[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 533 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 533

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
  culpability of Hun Sen for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
 genocide in Cambodia (the former Kampuchea, the People's Republic of 
                 Kampuchea, and the State of Cambodia).


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 11, 1998

Mr. Rohrabacher submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
              to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
  culpability of Hun Sen for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
 genocide in Cambodia (the former Kampuchea, the People's Republic of 
                 Kampuchea, and the State of Cambodia).

Whereas the destruction of civil society in Cambodia (the former Kampuchea, the 
        People's Republic of Kampuchea, and the State of Cambodia) began with 
        the rise to power of the Khmer Rouge in 1975, when Hun Sen was a field 
        commander under Pol Pot, until 1977, during the ``killing fields'' 
        period, when extreme violence was committed against the Cambodian 
        people, resulting in the deaths of up to 2,000,000 people;
Whereas under the Vietnamese communist occupation of Cambodia between 1979 and 
        1989, Hun Sen was among a large number of former Khmer Rouge members who 
        were designated by the Vietnamese communists as surrogate leaders of the 
        People's Republic of Kampuchea, where international human rights 
        organizations documented widespread persecution and exploitation of 
        Cambodia's resources that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of 
        thousands, the arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, and summary 
        execution of tens of thousands, and the displacement of nearly 350,000 
        refugees in neighboring countries;
Whereas during the period leading to internationally supervised elections in 
        1993, as Prime Minister of the State of Cambodia and a Politburo member 
        of the communist Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Hun Sen was responsible 
        for the disappearances, murder, and assassination attempts against 
        democratic opponents of the Cambodian People's Party;
Whereas after the Cambodian People's Party lost the 1993 national election, Hun 
        Sen led an armored column that threatened a military coup, resulting in 
        his being given a share of the Prime Minister position with the election 
        winner, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and his Cambodian People's Party 
        maintaining control of the military, the internal security forces, and 
        provincial government administration, and in addition Hun Sen formed a 
        large private army and security force funded, in part, by reputed drug 
        baron Teng Bunma;
Whereas in July 1997, Hun Sen ordered a coup d'etat against First Prime Minister 
        Prince Ranariddh which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent 
        people caught in the crossfire and the torture and summary execution of 
        at least 200 people and the forced displacement of at least 30,000 as 
        these assaults continued on people or communities loyal to Prince 
        Ranariddh;
Whereas during the period leading to the July 1998 national election there were 
        widespread reports of threats, assaults, and up to 100 deaths of members 
        of parties opposed to Hun Sen;
Whereas in September 1998, Hun Sen ordered a violent crackdown on thousands of 
        unarmed demonstrators, including Buddhist monks, who supported credible 
        investigations of irregularities in the electoral process and the change 
        in the format for allocating seats in the National Assembly which 
        permitted Hun Sen to maintain a small edge over Prince Ranariddh's 
        FUNCINPEC Party and entitled Hun Sen to maintain the post of Prime 
        Minister, which resulted in the brutality toward tens of thousands of 
        pro-democracy advocates and the deaths of an unknown number of people, 
        and led to widespread civil unrest which threatens to further destroy 
        Cambodian society;
Whereas on July 17, 1997, the United Nations voted to create the International 
        Criminal Court (ICC) to implement international criminal law established 
        by treaties or by custom and practice, including genocide, crimes 
        against humanity, and war crimes; and
Whereas Hun Sen has been the single person who has the highest government office 
        in a repressive and violent regime, and has the power to decide for 
        peace and democracy and has instead decided for killing and repression, 
        who has the power to minimize illegal actions by subordinates and allies 
        and hold responsible those who committed such actions, but did not, and 
        who once again is directing a campaign of murder and repression against 
        unarmed civilians, while treating with contempt international efforts to 
        achieve a fair and peaceful resolution to the question of a genuinely 
        democratic government in Cambodia: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is a sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) the United States should publicly declare that there is 
        reason to believe that Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia (the 
        former Kampuchea, the People's Republic of Kampuchea, and the 
        State of Cambodia), has committed war crimes, crimes against 
        humanity, and genocide;
            (2) the United States should establish a collection of 
        information that can be supplied to the International Criminal 
        Court (ICC) for use as evidence to support an indictment and 
        trial of Hun Sen for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
        genocide a high priority;
            (3) any such information concerning Hun Sen and persons 
        under his authority already collected by the United States, 
        including information regarding the March 1997 grenade attack 
        against Sam Rainsy, should be provided to the International 
        Criminal Court at the earliest possible time;
            (4) the United States should work with members of 
        interested countries and nongovernmental organizations relating 
        to information any country or organization may hold concerning 
        allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity posed 
        against Hun Sen and any person under his authority in Cambodia 
        and give all such information to the International Criminal 
        Court;
            (5) the United States should work with other interested 
        countries relating to measures to be taken to apprehend 
        indicted war criminals and persons indicted for crimes against 
        humanity in Cambodia with the objective of concluding a plan of 
        action that will result in the prompt delivery of these 
        indictees into the custody of the International Criminal Court; 
        and
            (6) the United States should urge the International 
        Criminal Court to promptly review all information relating to 
        Hun Sen's possible criminal culpability for conceiving, 
        directing, and sustaining a variety of actions in the former 
        Kampuchea, People's Republic of Kampuchea, the State of 
        Cambodia and the current Cambodia that have had the effect of 
        genocide, of war crimes, and other crimes against humanity with 
        a view toward prompt issuance of a public indictment of Hun 
        Sen.
                                 <all>