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THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THOSE WHO COMMIT OR

SUPPORT ATROCITIES AGAINST CHRISTIANS AND OTHER

ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES . . . ARE COMMITTING,

AND ARE HEREBY DECLARED TO BE COMMITTING, ‘‘WAR

CRIMES’’, ‘‘CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY’’, AND ‘‘GENOCIDE’’;

CONDEMNING THE GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL

LAW AMOUNTING TO WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST

HUMANITY BY THE GOV’T OF SYRIA, ITS ALLIES, AND OTHER

PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA, AND ASKING THE

PRESIDENT TO DIRECT HIS AMBASSADOR AT THE U.N. TO

PROMOTE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL WHERE THESE CRIMES COULD BE ADDRESSED

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H. Con. Res. 75 and H. Con. Res. 121

MARCH 2, 2016

Serial No. 114–149

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin 

DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

DANIEL DONOVAN, New York 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

MARKUP ON 

H. Con. Res. 75, Expressing the sense of Congress that those who commit 

or support atrocities against Christians and other ethnic and religious 

minorities, including Yezidis, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka’e, and 

Kurds, and who target them specifically for ethnic or religious reasons, 

are committing, and are hereby declared to be committing, ‘‘war crimes,’’ 

‘‘crimes against humanity,’’ and ‘‘genocide’’ ....................................................... 2

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Con. Res. 75 offered by 

the Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of California, and chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs ........ 8

H. Con. Res. 121, Expressing the sense of the Congress condemning the 

gross violations of international law amounting to war crimes and crimes 

against humanity by the Government of Syria, its allies, and other parties 

to the conflict in Syria, and asking the President to direct his Ambassador 

at the United Nations to promote the establishment of a war crimes tribunal where these crimes could be addressed ................................................... 14

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

APPENDIX 

Markup notice .......................................................................................................... 38

Markup minutes ...................................................................................................... 39

Markup summary .................................................................................................... 41

(1)

THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THOSE WHO COMMIT OR 

SUPPORT ATROCITIES AGAINST CHRISTIANS AND OTHER 

ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES . . . ARE COMMITTING, AND ARE HEREBY DECLARED TO BE COMMITTING, 

‘‘WAR CRIMES’’, ‘‘CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY’’, AND 

‘‘GENOCIDE’’; CONDEMNING THE GROSS VIOLATIONS OF 

INTERNATIONAL LAW AMOUNTING TO WAR CRIMES AND 

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY BY THE GOV’T OF SYRIA, ITS 

ALLIES, AND OTHER PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT IN 

SYRIA, AND ASKING THE PRESIDENT TO DIRECT HIS AMBASSADOR AT THE U.N. TO PROMOTE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL WHERE THESE 

CRIMES COULD BE ADDRESSED 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room 

2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward Royce (chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Chairman ROYCE. This committee will come to order. 

Pursuant to notice, we meet today to mark up two bipartisan resolutions concerning grave challenges to humanity, and without objection all members may have 5 days to submit statements or extraneous materials for the record. 

As all members were notified yesterday, we intend to consider 

the two resolutions en bloc and so without objection the following 

items previously provided to members will be considered en bloc 

and considered as read. 

House Concurrent Resolution 75, which expresses the sense of 

Congress that ISIS’ atrocities against Yezidis, Christians and other 

minorities constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and 

genocide. Royce Amendment 97 in the nature of a substitute and 

House Concurrent Resolution 121, which condemns the war crimes 

and crimes against humanity by the government of Syria, its allies, 

and other parties and urges the establishment of a war crimes tribunal. 

[The information referred to follows:]

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Chairman ROYCE. After recognizing myself and the ranking 

member, I’ll be pleased to recognize any member seeking recognition to speak on these measures. 

So I appreciate members assembling this morning. This is a very 

consequential markup. The so-called Islamic State, or ISIS or ISIL, 

is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and they’re 

committing genocide against religious and ethnic minorities, in particular, against the Christian community and the Yezidis. House 

Concurrent Resolution 75—led by Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, 

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo—and 200 bipartisan cosponsors states 

that fact clearly. 

This committee has held multiple hearings on this group’s brutal 

war to eliminate religious minorities and to bulldoze their histories. 

ISIS’ tools include mass murder. It includes beheadings, as you 

know. As we’ve heard from the testimony, it includes rape and crucifixions and torture and enslavement and the kidnapping of children, among other atrocities. Churches and temples are destroyed. 

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 an ethnic group in whole 

or in part, and of this ISIS is guilty. 

ISIS has clearly stated that it cannot abide the continued existence of the Yezidi community and has followed these statements up 

with the widespread killing and enslavement. The boys and men 

are killed, older women are killed, girls and younger women are 

enslaved. Last fall, members of this committee met with Bazi, a 

young Yezidi woman from Iraq, who bravely recounted her brutal 

captivity and abuse at the hands of the terrorist group, in particular at the hands of an American who had been recruited online 

into ISIS and who had taken her and others captive and enslaved 

her as a sexual concubine. 

He explained to her why it was in his religion, or his interpretation of it, that they needed to be stamped out and why it was proper that all of the men in her family be killed and the women 

enslaved. She subsequently escaped. 

