[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 44 (Monday, March 21, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEFINING CERTAIN ATROCITIES AS WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND 
                                GENOCIDE

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                               speech of

                          HON. EDWARD R. ROYCE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 14, 2016

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, today we take a step reserved for only the 
most dire of circumstances.
  The so-called Islamic State--or ``ISIS''--is committing war crimes, 
crimes against humanity, and genocide against religious and ethnic 
minorities. Yes, genocide. House Concurrent Resolution 75--led by 
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, and more than 
200 bipartisan cosponsors--declares that fact clearly, and was adopted 
unanimously by the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this month.
  Our Committee has held many hearings on this group's brutal war to 
eliminate religious minorities and bulldoze their histories. ISIS's 
tools include mass murder, beheadings, crucifixions, rape, torture, 
enslavement, and the kidnaping of children, among other atrocities. 
ISIS dynamites churches and flattens ancient monasteries. Put simply, 
their desire is to erase the existence of these groups from their self-
proclaimed caliphate, by any means necessary.
  The crime of genocide is killing or inflicting other serious harm 
with the intent to destroy a religious or ethnic group--in whole or in 
part. ISIS is guilty.
  ISIS has clearly stated that it cannot tolerate the continued 
existence of the Yezidi community, and has followed these statements up 
with widespread killing and enslavement. Last fall, our Committee 
Members met with ``Bazi,'' a young Yezidi woman from Iraq, who bravely 
recounted her brutal captivity and abuse at the hands of the terrorist 
group.
  ISIS also has made no secret of its ``hatred for the cross 
worshippers.'' In one of their gruesome videos addressed to Christians, 
an ISIS spokesman taunts the so-called ``people of the cross'' saying 
``you will not have safety--even in your dreams--until you embrace 
Islam.'' Next, 15 Christian captives are beheaded on camera.
  Sister Diana Momeka, who testified before us after fleeing the ISIS 
offensive against Mosul, poignantly described a ``cultural and human 
genocide,'' and observed that today ``[t]he only Christians that remain 
in the Plain of Niniveh those who are held as hostages.''
  Most telling: Ask how many of the ancient, indigenous Christian 
communities survive in the areas where ISIS has consolidated its 
control? Experts inform me that the number is zero.
  ISIS brutalizes anyone whose beliefs conflict with its own narrow 
ideology, including fellow Muslims. It has torn the rich religious and 
cultural tapestry of that region to shreds.
  At a hearing four months ago, when Ambassador Anne Patterson, 
representing the Administration, was asked whether ISIS is committing 
genocide, she said that we could expect ``some announcements on that 
very shortly.'' We are still waiting.
  In December, I wrote Secretary Kerry a bipartisan letter, with 29 
colleagues, urging that any genocide determination must reflect the 
full reality of the situation faced by all groups--Yezidis, Christians, 
and others. The State Department is facing a statutory deadline of 
March 17th--this Thursday--to provide Congress with an evaluation of 
the genocide question. Today's consideration puts Congress on record as 
to how the Secretary of State should rule.
  This past week, the Knights of Columbus sent Secretary Kerry an 
extensive 280-page report that provides both the legal basis and more 
than 200 pages of detailed, eyewitness documentation to support its 
conclusion that ``ISIS is committing genocide--the `crime of crimes'--
against Christians and other religious groups.''
  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the 
European Parliament have found their voices: Both have publicly 
concluded that Yezidis, Christians, and other minority groups are 
facing genocide at the hands of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Today, the 
voice of this body, representing the American people, will be heard.
  The House of Representatives led the push to recognize genocide in 
Sudan in the late 1990s. I remember the critical role we played in that 
debate. We have recognized genocide in other situations, including 
Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Sadly, it is time to make this solemn 
declaration again, to speak the truth about the atrocities of ISIS, and 
hope that the Administration and the world will do the same, before 
ISIS has succeeded in its genocidal campaign. And it should go without 
saying, this brutal terrorist organization and its caliphate ambitions 
must be shattered.

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