[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 447 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 447

Calling upon the President to use the United States' voice and vote in 
   the United Nations Security Council to condemn the ongoing sexual 
violence against women and children from Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, and 
  other religious communities by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
militants as crimes against humanity, to prosecute all perpetrators and 
 those complicit in these crimes, and to support other United Nations 
   member states prosecuting these perpetrators and those complicit.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2015

   Mr. Franks of Arizona (for himself, Ms. Speier, Mr. Smith of New 
 Jersey, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Rohrabacher, Ms. Eshoo, and Mr. Fortenberry) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
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


 
Calling upon the President to use the United States' voice and vote in 
   the United Nations Security Council to condemn the ongoing sexual 
violence against women and children from Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, and 
  other religious communities by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
militants as crimes against humanity, to prosecute all perpetrators and 
 those complicit in these crimes, and to support other United Nations 
   member states prosecuting these perpetrators and those complicit.

Whereas the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has publicly and 
        systematically targeted communities on the basis of their religious 
        identities, including Yezidis, Christians, Shi'a Muslims, Shabaks, 
        Turkmens, and Kaka'i, in a campaign of violence that includes: summary 
        executions, beheadings, torture, arbitrary detainment, forced 
        displacement, rape and sexual violence, and enslavement;
Whereas enslavement and sexual violence against women is a widespread practice 
        among ISIL militants, who have, according to the Yezidi Affairs 
        Directory, captured and enslaved as many as 5,838 Yezidis, including as 
        many as 3,192 women, since August 2014;
Whereas ISIL has established a formal slave trade in which women and girls as 
        young as 5 years old are systematically abducted, transported, 
        categorized according to physical traits and perceived value, and traded 
        among ISIL militants or sold for as little as 50 cents;
Whereas the Research and Fatwa Department of ISIL has issued guidelines and 
        directions for the enslavement of women and children (from Yezidi, 
        Christian, and other religious minority communities), and have justified 
        their actions on the basis of religious teachings;
Whereas the New York Times reported that ``the Islamic State has developed a 
        detailed bureaucracy of sex slavery, including sales contracts notarized 
        by the ISIS-run Islamic courts'';
Whereas according to various reports, including statements provided in 
        congressional briefings by Khidher Domle, a Yezidi activist and Director 
        of the Media Department at the University of Dohuk, the enslavement and 
        sexual violence used against Yezidi women and children by ISIL militants 
        in their attack on Mount Sinjar was premeditated;
Whereas ISIL's enslavement of religious minorities constitutes human trafficking 
        under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
        Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations 
        Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;
Whereas in August 2015, the United Nations Security Council was briefed by 
        Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in 
        Conflict Zainab Bangura on her visit to the Middle East and Council 
        President U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria) said in a press statement, ``Council 
        members recalled that rape and other forms of sexual violence in armed 
        conflict are war crimes and constitute grave breaches of the Geneva 
        Conventions'' and they ``urged the international community to remain 
        united in the goal of holding those responsible for such crimes 
        accountable'';
Whereas, on March 13, 2015, the ``Report of the Office of the United Nations 
        High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Iraq 
        in the light of abuses committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq 
        and the Levant and associated groups'' summarized evidence of ``acts of 
        violence perpetrated against civilians because of their affiliation or 
        perceived affiliation to an ethnic or religious group . . . Ethnic and 
        religious groups targeted by ISIL include Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, 
        Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka'e, Kurds and Shi'a . . . The following crimes may 
        have been committed . . . Crimes against humanity such as murder, 
        enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, 
        imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, 
        rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence and persecution, committed as part 
        of widespread and systematic attacks directed against civilian 
        populations pursuant to, or in furtherance of an organisational policy 
        to commit such attacks'';
Whereas ISIL has initiated the mass killing of men and boys, the sexual violence 
        and enslavement of women and children, the desecration of historic 
        religious sites, and the forced displacement of Yezidi, Christian, 
        Shabak, and other religious communities;
Whereas the reach of ISIL extends beyond Iraq and Syria into the rest of the 
        world and is a threat to international peace, as demonstrated by ISIL 
        affiliated attacks and recruitment of foreign fighters from the United 
        States, Europe, Central Asia, and Africa;
Whereas according to reports it is possible that one of the ISIL militants 
        involved in the sexual slavery of Yezidi women and children is a United 
        States citizen;
Whereas the United States has an obligation to investigate and prosecute United 
        States citizens who are perpetrators of or complicit in such crimes;
Whereas the United States may, as a member of the United Nations Security 
        Council, call for action under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United 
        Nations which states, ``The Security Council shall determine the 
        existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of 
        aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall 
        be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore 
        international peace and security''; and
Whereas the United Nations Security Council may take actions under a Chapter VII 
        resolution including but not limited to, calling for prosecution of 
        those responsible and anyone complicit with these crimes, establishing 
        financial and travel sanctions to cut off resources to, and restrict the 
        [movement] of, those perpetrating or complicit in these crimes, 
        providing security for eyewitnesses, and calling for arrest warrants of 
        anyone involved: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the ongoing sexual violence against women and 
        children from Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, and other religious 
        communities as crimes against humanity;
            (2) calls on the Attorney General to commence the 
        investigation and prosecution of any United States citizens 
        alleged to be perpetrators of or complicit in these crimes and 
        to report back to the United States Congress what steps are 
        being taken to investigate and prosecute those involved;
            (3) calls on the President to direct the United States 
        Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice 
        and vote of the United States to present and support a draft 
        resolution in the United Nations Security Council condemning 
        the actions of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) 
        militants in Iraq and Syria as crimes against humanity and 
        calling for the arrest and prosecution of individual 
        perpetrators responsible for these crimes; and
            (4) calls on Iraq and other nations to identify individual 
        perpetrators and individuals complicit in these crimes and take 
        appropriate measures to arrest and prosecute those individuals.
                                 <all>