ISIS has also made no secret of its—and I’m going to quote ISIS 

here—‘‘hatred for the cross worshipers.’’ In one of their gruesome 

videos addressed to Christians, an ISIS spokesman taunts the socalled ‘‘people of the cross,’’ saying ‘‘you will have no safety, even 

in your dreams, until you embrace Islam’’ and then 15 Christians—

they’re captives before the video—are beheaded on camera. 


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Sister Diana Momeka, who testified here after fleeing the ISIS 

offensive against Mosul, described to us a cultural and human 

genocide and observed that today ‘‘the only Christians that remain 

in the Plain of Nineveh are those who are held as concubines or 

hostages.’’

Most telling, ask how many of the ancient, indigenous Christian 

communities survive in the area where ISIS has consolidated its 

control. Experts inform me that the answer to that 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 this region to shreds. 

At a hearing 31⁄2 months ago when Ambassador Patterson was 

asked whether ISIS is committing genocide, she said we could expect ‘‘some announcements on that very shortly.’’ We, as a committee, are still waiting for that announcement. 

In December, I wrote Secretary Kerry a bipartisan letter urging 

that any genocide determination must reflect the full reality of the 

situation faced by all groups—Yezidis and Christians and others. 

The State Department is facing a statutory deadline of March 17 

to provide Congress with an evaluation of the genocide question. 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and 

the European Parliament have found their voices in this. Both 

have publically concluded that Yezidis and Christians are facing 

genocide at the hands of ISIS in Syria and in Iraq. 

The House of Representatives—and this committee in particular—led the push to recognize genocide in Sudan in the late 

1990s. I remember the critical role we played in that debate. I remember how long that took. I remember going up to the United 

Nations on this issue. We have recognized genocide in numerous 

other situations including in Rwanda, including in the former 

Yugoslavia. It is time that we do so again, to speak the truth about 

the atrocities of ISIS and hope that the administration and the 

world will do the same before it is too late. 

But we cannot condemn ISIS’ atrocities without also denouncing 

the horrendous war crimes being perpetrated on a massive scale by 

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. And so I want to thank Subcommittee 

Chairman Smith for reintroducing House Resolution 269 as House 

Concurrent Resolution 121, which expresses the sense of the Congress that the administration should promote the establishment of 

a Syrian war crimes tribunal. The committee passed a substantially similar measure last Congress and we appreciate what strong 

leadership Mr. Smith has shown on this issue. 

For several years this committee has heard searing testimony regarding the terrible atrocities being committed by Syria’s Government against its own people—widespread torture, industrial scale 

murder, starvation as a tool of war, and the terror of unending barrel bombs and chemical bombs. 

Two years ago, we heard from regime defector ‘‘Caesar,’’ if you’ll 

recall the testimony from the photographer, regarding Assad’s systematic use of torture. He was a former regime photographer and 

he smuggled out of his country 50,000 images showing the horrific 

fate of those Syrians who objected to Assad’s brutality. These were 

men, women, and children from all sects, all religions, all groups, 

who disappeared into his prisons and their mangled bodies were 

21

numbered as each one was killed—tortured and killed—and he documented all of that. I don’t know why totalitarian regimes have 

this obsession with documenting what they do but they do, and in 

this particular case he smuggled out the photographs. 

We have also heard from the brave doctors treating the victims 

of Assad’s barrel bombs—often filled with chlorine gas—as they recalled watching children suffocate on their makeshift operating tables. These same doctors and nurses have been targeted by the 

Assad regime and targeted by its allies, Russia and Iran. More 

than 500 of these doctors have been killed—500 of these doctors 

and nurses have been killed in these bombings since the start of 

the fighting. 

The Assad regime and its allies have used starvation as a tool 

of war. We’ve seen images from cities showing the emaciated bodies 

of those dying under siege. Taken together, Assad and his allies 

have killed more than 18,500 children, among the hundreds of 

thousands, by the way, of victims of their terrible crimes. 

At the same time, ISIS and other extremist-linked fighters like 

al-Nusra have carried out grave crimes against the local communities under their control—all in an effort to impose a violent radical ideology. 

This resolution calls for the creation of an international tribunal 

to hold those responsible for these heinous crimes accountable. The 

resolution envisions a flexible regional tribunal like those established following brutal conflicts in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra 

Leone. 

This court would focus solely on the crisis in Syria. Congressional 

approval of this resolution will send a strong signal of support to 

the Syrian people that they are not alone, that the world sees their 

suffering and will not accept such brutality without consequences. 

As David Crane, the former chief prosecutor of the special court 

for Sierra Leone, testified before this committee, we ‘‘have to seek 

justice for the people that have been destroyed by the Assad regime.’’

We now have 420,000 killed. We now have 4 million in exile and 

there are another 7 million displaced within Syria. So I urge members to support this resolution as well as our first House concurrent resolution on genocide and I urge members to do so so that 

the possibility of justice and accountability for these atrocities can 

give hope to those suffering today. 

I will now turn to the ranking member for today’s hearing, Mr. 

Brad Sherman from California. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for holding 

this markup. 

Mr. Chairman, Syria and much of Iraq face two great evils. ISIS 

is well known to everyone in this room. Their evil is well known 

and was well described by the chairman in his opening statement. 

The second evil is the extremist Shi’ite alliance, consisting of 

Iran, Assad, Hezbollah, the Houthi, and many forces that are powerful in Iraq including Shi’ite militias from Baghdad to Basra and 

the political forces of former Prime Minister Maliki. 

