[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 185 (Friday, December 18, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8887-S8888]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 340--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE SO-
CALLED ISLAMIC STATE IN IRAQ AND AL-SHAM (ISIS OR DA'ESH) IS COMMITTING 
GENOCIDE, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND WAR CRIMES, AND CALLING UPON THE 
 PRESIDENT TO WORK WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND THE UNITED NATIONS TO 
PROVIDE PHYSICAL PROTECTION FOR ISIS' TARGETS, TO SUPPORT THE CREATION 
OF AN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL WITH JURISDICTION TO PUNISH THESE 
  CRIMES, AND TO USE EVERY REASONABLE MEANS, INCLUDING SANCTIONS, TO 
             DESTROY ISIS AND DISRUPT ITS SUPPORT NETWORKS

  Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Kirk, and Mr. 
Wicker) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 340

       Whereas communities of Assyrian Chaldean Syriac, Armenian, 
     Evangelical, and Melkite Christians; Kurds; Yezidis; Shia and 
     Sunni Muslims; Turkmen; Sabea-Mandeans; Kaka`e; and Shabaks 
     have been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the 
     Middle East for millennia;
       Whereas Article I of the United Nations Convention on the 
     Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at 
     Paris December 9, 1948 (in this resolution referred to as the 
     ``Convention'') states that ``the contracting parties confirm 
     that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time 
     of war, is a crime under international law which they 
     undertake to prevent and punish'';
       Whereas Article II of the Convention declares, ``In the 
     present Convention, genocide means 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 Article III of the Convention affirms, ``The 
     following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) 
     Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public 
     incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit 
     genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide.'';
       Whereas section 1091 of title 18, United States Code, 
     declares that ``genocide'' occurs when any person ``whether 
     in time of peace or in time of war and with the specific 
     intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a 
     national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such (1) 
     kills members of that group; (2) causes serious bodily injury 
     to members of that group; (3) causes the permanent impairment 
     of the mental faculties of members of the group through 
     drugs, torture, or similar techniques; (4) subjects the group 
     to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical 
     destruction of the group in whole or in part; (5) imposes 
     measures intended to prevent births within the group; or (6) 
     transfers by force children of the group to another group'';
       Whereas subsection (c) of section 2441 of title 18, United 
     States Code, defines a ``war crime'' as conduct ``(1) defined 
     as a grave breach in any of the international conventions 
     signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such 
     convention to which the United States is a party; (2) 
     prohibited by Article 23 , 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the 
     Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War 
     on Land, signed 18 October 1907; (3) which constitutes a 
     grave breach of common Article 3 [defined in subsection (d) 
     of such section as torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, 
     performing biological experiments, murder, mutilation or 
     maiming, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, rape, 
     sexual assault or abuse, or taking hostages] when committed 
     in the context of and in association with an armed conflict 
     not of an international character; or (4) of a person who, in 
     relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions 
     of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of 
     Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 
     3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the 
     United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or 
     causes serious injury to civilians'';
       Whereas the United States has ratified the United Nations 
     Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime of 2000, and 
     its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
     Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
     United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
     Crime, which defines ``trafficking in persons'' to mean ``the 
     recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt 
     of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other 
     forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of 
     the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of 
     the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve 
     the consent of a person having control over another person, 
     for the purpose of exploitation'' and defines exploitation as 
     including, ``at a minimum, the exploitation of the 
     prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, 
     forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to 
     slavery, servitude or the removal of organs'';
       Whereas section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, 
     defines ``international terrorism activities'' as 
     ``activities that (A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous 
     to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of 
     the United States or of any State, or that would be a 
     criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of 
     the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended 
     (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to 
     influence the policy of a government by intimidation or 
     coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by 
     mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur 
     primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United 
     States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the 
     means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear 
     intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which 
     their perpetrators operate or seek asylum'';
       Whereas section 2332b of title 18, United States Code, 
     defines ``terrorism transcending national boundaries'' to 
     include ``(A) kill[ings], kidnap[ing]s, maim[ing]s, 
     commit[ing] an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or 
     assaults with a dangerous weapon [of or on] any person within 
     the United States; or (B) creat[ing] a substantial risk of 
     serious bodily injury to any other person by destroying or 
     damaging any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal 
     property within the United States or by attempting or 
     conspiring to destroy or damage any structure, conveyance, or 
     other real or personal property within the United States; in 
     violation of the laws of any State, or the United States,'';
       Whereas the President, with the assistance of the Secretary 
     of State and the Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, 
     is obligated under section 2113(b) of the ADVANCE Democracy 
     Act of 2007 (22 U.S.C. 8213(b)) to ``collect information 
     regarding incidents that may constitute crimes against 
     humanity, genocide, slavery, or other violations of 
     international humanitarian law'' and ``shall consider what 
     actions can be taken to ensure that any government of a 
     country or the leaders or senior officials of such government 
     who are responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide, 
     slavery, or other violations of international humanitarian 
     law identified [pursuant to such collection of information] 
     are brought to account for such crimes in an appropriately 
     constituted tribunal'';
       Whereas Article I of the Convention and the law of nations 
     confirm that government authorities are obligated to prevent 
     and punish acts constituting genocide, crimes against 
     humanity, and war crimes;
       Whereas, on July 10, 2015, Pope Francis, Supreme Pontiff of 
     the Catholic Church, declared that the pattern of crimes 
     committed by ISIS and its affiliates against Christians are 
     part of a ``third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are 
     now experiencing,'' and that ``a form of genocide is taking 
     place, and it must end'';
       Whereas the 2011 Presidential Study Directive on Mass 
     Atrocities declares, ``Preventing mass atrocities and 
     genocide is a core national security interest and a core 
     moral responsibility of the United States. . . [and that] our 
     options are never limited to either sending in the military 
     or standing by and doing nothing. . . The actions that can be 
     taken are many--they range from economic to diplomatic 
     interventions, and from non-combat military actions to 
     outright intervention.'';
       Whereas, on August 7, 2014, President Barak Obama 
     authorized military action to stop ISIS' advance in northern 
     Iraq, and ``to prevent a potential act of genocide'' against 
     Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar;
       Whereas, on August 7, 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry, 
     stated that ISIS' ``campaign of terror against the innocent, 
     including Yezedi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque 
     and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and 
     hallmarks of genocide'';
       Whereas, on March 27, 2015, the Office of the United 
     Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that its 
     mission to Iraq had ``gathered reliable information about 
     acts of violence perpetrated against civilians because of 
     their affiliation or perceived affiliation to an ethnic or 
     religious group,'' that the ``[e]thnic and religious groups 
     targeted by ISIL include Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, Sabea-
     Mandeans, Kaka'e, Kurds and Shia,'' and stated, ``It is 
     reasonable to conclude, in the light of the information 
     gathered overall, that some of

