[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 435 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 435

    Recognizing the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, 
especially Christians and Yezidis, by the Islamic State of Iraq and the 
      Levant, also known as Daesh, and calling for the immediate 
      prioritization of accepting refugees from such communities.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2015

   Ms. Gabbard (for herself and Mr. Hunter) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
  in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Recognizing the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, 
especially Christians and Yezidis, by the Islamic State of Iraq and the 
      Levant, also known as Daesh, and calling for the immediate 
      prioritization of accepting refugees from such communities.

Whereas the United Nations Secretary-General has condemned ``in the strongest 
        terms the systematic persecution of minority populations in Iraq by 
        Islamic State (IS) and associated armed groups'';
Whereas the Middle East has been home to Christians, Yezidis, Mandeans, and 
        other religious minority groups for generations;
Whereas religious minority groups are being targeted specifically for religious 
        reasons, receiving ultimatums to either convert to Islam, pay a tax, 
        leave, or face imminent execution;
Whereas these religious and ethnic minority groups have faced systematic and 
        widespread attacks, including murder, rape, forced conversions to Islam, 
        mass abductions, displacement, deprivation of property, and other 
        atrocities, resulting in hundreds of thousands of displaced persons who 
        have been forced to flee and seek refuge;
Whereas Christians have suffered barbaric violence, such as dozens of filmed 
        beheadings in Libya, as well as forced displacement and deprivation of 
        property with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ultimatums to 
        either pay a tax, convert, leave, or die, including hundreds of 
        thousands of Christians displaced from towns and villages across the 
        region;
Whereas the Yezidi community alone has suffered with more than 420,000 Yezidis 
        who are displaced and living in camps, with thousands of Yezidi girls 
        kidnapped and sold into slavery;
Whereas these actions are in clear violation of the United Nations Convention on 
        the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed in Paris 
        on December 9, 1948 (referred to as ``the Convention'');
Whereas Article II of the Convention declares that ``In the present Convention, 
        genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to 
        destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious 
        group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious 
        bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately 
        inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 
        physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended 
        to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children 
        of the group to another group.''; and
Whereas the United States Department of State has announced plans to increase 
        the amount of refugees resettled in the United States to 85,000 in 
        fiscal year 2016 and 100,000 in fiscal year 2017: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the crimes being committed by the Islamic State of Iraq 
        and the Levant, also known as Daesh, and other related groups 
        constitute a genocide against the religious and ethnic 
        minorities in the Middle East;
            (2) the United States should increase the amount of 
        refugees being resettled to meet the demands of these 
        persecuted communities; and
            (3) the United States should prioritize the applications of 
        families and individuals from the communities facing genocide 
        and offer them refuge.
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