That extremist Shi’ite alliance is, I believe, even more dangerous 

than ISIS since they include two state actors and a nuclear program, and they have killed more Americans than ISIS, whether it 

22

be the Marines who died in Lebanon in the 1980s where so many 

of our soldiers and Marines died from IEDs manufactured in Iran 

and deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

There is a substantial difference in the style of the two evil 

forces. When ISIS kills 50 people, they put the beheading up on 

YouTube. 

When Assad kills 1,000 with barrel bombs or even with chemical 

weapons there for a while, Assad has the good taste to deny it and 

lie about it. 

Different styles of evil but two great evils and two resolutions before us. The first is H. Con. Res. 121, a resolution introduced by 

our colleague, Chris Smith. 

The bill condemns the gross violations of international law perpetrated by the Assad regime and the forces supporting Assad that 

have amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

We all hope that the current ceasefire holds, but during the 5-

year civil war in Syria we have seen vicious acts of war that most 

of us hoped would be relegated only to the history books, including 

the use of chemical weapons against defenseless civilians by the 

Syrian Government. 

Assad has also conducted deliberate bombings of schools, hospitals, and humanitarian sites for the purpose of expelling the civilian population. 

Overall, he has conducted a brutal war to retain power that has 

killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions 

more. 

Assad could not have done this without the support of the Iranian Government. Just yesterday, in Foreign Policy Magazine, an 

Iranian official goes on the record to boast that the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps is sending advisors and troops to help Assad 

and that the Tehran government is financing Hezbollah and other 

Shi’ite militias assisting Assad. 

The resolution we’re considering today, H. Con. Res. 121, makes 

specific mention of the role that Iran and this extremist Shi’ite alliance have played, and I think that’s an important part of the resolution. 

The chairman and I have introduced legislation that would enhance sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and 

in turn make it more difficult for the IRGC to support Assad and 

the Syrian Government and I urge my colleagues to co-sponsor 

H.R. 4312, if you have not done so already. 

The other resolution we’re considering today focuses on ISIS. It’s 

H. Con. Res. 75, and it asks how we classify the violence that ISIS 

has carried out, especially on non-Sunni Muslim religious groups 

and ethnic minorities. 

I want to thank Anna Eshoo and Jeff Fortenberry for their work 

in putting this resolution together. I have co-sponsored, as have so 

many others here today. 

I also want to thank the chairman and ranking member for their 

hard work on the amendment in the nature of a substitute which 

I think strikes the right balance and I believe we should all support. 

23

This resolution, H. Con. Res. 75, calls the violent acts of ISIS by 

the right name—war crimes, crimes against humanity and, where 

appropriate, genocide. 

I support this resolution and its call on member states of the 

United Nations, which includes, of course, the United States, to coordinate urgently on measures to prevent further war crimes 

against religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria. 

Finally, as we focus our efforts against ISIS, this resolution is an 

important part of it. Another part is American air strikes. Our 

rules of engagement against ISIS, I think, have been far too constrained. 

We should be bombing moving tanker trucks, not just those that 

are parked—moving ammunition trucks, not just those that are 

parked. 

It is possible that the driver of the truck will be a civilian. But 

it is entirely appropriate for strategic bombing to hit ammunition 

and oil trucks as they are moving. 

If we are going to defeat ISIS we’re going to need to reach a settlement in Syria that does not cause Sunni Muslims to believe that 

they will be oppressed by this Assad regime as they have been in 

the past, and I look forward to the passage of these two resolutions. 

Yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Sherman. 

We now go to Mr. Chris Smith. 

Mr. SMITH. Chairman, thank you so very much for calling this 

important markup and I want to thank you for your very pivotal 

and very important co-sponsorship of H. Con. Res. 121 and also 

Eliot Engel, thank him for his support for this. 

You know, this has been a long time in the making. I introduced 

the first iteration of it in September 2013, continually have asked 

Secretary Kerry and others in the administration. 

They have never said no but they haven’t said yes about this 

idea of establishing a Syrian war crimes tribunal. We’ve had a 

number of hearings where they were dedicated in part and one in 

whole to this proposition. 

We had Jeremy Rabkin, David Crane, as you pointed out, the 

Prosecutor for the Sierra Leone court, Alan White, the former Chief 

Investigator for the court for Sierra Leone, Steve Rademaker, who 

obviously gave some very, very good insights. He used to work on 

this staff, then worked in the administration and now he’s the national security project advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center, and 

all pulling on that same oar that the time has come to establish 

a Syrian war crimes tribunal. 

And that’s what the resolution seeks to do, that we immediately 

move to establish such a war crimes tribunal, get the U.N. Security 

Council to take it up, calls on the administration to pursue this policy goal including our voice and vote at the U.N. 

Past ad hoc regional war crimes tribunals, including the courts 

for Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia, have made 

significant differences in holding some of the worst mass murderers 

to account with successful prosecutions followed by long jail sentences. 

I would note parenthetically that I have worked with the prosecutors of each of these tribunals and had many of them, including 

24

the Yugoslav court, provide testimony and, as I mentioned, David 

Crane, as well. 

These courts have worked. They’re not perfect but they are flexible and they have had significant convictions of those who have 

committed these crimes. 

Who can forget the picture, Mr. Chairman, of the infamous 

former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, with his head bowed, 

incredulous that the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2012 meted 

out a 50-year jail term for his crimes against humanity and war 

crimes. 

