuwait by departing Iraqi troops has yet to be 
        redressed by the Iraqi Government;
Whereas the Republic of Iraq is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on 
        Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
        the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
        and other human rights instruments, and the Geneva Convention on the 
        Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949, and is obligated to 
        comply with these international agreements;
Whereas Saddam Hussein and his regime have created an environment of terror and 
        fear within Iraq and throughout the region through a concerted policy of 
        violations of international customary and conventional law; and
Whereas the Congress is deeply disturbed by the continuing gross violations of 
        human rights by the Iraqi Government under the direction and control of 
        Saddam Hussein: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) the Congress--
                    (A) deplores the Iraqi Government's pattern of 
                gross violation of human rights which has resulted in a 
                pervasive system of repression, sustained by the 
                widespread use of terror and intimidation;
                    (B) condemns the Iraqi Government's repeated use of 
                force and weapons of mass destruction against its own 
                citizens, as well as neighboring states;
                    (C) denounces the refusal of the Iraqi Government 
                to comply with international human rights instruments 
                to which it is a party and cooperate with international 
                monitoring bodies and compliance mechanisms, including 
                accounting of missing Kuwaiti prisoners; and
            (2) the President and the Secretary of State should--
                    (A) endorse the formation of an international 
                criminal tribunal for the purpose of prosecuting Saddam 
                Hussein and all other Iraqi officials who are 
                responsible for crimes against humanity, including 
                unlawful use of force, crimes against the peace, crimes 
                committed in contravention of the Geneva Convention on 
                POW's and the crime of genocide; and
                    (B) work actively and urgently within the 
                international community for the adoption of a United 
                Nations Security Council resolution establishing an 
                International Criminal Court for Iraq.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 13, 1997.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.