III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 340 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the atrocities perpetrated by the 

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against religious and ethnic 

minorities in Iraq and Syria include war crimes, crimes against humanity, 

and genocide. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18, 2015 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. KIRK, Mr. WICKER, 

Mr. PETERS, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. AYOTTE, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

Mr. TILLIS, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ISAKSON, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BOOZMAN, 

Mr. BURR, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. SCOTT) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

APRIL 28, 2016 

Reported by Mr. CORKER, with an amendment and an amendment to the 

preamble and an amendment to the title 

JULY 7, 2016 

Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble and an 

amendment to the title 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 

(ISIL) against religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq 

and Syria include war crimes, crimes against humanity, 

and genocide. 


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SRES 340 ATS 

Whereas Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities 

have been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the 

Middle East for millennia; 

Whereas the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or 

Da’esh) and associated extremists are committing egregious atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities in 

Iraq and Syria, including Christians (among them Assyrian Chaldean Syriac, Armenian, Evangelicals, Antiochian 

and Greek Orthodox, Maronite, Melkite, and Roman 

Catholic communities), Yezidis, Turkmen, Shi’a, Shabak, 

Sabaean-Mandeans, and Kaka’i, among others; 

Whereas ISIL specifically targets these religious and ethnic 

minorities, intending to kill them or force their submission, conversion, or expulsion; 

Whereas religious and ethnic minorities have been murdered, 

subjugated, forced to emigrate, and subjected to grievous 

bodily and psychological harm, kidnapping, human trafficking, torture, and rape; 

Whereas ISIL engages in, and publicly argues in favor of, the 

sexual enslavement of non-Muslim women, including prepubescent girls; 

Whereas the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq 

(UNAMI) and the United Nations Human Rights Office 

(OHCHR) said in a January 2016 report that it believes 

ISIL is holding around 3,500 slaves, predominantly 

women and children, ‘‘primarily from the Yezidi community, but a number are also from other ethnic and religious minority communities’’; 

Whereas ISIL specifically targets religious and ethnic minorities, and has reportedly kidnapped, forcibly displaced, 

killed, raped, electrocuted, and crucified members of ethVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 Jul 08, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR340.ATS SR340

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SRES 340 ATS 

nic and religious groups, including Christian, Shabak, 

Turkmen, and Shia of all ethnicities; 

Whereas ISIL has deliberately destroyed and looted numerous cultural sites, religious shrines, places of worship, 

monasteries, and museums in order to eradicate the cultures of ethnic and religious minorities; 

Whereas these atrocities have been undertaken with the specific intent to bring about the eradication of those communities and the destruction of their cultural heritage; 

Whereas ISIL operations have in fact driven minority religious and ethnic communities from their ancestral homelands; 

Whereas under applicable domestic and international law 

codified in section 2441 of title 18, United States Code, 

murder, torture, mutilation, rape, cruel treatment, and 

hostage taking of non-combatants constitute war crimes; 

Whereas crimes against humanity, as defined by the International Military Tribunal convened at Nuremberg in 

1945, include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any 

civilian population, as well as persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds in connection with such crimes; 

Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Prevention 

and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed and 

ratified by the United States, defines genocide as ‘‘any 

of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or 

religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the 

group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to 

members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the 

group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 


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SRES 340 ATS 

physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing 

measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) 

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another 

group’’; 

Whereas according to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, in February 2014, ISIL ordered Christians in 

Raqqa, Syria to either convert to Islam, pay jizya, a tax 

specifically applied on the basis of religious belief, and accept serious curbs on their faith, or face execution; 

Whereas according to the Department of State, in August 

2014, as ISIL began to expand beyond Mosul, an estimated 450,000 Yezidis, 300,000 Turkmen, and 125,000 

Christians, as well as Iraqi Arabs, Shia Muslims, Sunni 

Muslims, Shabak and other ethnic and religious groups, 

were forced from their communities; 

Whereas in areas controlled by ISIL, churches, monasteries 

and other places of worship have effectively been shuttered and do not publicly conduct worship services; 

Whereas, on August 7, 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry 

declared that ‘‘ISIL’s campaign of terror against the innocent, including Yezidi and Christian minorities, and its 

grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide’’: 

Whereas, in August 2014, the United States conducted targeted airstrikes and humanitarian assistance operations 

to help break the siege of Mount Sinjar, saving the lives 

of thousands of Yezidi men, women, and children; 

Whereas His Holiness, Pope Francis, has noted that ‘‘entire 

communities, especially—but not only—Christians and 

Yezidis, have suffered and are still suffering inhuman violence because off their ethnic and religious identity’’ and 


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stated that, for Christians being killed for their faith in 

the Middle East ‘‘a form of genocide—I insist on the 

word—is taking place, and it must end’’; 

Whereas a March 13, 2015, report by the Office of the 

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

detailed ‘‘acts of violence perpetrated [by ISIL] against 

civilians because of their affiliation or perceived affiliation to an ethnic or religious group’’ and stated that 

‘‘[i]t is reasonable to conclude that some of these incidents, considering the overall information, may constitute 

genocide’’; 

Whereas, on December 7, 2015, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the 

United States Government ‘‘to designate the Christian, 

Yezidi, Shi’a, Turkmen, and Shabak communities of Iraq 

and Syria as victims of genocide by ISIL’’ and urged 

world leaders ‘‘to condemn the genocidal actions and 

crimes against humanity of ISIL that have been directed 

at these groups and other ethnic and religious groups’’; 

Whereas, on February 3, 2016, the European Parliament expressed the view that ISIL ‘‘is committing genocide 

against Christians and Yezidis, and other religious and 

ethnic minorities’’; and 

Whereas, on March 17, 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry 

issued a declaration stating, that in his judgement, 

‘‘Da’esh is responsible for genocide against groups in 

areas under its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and 

Shia Muslims,’’ and is ‘‘also responsible for crimes 

against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these 

same groups and in some cases against Sunni Muslims 

and Kurds and other minorities’’: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic 

3 State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against Chris4 tians, Yezidis, Shi’a, and other religious and ethnic 

5 minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, 

6 crimes against humanity, and genocide; 

7 (2) all governments, and international organiza8 tions should call ISIL atrocities by their rightful 

9 names: war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 

10 genocide; 

11 (3) the member states of the United Nations 

12 should coordinate urgently on measures to prevent 

13 further war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 

14 genocide by ISIL in Iraq and Syria, and to punish 

15 those responsible for these ongoing crimes, including 

16 by the collection and preservation of evidence and, if 

17 necessary, the establishment and operation of appro18 priate tribunals; 

19 (4) the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the 

20 Lebanese Republic, the Republic of Turkey, and the 

21 Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq are to be 

22 commended for, and supported in, their efforts to 

23 shelter and protect those fleeing the violence of ISIL 

24 and other combatants until they can safely return to 

25 their homes in Iraq and Syria; and 


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1 (5) the protracted Syrian civil war and the in2 discriminate violence of the Assad regime have con3 tributed to the growth of ISIL and will continue to 

4 do so as long as this conflict continues. 

Æ 


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