You’ve given some estimates, and the estimates do vary from 

420,000. The Center for Policy Research says that the 5 years of 

bloodshed, either direct or indirectly, perhaps has killed 470,000 

people. The ranges are very, very large. 

While the U.N. has long ago abandoned estimating the death toll 

to its inability to verify the numbers, the center’s estimate nevertheless suggests massive loss of life, especially of women and children. 

The International Syria Support Group, co-chaired by the U.S. 

and Russia, brokered a cessation of hostilities that kicked in on 

February 27 that applies to all parties except ISIS and al-Nusra. 

While we all hope and pray that the ceasefire holds and humanitarian groups gain access to sick, frail, and at-risk people, the 

atrocities committed against Syria’s population demand accountability and justice. 

Rigorous investigations followed by prosecutions, convictions, and 

serious jail time for these perpetrators will hold all sides accountable and will send a clear message that barbaric behavior has dire 

personal consequences. The victims and their loved ones deserve no 

less. 

Can the U.S. Security Council resolution establishing a Syrian 

war crimes tribunal prevail? I would respectfully submit yes. With 

a Herculean diplomatic push by the U.S. and other interested parties, past success in creating war crimes tribunals can indeed be 

prologue. And I remember the naysayers who said there was no 

way the Yugoslav court would come into existence. 

Russia was too close to Slobodan Milosevic and their solidarity 

with Serbia during the Balkan War made that impossible. Yet, it 

was unanimously approved. 

Ditto for the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002 and for the 

Rwanda tribunal that was created in 1994, China chose to abstain 

rather than exercise their veto. 

At a Syrian war crimes court, no one on any side—and this has 

to be emphasized with exclamation points—who commits war 

crimes, genocide, or crimes against humanity would be precluded 

from prosecution. 

An ad hoc regional court also has significant advantages over the 

International Criminal Court and our hearing with David Crane 

and others made that absolutely clear that this was the preferred 

venue for justice. 

For starters, neither Syria nor the U.S. is a member of the ICC, 

although mechanisms do exist to push prosecutions there. The ICC 

has operated since 2002 but boasts only two convictions. 

25

By way of contrast, the Yugoslav court convicted 80 people and 

those trials are still ongoing. Rwanda has 61 and Sierra Leone nine 

and, moreover, a singularly focused tribunal provides Syrians with 

a degree of ownership that would enhance its effectiveness. 

And finally, I want to thank Jeff Fortenberry and Anna Eshoo 

for the resolution on declaring that not just the Yezidis but other 

minority groups, especially Christians, are the target of genocide. 

I’ve had five hearings on the genocide that has been committed 

against Christians in Syria and I can tell you from those hearings, 

including the emergency one we had on December 9, it was made 

very clear by people like Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, who said ‘‘Weak words are not enough. Failure to call 

ISIS a mass murderer of Christians, Muslims, and other groups in 

addition to Yezidis by its proper name, genocide, would be an active denial as grave as U.S. refusal to recognize the Rwandan genocide in 1994.’’

Even the head of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization, Ismail, 

said that yes, the Yezidis are targeted for annihilation and he said 

so are the Christians. 

So I would hope, again, that members would rally behind this 

resolution as well, and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman ROYCE. Any other members seeking recognition on 

this resolution? 

Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I’ve got grave concerns about the wording of 

this resolution. We have—and no one has been a greater fan of 

Chris Smith and the great job he’s been doing in human rights over 

the years than I have and we’ve been partners in most of his endeavors. 

But the wording—I’m afraid the wording of this resolution will 

include—by including everyone that has been under attack in the 

Middle East we have diluted the fact that the Christians and 

Yezidis are specifically targeted for genocide. 

By declaring people targets of genocide what we mean is that we 

will accept whoever is part of that faith into our country and give 

them refuge. 

Obviously, the Christians from those countries and the Yezidis 

from those countries are targets of genocide. Turkmen are not. 

Other minorities—Kurds are not. 

And we should have no obligation to bring in every group that 

is not engaged themselves in killing someone else but is targeted 

because they live in a village but they—the other villages they’re 

not seeking to take everybody out in that country. 

They’re just in a war. That’s what happens. But we do know that 

the Yezidis and the Christians have been specifically targeted for 

elimination. 

Now, I have a resolution—this resolution, by the way, it’s a 

House resolution. It’s the sense of the House that these people be 

declared targets of genocide. 

I have a—the actual—to make this have teeth into it you have 

to basically go through the Judiciary Committee and I have a bill 

that takes Christians and Yezidis and puts that bill through the 

Judiciary Committee where it belongs because that opens up our 

borders to bring in those people who are—who are targeted for 

26

genocide—to give the Jews a way into our country rather than to 

declare everybody else when Europe was under attack that right, 

which then would have prevented us from doing that. 

So I just have some problems here with the wording of this resolution and I would hope that we can condemn these atrocities that 

are being committed without necessarily using the word genocide 

for every one of the groups and—because if you dilute it—try to do 

everything for everybody you could end up doing nothing for anybody. And I’m afraid that the wording of this would lead to that 

outcome. So I’m concerned about it. 

Chairman ROYCE. Yes. I will recognize myself here for a minute. 

In the first instance, I think the impetus for this resolution is 

partly on behalf—I think what Mr. Fortenberry is thinking here 

when he’s taking the idea of genocide is to try to rally the United 

States and the international community to take ISIS down. 

