IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 528 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the Victims 

of the Terror Protection Fund. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2015 

Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. DOLD, Mr. 

RANGEL, Ms. HAHN, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. FUDGE, Mrs. WATSON

COLEMAN, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 

regarding the Victims of the Terror Protection Fund. 

Whereas the United Nations Convention Against Corruption 

(UNAC) obliges state parties to implement a wide and 

detailed range of anticorruption measures affecting their 

laws, institutions and practices; 

Whereas these measures aim to promote the prevention, detection, and sanctioning of corruption, as well as the cooperation between state parties on these matters; 

Whereas the UNAC promotes preventive measures, criminalization of a wide range of offenses and contains a broad 

definition of the term public official, including offenses 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 528 IH 

related both to public sector corruption and private sector 

(private-to-private) corruption; 

Whereas the UNAC’s asset recovery provision is robust and 

delineates a global asset recovery framework and strategy 

and covers countries in a variety of nation states from 

the north and south; 

Whereas the technical cooperation and information exchange 

provision of the UNAC provides for ‘‘enhanced financial 

and material assistance’’ to developing countries and 

technical assistance to developing countries and countries 

in transition to help them implement the Convention, 

without which such countries will be in a position to implement UNAC requirements; 

Whereas asset recovery is a fundamental principle of UNAC, 

where high-level corruption has plundered the national 

wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies under new 

governments; 

Whereas the needs of countries seeking the illicit assets had 

to be reconciled with the legal and procedural safeguards 

of the countries whose assistance is sought with emphasis 

on cooperation and assistance; 

Whereas in the case of embezzlement of public funds, one of 

the manners in which the confiscated assets could be disposed of is as compensation to the victims affected by the 

underlying crime; 

Whereas an effective asset recovery provision created by a 

state party such as the United States will support the efforts of other countries to redress the worst effects of 

corruption while sending a message to corrupt officials 

that there will be no place to hide illicit assets; 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 528 IH 

Whereas the United States Department of Justice implements and enforces the UNAC vis-a-vis its Justice’s 

Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative; 

Whereas to date, the forfeited ‘‘Abacha funds’’ is the largest 

kleptocracy forfeiture action ever brought in the United 

States totaling approximately $458,000,000 of forfeited 

assets recovered by Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery 

Initiative from former Nigerian Dictator Sanni Abacha; 

Whereas, as delineated in the UNAC and pursuant to Justice’s Kleptocracy Initiative, upon recovery of proceeds of 

crime or corruption-related assets, the Attorney General 

as the Chief Prosecutor of the United States has the discretion to dispose of the funds as she deems fit, especially 

where high-level corruption has plundered the national 

wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies under new 

governments; 

Whereas the Abacha Administration embezzled Nigerian public funds under among other false claims that the Administration was investing in national security measures to 

protect Nigeria and the Nigerian people; 

Whereas, as a result of or in part because of the Government 

of Nigeria’s failure to invest in and implement security 

measures, the security in Nigeria is tenuous and the 

country is currently under continuous threat by the ISIS 

affiliated group Boko Haram; 

Whereas, as recently as May 2015, Nigeria is reported as 

having the highest number of displaced persons in Africa 

and the third largest in the world following Syria and Colombia in part because of security issues and the continual threat of Boko Haram; 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 528 IH 

Whereas according to a report by the Internal Displacement 

Monitoring Center, an estimated 3,300,000 persons have 

been displaced and 5,500 killed as a result of violence in 

general and Boko Haram specifically in Nigeria; 

Whereas according to a UNICEF report, Nigeria, with its 

population of 174,000,000 people, has seen an estimated 

1,500,000 people flee their homes to escape Boko Haram 

trafficking and terrorist related violence; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, thousands of 

women and girls have been abducted by the group with 

some ‘‘shared’’ to fighters as a reward or trafficked as 

sex slaves; 

Whereas in April 2015 alone, 700 women and girls were rescued from Boko Haram militants in the Sambisa Forest 

with hundreds ‘‘visibly pregnant’’; 

Whereas Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for trafficking, kidnapping, deaths, and displacement of thousands of Nigerian children, women, and men; 

Whereas among others, Boko Haram also allegedly kidnapped 

276 school girls from their dormitories in Chibok in 

northeastern Nigeria while they were in the midst of 

exam preparation; 

Whereas the still missing Chibok girls are part of the approximately 3,300,000 persons displaced in the Lake 

Chad Basin which sits on the edge of the Sahara which 

encompasses Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria; 

Whereas the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is a legally binding instrument 

through which state parties commit to taking a series of 

measures against transnational organized crime; 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HRES 528 IH 

Whereas the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, was 

adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 and entered into force on December 25, 2003; 

Whereas the Convention and the Protocol are the first global 

legally binding instruments with an agreed definition on 

trafficking in persons; 

Whereas a key objective of the Protocol is to protect and assist the victims of trafficking in persons with full respect 

for their human rights; and 

Whereas the human rights of the victims of Boko Haram to 

life, security, and livelihood have been violated in derogation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 

United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, 

the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 

and its two Optional Protocols, and the International 

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 

among others: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) Boko Haram and other terrorist organiza4 tions be declared an existential threat to the human 

5 rights, well-being, and security of the Nigerian peo6 ple and their regional neighbors with its relentless 

7 drive to commit genocide in Nigeria; 

8 (2) there is an urgency for a framework to ad9 dress the unprecedented migrant and refugee crisis 

10 across the Mediterranean triggered by violent extre11 mism, conflict, and natural disasters; 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HRES 528 IH 

1 (3) the global strategy for ending the suffering, 

2 preventing displacement, and creating solutions for 

3 displaced persons in Africa include a multi-pronged 

4 strategy which would among others include a Vic5 tims of Terror Protection Fund, sustained humani6 tarian response, government and civil society capac7 ity building, and the creation of resilient political 

8 and security infrastructures and landscapes; 

9 (4) military technical assistance be provided to 

10 Nigeria and its neighbors, owing to the fact that the 

11 threat of Boko Haram has been so serious that the 

12 United Nations Security Council and neighboring 

13 African countries have called for accelerated military 

14 collaboration to combat this extremist group and any 

15 of its affiliates; 

16 (5) the victims of Boko Haram should be pro17 vided the dire humanitarian assistance which the 

18 Victims of Terror Support Fund can provide pursu19 ant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 

20 the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the 

21 Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Polit22 ical Rights and its two Optional Protocols, and the 

23 International Covenant on Economic, Social and 

24 Cultural Rights, among others; and 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HRES 528 IH 

1 (6) the Victims of Terror Support Fund should 

2 be modeled after the cases of Khazistan and Equa3 torial Guinea where prior kleptocracy initiatives have 

4 been created to benefit communities and victims in 

5 need of support. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS