[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 192 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 192

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
     States condemns the Russian Government's gross violations of 
international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, 
   stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and supports the 
efforts of international organizations to help people displaced by war 
                             and conflict.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 1, 2023

 Mr. Espaillat (for himself and Mr. Cicilline) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
     States condemns the Russian Government's gross violations of 
international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, 
   stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and supports the 
efforts of international organizations to help people displaced by war 
                             and conflict.

Whereas the Government of Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, has engaged in an 
        unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine and gross violations of 
        international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity;
Whereas the law of armed conflict, also known as international humanitarian law, 
        is a set of international rules regulating the conduct of armed 
        conflict;
Whereas the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols are the core of 
        international humanitarian law, and many rules contained in these 
        treaties are considered customary international law, binding on all 
        states, whether or not they have ratified the treaties;
Whereas Russia's military invasion of Ukraine constitutes an international armed 
        conflict governed by international humanitarian law as well as customary 
        international humanitarian law;
Whereas Article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, 
        prohibits the targeting of civilians, as well as ``acts or threats of 
        violence, the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the 
        civilian population'';
Whereas Article 76 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, states 
        that women ``shall be protected in particular against rape, forced 
        prostitution, and any other form of indecent assault'';
Whereas Article 77 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions expresses 
        that ``children shall be the object of special respect and shall be 
        protected against any form of indecent assault'';
Whereas, on June 19, 2008, the United Nations Security Council adopted 
        Resolution 1820, noting that ``rape and other forms of sexual violence 
        can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive 
        act with respect to genocide'', and calling for ``prosecuting persons 
        responsible for such acts'';
Whereas Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 
        defines ``crimes against humanity'' as acts such as murder, 
        extermination, rape, persecution, and all other inhumane acts of a 
        similar character intentionally causing great suffering, which are 
        committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against 
        any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack;
Whereas Article 53 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, prohibits 
        committing any ``acts of hostility directed against the historic 
        monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the 
        cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples'';
Whereas Article 15 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, 
        establishes that installations containing dangerous forces, including 
        nuclear electrical generating stations, ``shall not be made the object 
        of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such 
        attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe 
        losses among the civilian population'';
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked 
        military invasion of Ukraine's sovereign territory;
Whereas, on February 25, 2022, the Russian Federation threatened Sweden and 
        Finland with military and political repercussions if they joined the 
        North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance committed to the 
        collective defense of members against attacks;
Whereas, on February 28, 2022, the United Nations World Food Programme launched 
        an emergency operation to provide food assistance for people fleeing 
        Ukraine to neighboring countries, an operation which is ongoing to this 
        day and which has assisted between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 Ukrainians 
        per month during each month of the war;
Whereas, in late February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began its 
        ongoing effort to help coordinate Ukraine's requests for assistance and 
        to support Allies in the delivery of humanitarian aid;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike hit Kyiv's main television tower, 
        damaging broadcasting infrastructure, killing at least 5 people, and 
        injuring others;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike targeted Freedom Square in 
        Kharkiv, as cars were stopped at a traffic light on their morning 
        commute;
Whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized Russia's airstrike 
        on Freedom Square on March 1, 2022, as a ``war crime'';
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Secretary 
        of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia for killing civilians, striking 
        ``schools, hospitals and residential buildings'' in Ukraine;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of 
        Ukraine, announced that a Russian missile hit the location of the Babyn 
        Yar Holocaust Memorial complex in Kyiv, a place where thousands of 
        Jewish people were killed between 1941 and 1943;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian missile hit Freedom Square in the center of 
        Kharkiv, Ukraine, causing severe damage to an opera house, concert hall, 
        and government offices;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, President Zelenskyy expressed to the European 
        Parliament, ``we are fighting for our rights, for our freedoms, for 
        life, for our life, and now we are fighting for survival'';
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a global spokesperson for the United Nations High 
        Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Shabia Mantoo, announced that the 
        UNHCR would begin coordinating a refugee response plan with other United 
        Nations agencies and nongovernmental organization partners, in support 
        of national authorities helping people fleeing Ukraine, a response plan 
        which includes almost 250 partner organizations and which has assisted 
        millions of Ukrainians over course of the past year;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, the United Nations and humanitarian partners launched 
        coordinated emergency appeals to urgently deliver humanitarian support 
        to people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries;
Whereas United States ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield 
        expressed to the United Nations on March 2, 2022, that videos showed 
        Russian forces moving lethal weaponry into Ukraine, including cluster 
        munitions and vacuum bombs, which are banned under the Geneva 
        Conventions;
Whereas, on March 2, 2022, Ukraine's foreign ministry reported that a Russian 