That’s the remedy that I think—the primary remedy he’s seeking. But the second point I would make is on the Fortenberry resolution, and Mr. Rohrabacher, you and I are co-sponsors of the 

Fortenberry resolution. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes. 

Chairman ROYCE. I think the reason that you and I originally 

signed on to the resolution was because when we read the resolved 

clauses of genocide in the original resolution, it speaks of genocide 

against Christians and then we added Yezidis—against Christians 

and Yezidis and other ethnic and religious minorities. 

So we are co-sponsors of that text. I don’t see an operative difference between our base text and the text you co-sponsored. 

In the text we originally co-sponsored, yes, it does reference 

Turkmen and some other specific religious minorities that are coming under attack. 

But when we get down to the resolved clauses in that resolution 

and in this resolution deal with, in their resolution Christians, in 

ours Christians and Yezidis. 

Why? Because those are the specific ethnic groups that we have 

the documented evidence that are being targeted by ISIS or Daesh 

or ISIL on the videos and in which we have the witnesses. 

Now, there’s a secondary reason why the Fortenberry language 

I think should be passed as is and that is because in the European 

community this language mirrors what they have passed as well. 

They also recognize that it is the Yezidis and the Christians that 

are being targeted. 

And so for those reasons I think that especially given what is 

propelling this resolution, which is the desire to get the European 

community, the American—you know, this hemisphere and the rest 

of the world involved in the basic strategy of taking down ISIS and 

ending a genocide, this is a call to action and in that respect I 

think it’s a resolution we could all support. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Would the gentleman yield? 

Chairman ROYCE. I will yield. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would be—I’m satisfied with—if we have 

put on the record in this debate that it is not your intent nor the 

intent of this committee to in some way include all groups under 

attack in the Middle East as targets of genocide. 

27

But that specifically we do, while this resolution does specifically 

mention Christians and other ethnic—basically, it does mention 

Christians and it says and other ethnic religious minorities targeted specifically for religious reasons are thereby to be crimes 

against humanity. 

The word ‘‘and’’ would not necessarily mean that all groups are 

part of the ‘‘and’’ but instead that we have—there’s a bifurcation 

there. 

Chairman ROYCE. I think we resolve it this way, for your—we 

allow that other groups may be being targeted for genocide. 

But what we are stating specifically in the resolution clause, in 

the resolve cause, what we are stating is that it is Yezidis and it 

is Christians that are being targeted for the purpose of genocide by 

ISIS. That is what is pushing the resolution. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay, and that—and that when we say 

crimes against humanity and genocide that means we can understand some of those groups are being victims of crimes against humanity where other groups within that are not necessarily targets 

of genocide. 

Chairman ROYCE. And then let me yield to Mr. Smith. He wanted to have a word. 

Mr. SMITH. I thank the chair and thanks for the very good explanation. I think that, hopefully, clears up——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes, it does. 

Mr. SMITH [continuing]. Any concerns that the gentleman from 

California has. 

One of the reasons why this is so urgent, in December we 

learned that the President was about to declare that the Yezidis 

were the targets of genocide and that the genocide was being committed against the Yezidis. 

It’s absolutely true. There is a genocide against the Yezidis. But 

omitted from that declaration from what we had heard, and it was 

very reliable, was that the Christians were going to be left out. 

That’s why I convened an emergency hearing on December 9. We 

heard from a broad section of people concerned—experts I mentioned earlier—Dr. Stanton, who heads up Genocide Watch. And 

they made it absolutely clear including the head of Yezidi Human 

Rights Organizational-International, Ismail, that you can’t have 

one without the other. The Christians are targeted for annihilation. 

I mean, the definition in the Genocide Convention couldn’t be 

clearer. In whole or in part, we’re talking about annihilation. 

That’s whole, so the total definition is, obviously, being fulfilled in 

a horrible way. 

And so I asked Secretary Kerry when he testified here respectfully and politely, because I do believe he’s an honorable man, and 

he said he was seriously looking at this now. 

So the hope is the administration will get it right and make that 

joint declaration. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Would the gentleman yield? Would the gentleman yield? 

Of course, which I agree totally with the sentiment and let me 

just note the reason why we need to be concerned about this wording is that if we are indeed declaring all of these groups that are—

that are victims of crimes against humanity, we declare that all of 

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them are also targets of genocide, we then have the obligation to 

require safe haven in the United States for any person who is a 

target of genocide. 

That would include, if we do not make that bifurcation, we have 

actually included all the Kurds, included all the Turkmen, and 

Turkmen, by the way, reflect a huge number of people in that area 

including, I think, large, large portions of these countries where we 

recognize they are crimes against humanity, against these people, 

which we condemn. 

But as I say, you try to do everything for everybody you end up 

doing nothing for anybody and we do need to reach out to the 

Christian communities and the Yezidis to make sure they are protected against what is an attempt to annihilate them from the 

planet, and that’s the reason for my concern. 

Thank you for yielding. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. 

We go to Mr. Brad Sherman. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I think this resolution means to say that we’ve determined that Christians and Yezidis are subject to genocide, that 

other groups are subject to terrible crimes and whether any other 

particular group faces such terrible egregious action that it rises to 

the level of genocide would have to be established in some other 

form on some other day. I don’t know, and this resolution doesn’t 

say, whether Baha’is or Turkmen or anyone else is facing genocide. 

But I don’t think it can be used to argue that Congress has concluded or that this committee has concluded that they do. Let’s look 

at the individual clauses. 

