[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 459 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 459

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Christians in 
                the Middle East are victims of genocide.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 2015

 Mr. Rohrabacher (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Franks of 
 Arizona, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Weber 
 of Texas, Mr. King of Iowa, and Mr. Barletta) 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


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Christians in 
                the Middle East are victims of genocide.

Whereas the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide was adopted in 1948;
Whereas that Convention defines genocide as ``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'';
Whereas Christian communities have been present in the Middle East for over 
        2,000 years;
Whereas Christian communities coexisted with Muslim and other religious 
        communities in the past;
Whereas Christian communities have contributed to the cultural and historical 
        traditions of the region;
Whereas ongoing warfare, violence, and terrorism in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere 
        in the Middle East has driven many Christian communities to flee the 
        region;
Whereas thousands of Christians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of 
        Christians have been displaced by recent fighting; and
Whereas Pope Francis stated, ``we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and 
        elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, 
        tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus. . . . In this third world 
        war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide 
        is taking place.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes that Christians in the Middle East are 
        victims of genocide;
            (2) encourages other nations to likewise recognize the 
        ongoing genocide; and
            (3) encourages the Administration to offer safety to 
        Christians fleeing genocide by offering them priority in 
        receiving refugee status and being admitted into the United 
        States.
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