[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 97 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 97

  Calling on the President to support United Nations Security Council 
  referrals of situations involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes 
against humanity to the International Criminal Court, to cooperate with 
investigations and prosecutions conducted by the International Criminal 
 Court, and participate as an observer at meetings of the Assembly of 
                  States Parties to the Rome Statute.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 2, 2009

  Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Langevin, Mr. 
   Grijalva, and Ms. Schakowsky) submitted the following concurrent 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Calling on the President to support United Nations Security Council 
  referrals of situations involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes 
against humanity to the International Criminal Court, to cooperate with 
investigations and prosecutions conducted by the International Criminal 
 Court, and participate as an observer at meetings of the Assembly of 
                  States Parties to the Rome Statute.

Whereas the preservation of international peace and security rests on adherence 
        to the rule of law and the principles of justice by the nations and 
        peoples of the world;
Whereas international peace and security are threatened by the commission of the 
        most serious international crimes, including war crimes, genocide, and 
        crimes against humanity;
Whereas the prosecution of individuals suspected of committing the most serious 
        international crimes is often impeded by domestic, political, and legal 
        obstacles;
Whereas the inability of local and national court systems to prosecute those 
        individuals responsible for the most serious violations of international 
        criminal law demonstrates the need for a permanent international 
        mechanism for ensuring that such violations are investigated and 
        prosecuted;
Whereas while ad hoc tribunals have demonstrated the success of international 
        courts in addressing the atrocities committed in specific conflicts, 
        they have significant limitations;
Whereas the ability of ad hoc tribunals to punish and deter the most serious 
        international crimes is severely limited by the difficulty of creating 
        and sustaining them;
Whereas, on July 1, 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 
        entered into force and the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) 
        was created;
Whereas the ICC has jurisdiction over only the most serious violations of war 
        crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by individuals 
        after July 1, 2002;
Whereas these are the most serious and horrendous crimes imaginable, and the 
        failure to systematically punish such crimes offends universally 
        accepted standards of law and morality and threatens the establishment 
        of peace and security;
Whereas the ICC follows universally accepted international law in defining war 
        crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, including the Convention 
        on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the 
        Geneva Conventions (1949), but it does not create any new international 
        crimes;
Whereas the ICC was designed as a court of last resort, not as a replacement for 
        national judicial systems;
Whereas the ICC only has jurisdiction if national courts are too weak, too 
        damaged, or too biased to try those responsible for the most serious 
        violations of international criminal law;
Whereas the ICC guarantees the right to a fair trial, including the right to 
        counsel, a prohibition on trials in absentia, the right to cross-examine 
        witnesses, protection against double jeopardy, and protection from self-
        incrimination;
Whereas more than half the countries of the world, 108, have ratified the Rome 
        Statute and become members of the ICC;
Whereas the democracies of the world have overwhelmingly embraced the ICC, more 
        than 70 percent of the world's democracies are already members of the 
        ICC and many more have indicated a desire to join;
Whereas almost all of the most significant allies of the United States are 
        already members of the ICC, including the United Kingdom, Canada, 
        Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and 
        many others;
Whereas new democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin American, and Africa are also 
        strong supporters of the ICC, joining the ICC helps them strengthen the 
        rule of law and respect for human rights, protecting against a return to 
        tyranny;
Whereas the ICC has investigated crimes against humanity, war crimes, and 
        genocide in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African 
        Republic, Uganda, and Darfur, Sudan, and has issued arrest warrants in 
        all four situations;
Whereas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, government forces and rebel 
        militias have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and devastated 
        large portions of the country;
Whereas in Uganda, more than 20,000 boys and girls, some as young as 9, have 
        been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army to serve as child soldiers 
        and sex slaves;
Whereas the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, 
        for war crimes and crimes against humanity;
Whereas in the Darfur region of Sudan, government-backed forces have conducted a 
        campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide that has killed nearly 400,000 
        people; and
Whereas none of the individuals responsible for the atrocities in the Democratic 
        Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, or Uganda are 
        likely to be prosecuted by the local court systems, the ICC is the only 
        hope for punishing those responsible for the worst atrocities: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that the President, acting through the 
Secretary of State and the permanent representatives of the United 
States to the United Nations, should--
            (1) support United Nations Security Council referrals of 
        situations involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against 
        humanity to the International Criminal Court (ICC), except 
        where such a referral would not be in the national interest of 
        the United States;
            (2) include as stated policy of the United States 
        Government to support the mandate and purpose of the Rome 
        Statute of the ICC, and in support of that policy reactivate 
        the United State signature of the Rome Statute by a note to the 
        United Nations Secretary-General;
            (3) cooperate with investigations and prosecutions 
        conducted by the ICC, except where such investigations or 
        prosecutions are not in the national interest of the United 
        States;
            (4) exercise the right of the United States to actively 
        participate as an observer in meetings of the Assembly of State 
        Parties to the Rome Statute so as to ensure that the ICC 
        develops in a manner consistent with the national interest of 
        the United States; and
            (5) invoke in the interest of the United States, waivers of 
        provisions in United States law that restrict or limit 
        assistance and cooperation with the ICC.
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