Second whereas clause on Page 1 mentions a whole group—many 

different groups but simply uses the word egregious atrocities. 

Page 4, whereas clause number three quotes the United States 

Commission on International Religious Freedom and uses the word 

genocide, mentions other groups, but that’s just an accurate quote 

from the commission. 

It does not mean that Congress agrees with every single word of 

the quoted material. The most operative part of the resolution is 

on Page 5 lines one through four, once we get to the resolve 

clauses. And there we identify Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities as being subject to war crimes, crimes 

against humanity and—it doesn’t say ‘‘and/or,’’ it says ‘‘and’’—genocide. 

So we are saying that Christians face all three things including 

genocide. Yezidis face war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 

genocide. 

But as to any other group, they would have to come forward and 

say and our group too faces genocide because there is certainly no 

implication here that every religious and ethnic minority in Syria 

and Iraq is facing genocide but, rather, that the Christians do, the 

Yezidis do, and perhaps there’s some other group that does as well. 

I know the Baha’is have been mentioned. 

So if somebody was Turkomen or Kurd or any other religious or 

ethnic minority and wanted to say their group faces genocide at the 

hands of ISIS or ISIL. They would have to prove and make that 

case. 

29

This—the text of this resolution does not embrace that conclusion 

and I yield. 

Chairman ROYCE. The Chair concurs with Mr. Sherman’s reading of the resolution. 

Mr. Connolly. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

First of all, I take my friend from California’s point. His concern, 

I think, is that we not dilute something, with the best of intentions, 

and I absolutely take that point and look forward to seeing his resolution come out of the Judiciary Committee so that we can look 

at that resolution on its face. 

But I think Mr. Sherman just very ably laid out the actual meaning of the words in front of us, which I don’t think contradicts in 

any way the legitimate concern of our friend from California. 

A word of caution on the other side, if I may. I am concerned 

that this is a fast-moving dynamic. There could be other groups 

that end up being targeted. 

I mean, my friend from California says well, the Kurds aren’t 

subject to genocide. Well, what if they are tomorrow? I mean, what 

if the situation on the ground changes and our friends who are actually the only ones winning on the battlefield and doing the fighting have an adverse situation and suddenly they’re in this category? 

We’ve precluded them. We’re going to have to write a new resolution. And I think it was just prudence the way this was drafted so 

that we’re not precluding the situation on the ground changing and 

we’re not—we’re also not prejudicing who may or may not find refuge here or in the West, even if they’re not directly targets of genocide. 

You know, when you’re on the ground and your village is being 

bombed, I don’t know that you distinguish between well, this is a 

bomb because of genocide or this is a bomb because I’m on the 

wrong side of the civil war. 

I’m still a victim, and we don’t want to lose sight of that either. 

There are terrible victims being created every day on the ground 

and I think this resolution is all encompassing in that regard but 

at the end of the day does explicitly address the concern of our 

friend from California. 

I thank the chair. 

Chairman ROYCE. Other members seeking—Judge Poe. 

Mr. POE. I thank the chairman. 

I did want to mention on a different note in as much as this is 

the Foreign Affairs Committee that 180 years ago today Texas declared its independence from Mexico, remained an independent 

country for almost 9 years and then it joined the United States, 

and I just wanted to mention that because it’s a special day for Mr. 

Weber and Mr. McCaul and myself and others. 

But discussing the issue at hand, these resolutions are important. It is important we take a stand on this issue of persecution 

of people because of their religious beliefs, and we need to take a 

stand so there’s no doubt about it where we stand, not only with 

Americans but with people throughout the world and especially the 

religious communities that are being persecuted. 

30

ISIS has specifically and intentionally targeted Christians and 

other minorities for the last 5 years for extermination to remove 

them from the face of the earth. 

The definition of genocide is clear. It is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial or cultural group. 

Genocide is what ISIS is doing and they want to destroy anyone 

that does not conform to their way of belief. ISIS has forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to leave their ancestral homes. 

For the first time since Jesus, there are almost no Christians left 

in some of these areas of the world where they have been for hundreds of years and it’s because of ISIS. 

Some of those who could not get out before ISIS came in have 

been tortured, crucified, and executed. ISIS has also targeted, as 

mentioned, the Yezidi community of Iraq. 

It slaughtered almost all of the men in one community on Mount 

Sinjar and sold the women and girls to satisfy their evil desires for 

their deranged fighters. They sold them into slavery. 

ISIS is proud of these atrocities. ISIS fighters post videos online 

of their barbaric beheadings of Christians and others who refuse to 

bow to their ideology. They are not ashamed of the murder of religious minorities. They hate, kidnap and murder because Christians 

and other ancient minority communities will not renounce their religious faith. 

The world, including the United States, needs to be clear about 

what ISIS is doing. America must denounce murder because of a 

person’s religious belief no matter where that person is in the 

world. 

I’m proud to be a co-sponsor of H. Con. Res. 75. I support its passage, and Mr. Chairman, justice demands ISIS be held accountable. 

Justice is what must be done because justice is what we do in 

America. 

And that’s just the way it is. I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Poe. 

We welcome Texans to the United States on its 180th anniversary. 

Mr. POE. Not everybody did, though. Not everybody voted for 

Texas. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Trott. Oh, do we have anybody else on this 

side of the aisle? 

Mr. Trott. 