        missile strike destroyed the Pavlusenko maternity hospital;
Whereas, on March 2, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 
        overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia for its military invasion of 
        Ukraine and demanded that the Russian Federation immediately, 
        completely, and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from 
        the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, 
        a vote which was repeated by the UNGA on February 23, 2023, and which 
        once again overwhelmingly condemned the Russian Federation;
Whereas, on March 3, 2022, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy accused Russian forces 
        of ``nuclear terror'' because ``Russian tanks are shooting at the 
        nuclear blocks'' in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe's 
        largest nuclear power station;
Whereas, on March 3, 2022, the United States embassy in Ukraine called the 
        Russian attack on the Ukrainian nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia a ``war 
        crime'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2022, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs accused Russian 
        soldiers of raping women in Ukrainian cities;
Whereas, on March 5, 2022, the World Health Organization confirmed several 
        Russian attacks on health care centers in Ukraine, causing multiple 
        deaths and injuries;
Whereas, on March 6, 2022, in response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian health 
        care facilities, the Director-General of the World Health Organization 
        expressed that ``attacks on healthcare facilities or workers breach 
        medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian 
        law'';
Whereas, on March 6, 2022, the UNHCR stated that Russia's war in Ukraine had 
        created the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II;
Whereas, on April 3, 2022, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk 
        announced that Russian troops occupying the Ukrainian village of 
        Motyzhyn had kidnaped, tortured, and killed the village's mayor, Olga 
        Sukhenko, Sukhenko's husband, and Sukhenko's son before disposing of 
        their bodies in a shallow grave;
Whereas, on April 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized 
        Russian troops' actions in Bucha, Ukraine, as ``genocide'' and ``war 
        crimes'' when the bodies of over 400 executed civilians were discovered 
        in the city, with many of these bodies displaying visible signs of 
        torture;
Whereas, on April 8, 2022, a Russian cluster munition strike on the train 
        station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, killed 58 civilians, many of whom were 
        gathered at the train station to board evacuation trains and flee the 
        ongoing fighting;
Whereas, on May 12, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a 
        resolution expressing ``deep concern at the grave human rights and 
        humanitarian situation in the city of Mariupol, the near total 
        destruction of its residential and civilian infrastructure caused by 
        Russian bombing and shelling, reports of tens of thousands of civilian 
        casualties and of mass graves near the city, and the limited progress in 
        securing safe and unhindered evacuations to safe areas under the control 
        of the government of Ukraine'';
Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International Commission of 
        Inquiry on Ukraine published a report stating that ``the Commission has 
        found that war crimes and violations of human rights and international 
        humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. 
        Russian armed forces are responsible for the vast majority of the 
        violations identified'';
Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International Commission of 
        Inquiry on Ukraine's report revealed that ``the Commission documented 
        patterns of summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, ill-
        treatment, and rape and other sexual violence committed in areas 
        occupied by Russian armed forces across the four [Ukrainian] provinces 
        on which [the Commission's inquiry] focused. People have been detained, 
        some have been unlawfully deported to the Russian Federation, and many 
        are still reported missing. Sexual violence has affected victims of all 
        ages. Victims, including children, were sometimes forced to witness the 
        crimes'';
Whereas, as of January 31, 2023, the UNHCR asserts that, as a result of the war 
        in Ukraine, more than 8,000,000 Ukrainian refugees have been recorded 
        across Europe and approximately 17,600,000 people remain in need of 
        urgent humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine; and
Whereas, on February 14, 2023, the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, which was 
        launched by the Department of State, found, using data from the Yale 
        School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab, that the Russian 
        Government is operating an expansive network of ``re-education camps'' 
        where it has held thousands of Ukrainian children since the start of the 
        war, with the primary purpose of these camps being the ``political re-
        education'' of Ukrainian children: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) forcefully condemns the continued use of unlawful and 
        indiscriminate violence against civilian populations by the 
        Government of Russia, its allies, and any other parties to the 
        conflict;
            (2) urges that the global community hold Vladimir Putin and 
        the Russian Government accountable for war crimes committed 
        during the military invasion of Ukraine;
            (3) urges the United States and its allies to continue 
        providing defense security assistance and humanitarian aid to 
        Ukraine as Ukrainians valiantly defend themselves against 
        Russia's military invasion;
            (4) supports the continued use of sanctions against Russia 
        and its allies until Russia ends its military invasion and 
        unequivocally recognizes Ukraine's internationally recognized 
        borders and political independence;
            (5) urges the United States to maintain support for 
        international organizations, such as the United Nations High 
        Commissioner for Refugees, helping Ukrainians fleeing conflict 
        as well as the over 100,000,000 people around the world who are 
        forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, and 
        human rights violations;
            (6) urges the United States to treat all forcibly displaced 
        people with dignity and abide by the Protocol Related to the 
        Status of Refugees, ratified by the Senate in 1968, and 
        thereafter considered the ``supreme Law of the Land'' under 
        article VI, section 2 of the Constitution;
            (7) urges the United States and members of the North 
        Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to meet NATO's funding 
        needs to ensure the ability to provide collective defense and 
        innovation;
            (8) urges NATO to maintain its commitment to innovating and 
        work towards solving and dealing with emerging and disruptive 
        technologies; and
            (9) stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine who are 
        fighting for their freedom and democracy, Slava Ukraini, glory 
        to Ukraine.
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