[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 220

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding past 
                   genocides, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2017

   Mr. Trott (for himself, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Valadao, Ms. Speier, Mr. 
 Pallone, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Bilirakis, 
    Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Royce of California, Mr. Engel, Ms. Clark of 
 Massachusetts, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Eshoo, and Mr. Costa) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding past 
                   genocides, and for other purposes.

Whereas the lessons of past genocides should be applied to help prevent future 
        war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;
Whereas, on March 17, 2016, the Department of State declared that ``Da'esh is 
        responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, 
        including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims'', and is ``also 
        responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at 
        these same groups and in some cases against Sunni Muslims and Kurds and 
        other minorities'';
Whereas the House of Representatives, on March 14, 2016, passed H. Con. Res. 75, 
        which concluded that ``the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against 
        Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq 
        and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
        genocide'';
Whereas the Senate, on July 7, 2016, passed S. Res. 340, which concluded that 
        ``the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
        (ISIL) against Christians, Yezidis, Shi'a, and other religious and 
        ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes 
        against humanity, and genocide'';
Whereas the United States has a proud record of protesting and providing relief 
        to Armenian and other Christian survivors of the Ottoman Empire's 
        genocidal campaign;
Whereas President Woodrow Wilson encouraged the formation of the Near East 
        Relief, chartered by an Act of Congress, which raised $116,000,000 (over 
        $2,500,000,000 in 2017 dollars) between 1915 and 1930, the Senate 
        adopted resolutions condemning these massacres, and United States 
        diplomats organized and led protests of these crimes;
Whereas the United States is on record as having officially recognized the 
        Armenian Genocide, in the United States Government's May 28, 1951, 
        written statement to the International Court of Justice regarding the 
        Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 
        through President Ronald Reagan's April 22, 1981, Proclamation No. 4838, 
        and by House Joint Resolution 148, adopted on April 8, 1975, and House 
        Joint Resolution 247, adopted on September 10, 1984; and
Whereas the proper commemoration and consistent condemnation of the Armenian 
        Genocide will strengthen our international standing in preventing modern 
        day genocides: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States, in seeking to prevent war crimes, crimes against 
humanity, and genocide against Christians, Yezidis, Muslims, Kurds, and 
other vulnerable religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East, should 
draw upon relevant lessons of the United States Government, civil 
society, and humanitarian response to the Armenian Genocide, Seyfo, and 
the broader genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, 
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Greeks, Pontians and other Christians 
upon their biblical era homelands.
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