Mr. TROTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for bringing up this measure for consideration and 

also to my colleague, Mr. Fortenberry, for his leadership on this 

issue. 

Mr. Chairman, I’m proud to represent a vibrant district rich with 

many religious minorities. In southeast Michigan, we have the Syrians, Caldeans, and Armenians, among other religious minorities. 

They are my neighbors, my friends, and my colleagues and their 

contribution to Michigan and to America have been tremendous. 

But today, they and their families back home face a new unprecedented challenge. Ten years ago, Iraq had over 300 churches. 

Now, you can’t even find 40. 

The city of Mosul was once a Christian stronghold and now no 

longer is home to any Christian communities. Every week at home 

31

I hear about the atrocities committed against religious minorities 

in the Middle East, some of them against family members of my 

constituents. 

If you spend a day in my district you will see dozens of Help Iraq 

bumper stickers and rosaries in people’s cars, and I’m proud to say 

that my constituents have advocated tirelessly on behalf of the 

Yezidis, working and praying that they are not forgotten. 

Mr. Chairman, I think it’s very clear that the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious 

and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria can only be described as 

a genocide. 

Ten months ago I took my first trip as a Member of Congress to 

Yerevan to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Armenian genocide and I saw firsthand how painful and somber the 

memory of those atrocities are even today. 

We have failed to recognize the Armenian genocide and I urge 

my colleagues not to make the same mistake again. The administration has shown they will not take serious action to destroy ISIS, 

let alone designate the atrocities committed against religious minorities as genocide which is why the people’s house must take action. 

I’m a proud supporter of this resolution as are 200 bipartisan 

members of the House and I look forward to seeing the resolution 

advance to the floor for a vote in front of the full House. 

Mr. Chairman, it is time that the lawyers at the State Department stop hiding behind legal niceties and nuances as an explanation for their insouciance. It’s time for them to make a decision, 

a decision to call what’s happening for what it is, a genocide. 

I yield back my time. 

Chairman ROYCE. I thank you, Mr. Trott, and I take your point. 

I think we can’t afford the same negligence that we saw in the Armenian genocide with respect to this genocide against Yezidis and 

Christians. 

And other members seeking recognition? Hearing no further request, Mr. Chabot. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll be brief. 

I commend you for bringing this legislation to the committee and 

I rise in support of both measures. 

The Syrian Government has continued to commit atrocities 

against its own people and little has been done to address this affront to civilization. Nearly 1 million Syrian civilians have been deprived of basic humanitarian aid and there’s been systematic starvation. 

It appears to be a calculated effort to eradicate portions of the 

Syrian population. There’s little doubt that the Syrian Government 

and its allies are not only perpetrating war crimes but committing 

crimes against humanity. 

The Obama administration says sympathetic things but it does 

very little and its responses to ISIS’ barbarism has continued to be 

too little too late. 

Maybe these two pieces of legislation will spur the administration to act finally. But I doubt it. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Would the gentleman yield? 

Mr. CHABOT. I’d be happy to yield. 

32

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I’m a bit concerned because these two resolutions are both important and deserve a serious discussion. When I 

did support the chair’s call for bringing them up together I was 

under the impression we would have debate on both of them. But 

we would have a vote together. And there are some things that 

need to be said about the Syrian resolution as well. 

Chairman ROYCE. I recognize the gentleman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much. 

I think this resolution, while of course well intended and I certainly recognize that, makes about as much sense as in 1942 demanding that we have to have a resolution condemning Joe Stalin 

and the Communist Party in Russia and calling them up and letting them know that we would expect them all to be brought on 

trial as victims or people who had committed crimes against humanity. 

We are at war with radical Islam terrorism under ISIL, which 

we have just now discussed in great detail and yes, we have imperfect partners in this war and some of the partners are even heinous 

in their approach to governing their own people and heinous in 

their murder of their own people. 

Just as Joseph Stalin was against Nazism when Nazism was the 

number-one threat to our national security, when we take the Government of Syria, which yes, has committed atrocities against its 

people, when we take that in the middle of the war against ISIL 

we are undermining the fight against ISIL. 

And the fact is that the Syrian Government they have under this 

Assad and his father, both have committed atrocities over the 

years. They’re not the same atrocities. They’re atrocities aimed at 

staying in power in the face of insurrections. They have committed 

crimes against humanity while trying to stay in power against insurrections. 

But let us note the Syrian Government at the same time, while 

fighting insurrections and many of the people expected to win in 

those insurrections are people who might commit the same type of 

genocide against Christians that we now just condemned. 

In fact, Syria is known under Assad as giving safe haven to 

Christians in the middle of the carnage that has swept that region. 

And I’m in no way suggesting that Assad is not guilty of these 

crimes. 

But this is not the time to be trying to tell him, number one, that 

he will and anyone supporting his regime are going to be put on 

trial for crimes against humanity and this could also be interpreted 

is that we are telling Russia that it will now be—the Government 

of Russia will now be put on trial for crimes against humanity. 

This isn’t the time to do that. Our enemy is now radical Islam. 

Let’s face it. Let’s act like what we are in and which is war with 

people who would annihilate Western civilization and are trying to 

do so whenever they can. 

And yes, governments like General Sisi’s in Egypt are imperfect 

in a lot of ways. We are at war with radical Islam. They mean to 

destroy us and destroy Western civilization and kill people by the 

millions if they can. 