[[Page S8888]]

     those incidents may constitute genocide. Other incidents may 
     amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes.'';
       Whereas the United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has ``called on the U.S. 
     government to designate the Christian, Yazidi, Shi'a, 
     Turkmen, and Shabak communities of Iraq and Syria as victims 
     of genocide by ISIL'' and USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George 
     has observed that ``ISIL's intent to destroy religious groups 
     that do not subscribe to its extremist ideology in the areas 
     of Iraq and Syria that it controls, or seeks to control, is 
     evident in, not only its barbarous acts, but also its own 
     propaganda''; and
       Whereas members of the International Association of 
     Genocide Scholars, in their Appeal to Congress of September 
     9, 2015, stated, ``ISIS's mass murders of Chaldean, Assyrian, 
     Melkite Greek, and Coptic Christians, Yazidis, Shi'a Muslims, 
     Sunni Kurds and other religious groups meet even the 
     strictest definition of genocide.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) finds that ISIS, its affiliated organizations, and 
     supporters are parts of an expanding, worldwide criminal 
     network, the members of which have pledged allegiance to its 
     leaders, support its actions, act in concert with them, claim 
     credit for targeted killings, and are ``fully aware that 
     [their] participation'' and support will ``assist [in] the 
     commission'' of its crimes;
       (2) finds that ISIS and its affiliated organizations 
     maintain sophisticated publishing and social media networks 
     that seek to attract others to join their efforts and seek to 
     incite the murder of Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, 
     Jews, and any religious believers who refuse to convert to 
     their Wahhabi-Salafist jihadist ideology;
       (3) declares that ISIS and its leaders should be charged 
     with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes;
       (4) calls upon on the Attorney General to investigate and 
     prosecute any United States citizens or residents alleged to 
     be perpetrators of or complicit in these crimes and to report 
     back to Congress regarding what steps are being taken to 
     investigate and prosecute those involved;
       (5) calls upon the Secretary of the Treasury to investigate 
     and sanction any person, organization, business, or financial 
     institution alleged to be perpetrators of or complicit in 
     these crimes, and to report back to Congress regarding what 
     additional authority, if any, is needed to disrupt ISIS 
     financial support networks;
       (6) calls upon the President to authorize the Secretary of 
     State, the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global 
     Affairs, and the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues to 
     cooperate in the collection of forensic evidence of crimes 
     against humanity, genocide, war crimes, slavery, or other 
     violations of international humanitarian law;
       (7) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, and the 
     United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 
     working through the United Nations Security Council and its 
     member states as appropriate, to accelerate the 
     implementation of an immediate, coordinated, and sustained 
     response to provide humanitarian assistance, protect 
     civilians, build resilience, and help reestablish livelihoods 
     for displaced and persecuted persons in their communities of 
     origin;
       (8) calls upon the contracting parties to the United 
     Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
     Crime of Genocide, signed at Paris December 9, 1948, and 
     other international agreements forbidding war crimes and 
     crimes against humanity, to join with the United States in an 
     effort to investigate, arrest, and prosecute individual and 
     organizational perpetrators responsible for these crimes;
       (9) calls upon the United Nations Secretary-General to urge 
     all United Nations member states to cooperate in an 
     international effort to investigate, try, and prosecute all 
     cases in which prosecutors can prove that the accused have 
     committed crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide;
       (10) makes an urgent appeal to the Cooperation Council for 
     the Arab States of the Gulf to collaborate on the 
     establishment and operation of domestic, regional, and hybrid 
     international tribunals with jurisdiction to punish the 
     individuals and organizations responsible for or complicit in 
     actions that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, 
     and genocide; and
       (11) commends the Governments of the Kurdistan Region of 
     Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and every other country 
     sheltering and protecting individuals fleeing the violence of 
     ISIS.

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