[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 227 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 227

 Calling on the President to support the creation of an international 
   special tribunal to prosecute Russia's aggression against Ukraine.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 31 (legislative day, May 30), 2023

    Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Kaine) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling on the President to support the creation of an international 
   special tribunal to prosecute Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Russia unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 
        in contravention of international law and the Charter of the United 
        Nations;
Whereas the Russian Armed Forces committed mass atrocities in Bucha, Irpin, 
        Kherson, Izyum, Mariupol, Dnipro, and Ukrainian towns occupied by the 
        Russian Federation, including rape, summary execution, and unlawful 
        violence and threats against civilians;
Whereas the Russian Armed Forces deliberately choose to target civilian 
        infrastructure to terrorize Ukrainian citizens;
Whereas, on September 21, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated to 
        the United Nations General Assembly that an aggression tribunal must be 
        established as a ``signal to all `would-be' aggressors, that they must 
        value peace or be brought to responsibility by the world'';
Whereas, on January 19, 2023, the European Parliament, by a vote of 472 to 19, 
        called for the establishment of ``a special international criminal 
        tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine'' in order to 
        ``send a very clear signal to both Russian society and the international 
        community that Putin and the Russian political and military leadership 
        can be convicted for the crime of aggression in Ukraine'';
Whereas, on March 27, 2023, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global 
        Criminal Justice, Dr. Beth Van Schaack, stated, ``There is no question 
        that Russia's aggression against Ukraine is a manifest violation of the 
        UN Charter.'';
Whereas Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations states, ``All Members 
        shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of 
        force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any 
        state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the 
        United Nations.'';
Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX), adopted by the 
        United Nations General Assembly on December 14, 1974, defines aggression 
        as ``the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, 
        territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in 
        any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as 
        set out in this Definition'';
Whereas Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as 
        amended by Resolution RC/Res. 6, adopted by the Review Conference at the 
        13th plenary meeting on June 11, 2010, states, in part: ``For the 
        purpose of this Statute, `crime of aggression' means the planning, 
        preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position 
        effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or 
        military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its 
        character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the 
        Charter of the United Nations.'';
Whereas, on March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal 
        Court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Russian 
        Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for their 
        responsibility in the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of 
        children, and the International Criminal Court continues to investigate 
        other international crimes within its jurisdiction that have been 
        committed in Ukraine;
Whereas the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, 
        crimes against humanity, and genocide in Ukraine, but it does not have 
        jurisdiction over crimes of aggression in Ukraine because neither 
        Ukraine nor the Russian Federation have ratified the Rome Statute and 
        its amendments related to the crime of aggression;
Whereas the Russian Federation has committed manifest aggression against the 
        Ukrainian State for which its leadership must be held accountable;
Whereas the international community must hold those responsible for these 
        atrocities to account for their actions, including Russian President 
        Putin and all of the Members of the Security Council of Russia; and
Whereas an international special tribunal must be based on the adoption of a 
        United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns, in the strongest terms, the Russian 
        Federation's full-scale war and aggression against Ukraine;
            (2) regards the Russian Federation's aggression in Ukraine 
        as an affront to humanity and in contravention of international 
        law;
            (3) calls on the United States to use its voice and vote in 
        international institutions to support the creation of a special 
        international criminal tribunal to hold accountable the leaders 
        of the Russian Federation who led and sanctioned aggression in 
        Ukraine;
            (4) states its expectation that such a tribunal will be 
        formed pursuant to a United Nations General Assembly resolution 
        put forward by friends of Ukraine that would--
                    (A) direct the Secretary General of the United 
                Nations to negotiate with Ukraine the terms of the 
                tribunal's scope; and
                    (B) ensure that the role of the United Nations--
                            (i) would be complementary to the 
                        jurisdiction of the International Criminal 
                        Court; and
                            (ii) would not limit or affect the 
                        jurisdiction of the International Criminal 
                        Court, including its exercise of jurisdiction 
                        over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
                        possible genocide committed in the context of 
                        Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine; 
                        and
            (5) stands with people of Ukraine in support of their 
        freedom and Ukraine's sovereignty against tyranny.
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