Let’s face this reality. I do not believe that this hostility toward 

Assad and toward Russia at this time, which are very—it’s very leVerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:06 Apr 14, 2016 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\030216M\98948 SHIRL
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gitimate for some reasons for that hostility and that they are both 

human rights abusers. 

But let us face—again, face reality. You try to do everything for 

everybody you end up not accomplishing anything for anybody. 

In this case, we undermine the position of the anti-ISIL forces 

in that part of the world and I know this analysis is contrary to 

the analysis which prevails here in Washington. 

But my common sense tells me that and tells me that we should 

not be engaged in focusing on someone who at this time gives safe 

haven to Christians and while guilty of certain things we would 

never condone certainly at this point assisting us in the—as is Russia in defeating radical Islam. 

I yield back my time. 

Chairman ROYCE. I will recognize myself on this issue. 

And I will just express some of my observations about how 

Assad’s actions contribute to ISIS’ survival because from my perspective in seeing the reports that come across our desk on the targeting of civilians on the torture, he keeps—Assad keeps the death 

toll rising. 

He’s one of the original attractions actually for foreign fighters 

and radical groups, and it is specifically because of what are his 

war crimes, attempts to target not just hospitals but to target 

schools. 

To target hospitals, by the way, over and over again, I mean this 

isn’t a case with an accidental targeting. This is how you end up 

with a situation with 500 doctors and nurses who have gone to the 

region to work with the NGO community slaughtered. 

And at the same time, if Assad were the protector of minority 

groups then why are members of every minority group fleeing 

Assad’s Syria? Why are Christians seeking refuge in Turkey, in 

Jordan? Why are Alawites applying as refugees? 

Part of the problem, as I talk to the Alawite community, is that 

he’s lost all reason in terms of carrying out reprisals. 

His secret police, in picking up so many tens of thousands of people and killing them, is on a spree here which doesn’t even distinguish anymore by religion or nationality. That police state is creating a tremendous amount of adverse reaction in terms of laying 

the foundation for further mayhem. 

Now, when we look at Russia’s actions also, it has claimed to attack ISIS. But it’s doing very little. Less than 10 percent of Russian air strikes ever hit ISIS. Instead, its strikes have been largely 

on U.S.-backed opposition. 

It hits ISIS occasionally. That’s useful. That’s useful for the Russian air force in its cover for its attacks on the regime’s opponents. 

But Russian attacks have actually done more to help ISIS than 

hurt it, and I would give you one example—a clear example. It’s 

Russian air strikes that are pounding the Free Syrian Army, 

pounding forces north of Aleppo in February and that is what allowed ISIS to take additional territory. 

This is not unlike the strategy deployed by Assad and it is for 

these war crimes—it is for these murderous actions on the part of 

the Assad regime, especially the barrel bombs and the chemical 

weapon that, again, allows ISIS to flourish. 

34

In testimony before this committee we heard and saw in graphic 

detail how Assad’s prisons with their torture break down members 

of every sect, every religion, every ethnic group. 

You know, all are alike when you’re begging for mercy, and we’ve 

heard enough testimony to the results and we’ve seen the millions 

upon millions upon millions displaced. 

And, frankly, the bombing by Assad and by Russia include minorities from across Syria and it is the opposition groups who are 

dedicated to establishing a transnational pluralistic government in 

service to all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion or sect. 

Assad is only interested in maintaining a grip on power regardless of how much and whose blood is spilt. That is my concern in 

this. That is why we cannot ignore his role or his crimes here. 

I will recognize Mr. Sherman. 

Mr. SHERMAN. There are those who say we should just fight ISIS 

and be in alliance with Assad to do so. I think that would be a road 

to defeat because Sunni Arabs who make up the vast majority of 

the Syrian population even now with so many of them fleeing the 

country will never accept a totally Assad-dominated Syria. 

One could imagine a deal with Assad. One could imagine the 

overthrow of Assad. But one can never imagine that Assad will 

have total power in Syria and the Sunni Muslims will accept it. 

And if we abandon the Sunni Muslims of Syria and say we’re 

with Assad because we just are focused on ISIS, then the Sunni 

Muslims of Syria will join radical groups such as al-Nusra, such as 

even ISIS. 

The only way to defeat ISIS is to stop Assad from killing thousands of Sunni Muslims every month. 

I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Smith, without objection. 

Mr. SMITH. I want to associate my remarks with yours. I think 

you made a very, very cogent case. 

And just let me say to my very good friend from California it’s 

never a good time. The argument in 2013 when I first proposed it 

in September, not a good time. Next year, not a good time. Never 

a good time. 

And let me also remind everybody that the Syrian war crimes 

tribunal will prosecute all those who commit these atrocities 

whether they be with ISIS, or al-Nusra, or any other, or Assad and 

his people. It goes after perpetrators of heinous crimes. 

Chairman ROYCE. Hearing no further requests for recognition, 

the question occurs on the items considered en bloc. 

All those in favor say aye. 

All those opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair the ayes have 

it and the measure is considered en bloc, or agreed to, and without 

objection the measure is considered en bloc or ordered favorably reported as amended. 

Staff is directed to make any technical and conforming changes. 

Also without objection the Chair is authorized to seek House consideration on these measures under suspension of the rules. 

And that concludes our business for today. I want to thank our 

ranking member today, Mr. Sherman, and all of our committee 

members for their contributions and assistance with today’s markup. 

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The committee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:30 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

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