IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 726 

Calling on the President of the United States and the international community 

to take immediate steps to respond to and prevent acts of rape and 

sexual violence against women and girls in Darfur, Sudan, eastern Chad 

and the Central African Republic. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 10, 2007 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Ms. NORTON, Mr. NADLER, Mr. FORTUN ̃O, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 

LEE, Mr. OLVER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, 

Ms. BORDALLO, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. 

MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. WATSON, Ms. 

JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 

DELAHUNT, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. SHAYS, 

Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. 

PAYNE, Mr. ALLEN, and Mr. CHANDLER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the President of the United States and the international community to take immediate steps to respond 

to and prevent acts of rape and sexual violence against 

women and girls in Darfur, Sudan, eastern Chad and 

the Central African Republic. 


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•HRES 726 IH 

Whereas, during war, rape and sexual violence are often used 

systematically as a weapon of intimidation, humiliation, 

terror and ethnic cleansing; 

Whereas it is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 

women and girls were raped during the genocide in 

Rwanda; 

Whereas, on September 2, 1998, the United National International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean Paul 

Akayesu guilty of rape and held that rape and sexual assault constitute crimes against humanity; 

Whereas, on October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security 

Council adopted Security Council Resolution 1325, calling on all parties to an armed conflict to take, ‘‘special 

measures to protect women and girls from gender-based 

violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual 

abuse’’; 

Whereas the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 

Court, which entered into force on July 1, 2002, states 

that rape and ‘‘any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity’’ may constitute both ‘‘crimes against humanity’’ and ‘‘war crimes’’; 

Whereas since 2003, mass rape committed by members of the 

Sudanese armed forces and affiliated militias with the 

support of the Government of Sudan has been a central 

component of the Government of Sudan’s violence and 

ethnic cleansing in Darfur; 

Whereas women and girls leaving Internally Displaced Persons camps in Darfur and refugee camps in eastern 

Chad, to seek firewood, water or outside sources of income are often attacked and subjected to rape and sexual 

violence perpetrated by members of the Sudanese armed 


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•HRES 726 IH 

forces and associated Janjaweed militia and other armed 

combatants; 

Whereas, on July 19, 2004, Amnesty International reported 

that it collected the names of 250 women who had been 

raped in Darfur and information on 250 additional rapes; 

Whereas, on January 25, 2005, the International Commission 

of Inquiry on Darfur, in a report to the United Nations 

Secretary General, reported numerous cases of mass rape 

throughout Darfur including an incident in which a large 

number of Janjaweed attacked a boarding school, and 

raped as many as 110 girls; 

Whereas, on March 8, 2005, Doctors Without Borders reported that between October 2004 and the first half of 

February 2005, doctors from the organization treated almost 500 rape victims in numerous locations in South 

and West Darfur; 

Whereas, on March 9, 2007, members of the United Nations 

High-Level Mission on the situation of human rights in 

Darfur reported that ‘‘rape and sexual assualt have been 

widespread and systematic, terrorizing women and breaking down families and communities’’ and that ‘‘women 

are also attacked in and around refugee camps in eastern 

Chad’’; 

Whereas, on April 27, 2007, the International Criminal 

Court, acting under the authority provided in Security 

Council Resolution 1593, issued arrest warrants for Sudan’s Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Muhammad 

Harun and Janjaweed Colonel Ali Muhammad Al Abd-AlRaham seeking their arrest for 51 counts including 6 

counts involving rape; 


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•HRES 726 IH 

Whereas under Sudanese law victims of rape have virtually 

no legal recourse and may in fact be charged with the 

crime of zina, or sexual intercourse outside of marriage, 

punishable by one hundred lashes if the victim is unmarried and death by stoning if she is married; 

Whereas, on July 31, 2007, the United Nations Security 

Council adopted Security Council Resolution 1769 authorizing the deployment of a United Nations-African 

Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) to Darfur and expressing strong concern about ‘‘on-going attacks on the 

civilian population and humanitarian workers and continued and widespread sexual violence’’ while ‘‘emphasising 

the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of such 

crimes’’; and 

Whereas, on August 20, 2007, the United Nations High 

Commissioner for Human Rights, reported on attacks, 

abductions and systematic rapes of women by the Sudanese armed forces and associated militias occurring in 

Darfur, as well as the resulting pregnancies, ‘‘grave 

health risks,’’ and ‘‘psychological trauma’’ and declared 

that these acts may constitute war crimes: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) calls upon the President of the United 

3 States to develop within the United States Depart4 ment of State and the United States Agency for 

5 International Development a Women and Girls of 

6 Darfur Initiative to improve assistance to victims 

7 and potential victims of rape and sexual violence in 


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•HRES 726 IH 

1 Darfur, Sudan, eastern Chad and the Central Afri2 can Republic by— 

3 (A) offering specialized grants to non-gov4 ernmental organizations, operating within IDP 

5 and refugee camps in Sudan, Chad and the 

6 Central African Republic that can provide all 

7 necessary comprehensive and quality health 

8 care services and medical supplies, psychological 

9 and social counseling, and legal advice to 

10 Darfuri victims of rape and sexual violence; 

11 (B) providing treatment for the prevention 

12 of sexually transmitted diseases, including 

13 antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV infections, 

14 and specialized care for rape victims already in15 fected with HIV/AIDS and other sexually trans16 mitted diseases; 

17 (C) meeting the psychological, social and 

18 educational needs of victimized women, girls, 

19 children born as a result of rape, their family 

20 and the community in order to limit the stig21 matization associated with rape; and 

22 (D) providing financial, technical and other 

23 forms of assistance to support women’s peace 

24 initiatives; 


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•HRES 726 IH 

1 (2) calls upon the Secretary General of the 

2 United Nations, the permanent members of the 

3 United Nations Security Council, the African Union, 

4 the European Union, the Arab League and other na5 tions to immediately take steps to— 

6 (A) ensure that a fully funded and fully 

7 equipped UNAMID is deployed to Darfur, 

8 Sudan; 

9 (B) mandate that UNAMID employ all 

10 necessary measures to protect women and girls 

11 from acts of rape and sexual violence both out12 side and within Darfuri refugee and IDP 

13 camps; 

14 (C) provide sufficient resources and train15 ing to UNAMID troops and police to ensure a 

16 capability to properly respond to acts of rape 

17 and sexual violence; 

18 (D) provide for firewood patrols and other 

19 safeguarding measures to protect women and 

20 girls leaving refugee and IDP camps; and 

21 (E) include an adequate number of female 

22 troops and police in UNAMID to properly man23 age incidents of rape and sexual violence; 

24 (3) calls on the United Nations Security Coun25 cil to immediately— 


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•HRES 726 IH 

1 (A) find the Government of Sudan in non2 compliance with Security Council Resolution 

3 1325; 

4 (B) call on the Government of Sudan to 

5 provide full legal protections to victims of rape 

6 and sexual violence and to bring to justice indi7 viduals responsible for such crimes; and 

8 (C) adopt under Chapter VII of the United 

9 Nations Charter a Security Council Resolution 

10 calling on the Government of Sudan to respect 

11 all related Security Council Resolutions, includ12 ing Security Council Resolution 1593, enforce 

13 the arrest warrants for Ahmad Muhammad 

14 Harun and Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Raham, 

15 and further recognize the systematic rape of 

16 women and girls in Darfur as crimes against 

17 humanity and war crimes. 

Æ 


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