[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1327 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1327

  Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign 
          against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2024

   Ms. Eshoo (for herself and Mr. Smith of New Jersey) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign 
          against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Whereas Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the traditional homeland of the Armenian 
        people and has been a center of Armenian life and culture for millennia;
Whereas, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Armenian 
        population of Nagorno-Karabakh established a de facto independent 
        republic, known as the Republic of Artsakh, to exercise self-
        determination in their homeland;
Whereas, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan initiated a grueling blockade of 
        Nagorno-Karabakh that deprived the region's population of food, 
        medicine, fuel, and other necessities for nearly 10 months;
Whereas, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale military 
        offensive against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh that took 
        the lives of hundreds of soldiers and dozens of civilians;
Whereas Azerbaijan used the threat of further violence to coerce the Armenian 
        leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh to surrender their autonomy and dissolve 
        their governing institutions;
Whereas over 100,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, facing the threat of further 
        ethnic violence, fled the territory as refugees within 2 weeks of 
        Azerbaijan's assault;
Whereas the rhetoric of President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials 
        demonstrates a clear ethnic animus motivating their anti-Armenian 
        aggression;
Whereas international legal experts, including former Chief Prosecutor of the 
        International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo and former United 
        Nations genocide expert Juan Mendez, have determined that Azerbaijan's 
        blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh violated the United Nations Genocide 
        Convention;
Whereas Azerbaijani forces have systemically destroyed Armenian cultural 
        heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, including churches, monasteries, 
        cemeteries, and other cultural monuments;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 
        recommends that Azerbaijan be designated as a country of particular 
        concern, in part because of the destruction of Christian religious sites 
        in Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas, according to the Armenian Government, dozens of Armenian prisoners of 
        war, civilian captives, and members of the political leadership of 
        Nagorno-Karabakh are now unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan on 
        politically motivated charges or no charges at all;
Whereas the political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh now imprisoned by Azerbaijan 
        include Davit Manukyan, Davit Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Arkadi 
        Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Ishkhanyan, and 
        Ruben Vardanyan;
Whereas the true number of Armenians held captive by Azerbaijan is likely higher 
        than the Armenian Government's count given the many individuals who are 
        still missing and the lack of transparency surrounding Azerbaijan's 
        detention practices;
Whereas Azerbaijan has a well-documented record of subjecting Armenian prisoners 
        to torture, humiliation, and other violations of fundamental rights 
        afforded by the Geneva Conventions;
Whereas, as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing campaign, over 100,000 
        displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh now seek refuge in Armenia where 
        they face difficulties accessing housing, food security, employment, and 
        health care;
Whereas the United States has provided a vastly insufficient amount of 
        humanitarian aid to respond to the refugee crisis in Armenia;
Whereas international law provides for a right of return for populations 
        displaced from their country of origin, including under the 1948 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the European 
        Convention on Human Rights to which Azerbaijan is a party;
Whereas the International Court of Justice issued a binding provisional measure 
        in November 2023 requiring Azerbaijan to provide for the safe, 
        unimpeded, and expeditious return of Armenian refugees who wish to 
        return to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas, prior to the Azerbaijani assault on Nagorno-Karabakh, Acting Assistant 
        Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Yuri Kim testified before 
        Congress that the United States ``will not tolerate'' any Azerbaijani 
        attack on Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas the United States has yet to impose meaningful accountability measures 
        on Azerbaijan for perpetrating an inhumane blockade and campaign of 
        ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas failing to hold Azerbaijan accountable for ethnic cleansing emboldens 
        Azerbaijan's leaders to engage in further anti-Armenian aggression;
Whereas, in recent years, Armenia has sought to deepen its ties to the United 
        States and other liberal democracies and to distance itself from Russia;
Whereas the United States has a special responsibility to ensure that Armenia's 
        security is not jeopardized because of its embrace of democracy and 
        rejection of Vladimir Putin's murderous regime;
Whereas Azerbaijan illegally occupies 83 square miles of Armenia's 
        internationally recognized territory that it captured in an unprovoked 
        assault on Armenia in September 2022;
Whereas Azerbaijan continues to demand unilateral territorial concessions from 
        Armenia through the threat of force, often referring to portions of 
        sovereign Armenian territory as ``western Azerbaijan'';
Whereas the United States has taken a direct role in facilitating a durable 
        conflict-resolution process between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and
Whereas Azerbaijan's ongoing aggression against the Republic of Armenia and its 
        refusal to adhere to international law undermine efforts to achieve a 
        just peace in the region: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the 
        atrocities perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the Armenian 
        population of Nagorno-Karabakh;
            (2) recognizes that Azerbaijan's blockade and subsequent 
        military offensive against the Armenian population of Nagorno-
        Karabakh constitute acts of ethnic cleansing;
            (3) affirms the fundamental right of displaced Armenians to 
        return to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh with strong 
        protections in place to ensure their security; and
            (4) calls on the President and the relevant Federal 
        agencies to take immediate action to--
                    (A) impose targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani 
                Government officials complicit in human rights abuses;
                    (B) prohibit the provision of United States 
                military aid to Azerbaijan pursuant to section 907 of 
                the FREEDOM Support Act;
                    (C) make a public determination as to whether the 
                atrocities committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian 
                population of Nagorno-Karabakh constitute ethnic 
                cleansing;
                    (D) provide robust humanitarian assistance to 
                respond to the refugee crisis in Armenia and rally the 
                international community to do the same;
                    (E) strengthen the United States-Armenia security 
                partnership through the provision of military aid, 
                joint military exercises, and intelligence and 
                logistical support; and
                    (F) facilitate diplomacy to achieve a just and 
                lasting peace in the South Caucasus that provides for 
                the release of all Armenians unjustly imprisoned by 
                Azerbaijan, establishes a right of return and security 
                guarantees for the displaced Armenians of Nagorno-
                Karabakh, and preserves the Armenian cultural heritage 
                of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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