II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4659 

To require a determination as to whether crimes committed against the 

Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require a determination as to whether crimes committed 

against the Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rohingya Genocide 

5 Determination Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Since August 25, 2017, 740,000 Rohingya 

9 have fled northern Rakhine State to neighboring 

10 Bangladesh to escape a systematic campaign of 


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1 atrocities by Burma’s military and security forces, 

2 and three years later, conditions are still not condu3 cive to the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of 

4 the Rohingya to Burma. 

5 (2) On November 23, 2017, the United States 

6 Holocaust Museum and Fortify Rights released a re7 port entitled ‘‘They Tried to Kill Us All’’, docu8 menting widespread and systematic atrocities com9 mitted against Rohingya civilians at the hands of 

10 Burmese ‘‘security forces, civilian perpetrators, and 

11 militants’’ and highlighting ‘‘growing evidence of 

12 genocide’’. 

13 (3) According to the Department of State’s Au14 gust 24, 2018, report entitled ‘‘Documentation of 

15 Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State’’, violence com16 mitted by the Burmese military against the 

17 Rohingya, including from August to October 2017, 

18 was not only ‘‘extreme, large-scale, widespread, and 

19 seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the popu20 lation and driving out the Rohingya residents,’’ but 

21 also ‘‘well-planned and coordinated’’. 

22 (4) On August 28, 2018, the United States 

23 Ambassador to the United Nations told the United 

24 Nations Security Council that the Department of 

25 State report’s findings were ‘‘consistent with’’ those 


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1 in an August 27, 2018, report by the Independent 

2 International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar 

3 (IIFFMM) which urged that top Burmese military 

4 officials be investigated and prosecuted for genocide. 

5 (5) On September 12, 2018, the IIFFMM re6 ported, ‘‘The crimes in Rakhine State, and the man7 ner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in 

8 nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed 

9 genocidal intent to be established in other con10 texts.’’. 

11 (6) The Public International Law & Policy 

12 Group (PILPG), whose investigation informed the 

13 Department of State’s August 2018 report, pub14 lished in December 2018 its Factual Findings & 

15 Legal Analysis Report, which concluded that ‘‘there 

16 are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was 

17 committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s 

18 northern Rakhine State’’. 

19 (7) According to the PILPG report, ‘‘The scale 

20 and severity of the attacks and abuses—particularly 

21 the mass killings and accompanying brutality 

22 against children, women, pregnant women, the elder23 ly, religious leaders, and persons fleeing into Ban24 gladesh—suggest that, in the minds of the perpetraVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4659.IS S4659

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1 tors, the goal was not just to expel, but also to ex2 terminate the Rohingya.’’. 

3 (8) On September 16, 2019, the IIFFMM re4 ported that it ‘‘has reasonable grounds to conclude 

5 that the evidence that infers genocidal intent on the 

6 part of the State, identified in its last report, has 

7 strengthened that there is a serious risk that geno8 cidal actions may occur or recur’’. 

9 (9) The IIFFMM also recognized in its Sep10 tember 16, 2019, report that Burma’s military and 

11 security forces have committed abuses against mi12 nority groups other than the Rohingya: ‘‘All the eth13 nic minority communities that the Mission inves14 tigated,’’ including ethnic groups in Rakhine, Chin, 

15 Kayin, Kachin, and Shan States, ‘‘have been de16 prived of justice for the serious human rights viola17 tions perpetrated against them.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

19 It is the sense of Congress that the atrocities com20 mitted against the Rohingya by the Burmese military and 

21 security forces constitute genocide. 

22 SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF ATTACKS AGAINST ROHINGYA IN 

23 BURMA. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 


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1 after consultation with the heads of other United States 

2 Government agencies represented on the Atrocity Early 

3 Warning Task Force and representatives of human rights 

4 organizations, as appropriate, shall submit to the appro5 priate congressional committees an evaluation of the per6 secution of, including attacks against, the Rohingya in 

7 Burma by Burmese military and security forces, including 

8 whether the situation constitutes genocide (as defined in 

9 section 1091 of title 18, United States Code), and a de10 tailed description of any proposed atrocities prevention re11 sponse recommended by the Atrocity Early Warning Task 

12 Force. 

13 (b) FORM.—The evaluation required under sub14 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form and 

15 posted to the Department of State website, but may in16 clude a classified annex as necessary. 

17 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE18 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres19 sional committees’’ means— 

20 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

21 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

22 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 


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1 (2) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

3 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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