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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 403 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 403

  Recognizing the campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people in 
                                 Iraq.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2015

Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Mrs. Blackburn) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Recognizing the campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people in 
                                 Iraq.

Whereas Saddam Hussein's campaign of genocide against Iraq's Kurdish community 
        began in the 1960s and that 4,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed 
        between 1976 and 1988;
Whereas the campaign of genocide against Iraq's Kurdish community included the 
        deportation and disappearances of Faily Kurds in the 1970s and 1980s, 
        the murder of 8,000 Kurdish men and boys from the Barzani tribe in 1983, 
        the use of chemical weapons in the late 1980s in the Anfal operation and 
        notably at Halabja;
Whereas during the Anfal campaign of genocide in 1987 to 1988 almost 200,000 
        Kurds perished or disappeared, families were torn apart;
Whereas this year marks the 27th anniversary of the attacks on Halabja and other 
        Kurdish towns when Iraqi planes used poison gas to kill thousands of 
        Iraqi Kurds in gross violation of the international conventions against 
        the use of chemical weapons;
Whereas, on September 9, 1988, the United States Senate passed the Prevention of 
        Genocide Act of 1988 calling for sanctions against Iraq after the use of 
        chemical weapons on the Kurds;
Whereas the Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 acknowledged that ``the Iraqi 
        army has undertaken a campaign to depopulate the Kurdish regions of Iraq 
        by destroying all Kurdish villages in large part of northern Iraq and by 
        killing the civilian populations (Section 2, subsection 3). Iraq's 
        campaign against the Kurdish people appears to constitute an act of 
        genocide (Section 2, subsection 7)'';
Whereas, on February 28, 2013, the British Parliament passed a resolution 
        recognizing the Kurdish genocide; and
Whereas recognition by the United States Government of the campaign of genocide 
        against the Iraqi Kurds will send to the world a message of support for 
        international conventions and human rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes and deplores the campaign of genocide 
        against the Kurdish people in Iraq;
            (2) calls on the United States Government to recognize the 
        campaign of genocide committed against the Kurdish people in 
        Iraq;
            (3) urges international organizations to do the same; and
            (4) reaffirms its commitment to the friendship between the 
        United States and the Kurdish people in Iraq.
                                 <all>
```