III 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 340 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq 

and al-Sham (ISIS or Da’esh) is committing genocide, crimes against 

humanity, and war crimes, and calling upon the President to work 

with foreign governments and the United Nations to provide physical 

protection for ISIS’ targets, to support the creation of an international 

criminal tribunal with jurisdiction to punish these crimes, and to use 

every reasonable means, including sanctions, to destroy ISIS and disrupt 

its support networks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18, 2015 

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

WICKER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the so-called Islamic 

State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS or Da’esh) is committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, 

and calling upon the President to work with foreign 

governments and the United Nations to provide physical 

protection for ISIS’ targets, to support the creation of 

an international criminal tribunal with jurisdiction to 

punish these crimes, and to use every reasonable means, 

including sanctions, to destroy ISIS and disrupt its support networks. 


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Whereas communities of Assyrian Chaldean Syriac, Armenian, Evangelical, and Melkite Christians; Kurds; Yezidis; 

Shia and Sunni Muslims; Turkmen; Sabea-Mandeans; 

Kaka‘e; and Shabaks have been an integral part of the 

cultural fabric of the Middle East for millennia; 

Whereas Article I of the United Nations Convention on the 

Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 

signed at Paris December 9, 1948 (in this resolution referred to as the ‘‘Convention’’) states that ‘‘the contracting parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime 

under international law which they undertake to prevent 

and punish’’; 

Whereas Article II of the Convention declares, ‘‘In the 

present Convention, genocide means 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 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 Article III of the Convention affirms, ‘‘The following 

acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to 

commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to 

commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) 

Complicity in genocide.’’; 

Whereas section 1091 of title 18, United States Code, declares that ‘‘genocide’’ occurs when any person ‘‘whether 

in time of peace or in time of war and with the specific 


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intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such (1) kills 

members of that group; (2) causes serious bodily injury 

to members of that group; (3) causes the permanent impairment of the mental faculties of members of the group 

through drugs, torture, or similar techniques; (4) subjects 

the group to conditions of life that are intended to cause 

the physical destruction of the group in whole or in part; 

(5) imposes measures intended to prevent births within 

the group; or (6) transfers by force children of the group 

to another group’’; 

Whereas subsection (c) of section 2441 of title 18, United 

States Code, defines a ‘‘war crime’’ as conduct ‘‘(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a 

party; (2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the 

Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws 

and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907; 

(3) which constitutes a grave breach of common Article 

3 [defined in subsection (d) of such section as torture, 

cruel or inhuman treatment, performing biological experiments, murder, mutilation or maiming, intentionally 

causing serious bodily injury, rape, sexual assault or 

abuse, or taking hostages] when committed in the context 

of and in association with an armed conflict not of an 

international character; or (4) of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions 

of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use 

of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at 

Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 

May 1996), when the United States is a party to such 


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Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians’’; 

Whereas the United States has ratified the United Nations 

Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime of 

2000, and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 

Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 

supplementing the United Nations Convention against 

Transnational Organized Crime, which defines ‘‘trafficking in persons’’ to mean ‘‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by 

means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse 

of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving 

or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for 

the purpose of exploitation’’ and defines exploitation as 

including, ‘‘at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, 

forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to 

slavery, servitude or the removal of organs’’; 

Whereas section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, defines 

‘‘international terrorism activities’’ as ‘‘activities that (A) 

involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that 

are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States 

or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if 

committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or 

of any State; (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate 

or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy 

of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to 

affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, 

assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily 

outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or 


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transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by 

which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which 

their perpetrators operate or seek asylum’’; 

Whereas section 2332b of title 18, United States Code, defines ‘‘terrorism transcending national boundaries’’ to include ‘‘(A) kill[ings], kidnap[ing]s, maim[ing]s, 

commit[ing] an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, 

or assaults with a dangerous weapon [of or on] any person within the United States; or (B) creat[ing] a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to any other person 

by destroying or damaging any structure, conveyance, or 

other real or personal property within the United States 

or by attempting or conspiring to destroy or damage any 

structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property 

within the United States; in violation of the laws of any 

State, or the United States,’’; 

Whereas the President, with the assistance of the Secretary 

of State and the Ambassador at Large for War Crimes 

Issues, is obligated under section 2113(b) of the ADVANCE Democracy Act of 2007 (22 U.S.C. 8213(b)) to 

‘‘collect information regarding incidents that may constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, slavery, or 

other violations of international humanitarian law’’ and 

‘‘shall consider what actions can be taken to ensure that 

any government of a country or the leaders or senior officials of such government who are responsible for crimes 

against humanity, genocide, slavery, or other violations of 

international humanitarian law identified [pursuant to 

such collection of information] are brought to account for 

such crimes in an appropriately constituted tribunal’’; 


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Whereas Article I of the Convention and the law of nations 

confirm that government authorities are obligated to prevent and punish acts constituting genocide, crimes 

against humanity, and war crimes; 

Whereas, on July 10, 2015, Pope Francis, Supreme Pontiff 

of the Catholic Church, declared that the pattern of 

crimes committed by ISIS and its affiliates against 

Christians are part of a ‘‘third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing,’’ and that ‘‘a form 

of genocide is taking place, and it must end’’; 

Whereas the 2011 Presidential Study Directive on Mass 

Atrocities declares, ‘‘Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral 

responsibility of the United States . . . [and that] our 

options are never limited to either sending in the military 

or standing by and doing nothing . . . The actions that 

can be taken are many—they range from economic to 

diplomatic interventions, and from non-combat military 

actions to outright intervention.’’; 

Whereas, on August 7, 2014, President Barak Obama authorized military action to stop ISIS’ advance in northern 

Iraq, and ‘‘to prevent a potential act of genocide’’ against 

Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar; 

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

stated that ISIS’ ‘‘campaign of terror against the innocent, including Yezedi and Christian minorities, and its 

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

Whereas, on March 27, 2015, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported 

that its mission to Iraq had ‘‘gathered reliable informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Dec 19, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR340.IS SR340

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tion about acts of violence perpetrated against civilians 

because of their affiliation or perceived affiliation to an 

ethnic or religious group,’’ that the ‘‘[e]thnic and religious groups targeted by ISIL include Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka’e, Kurds and 

Shia,’’ and stated, ‘‘It is reasonable to conclude, in the 

light of the information gathered overall, that some of 

those incidents may constitute genocide. Other incidents 

may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes.’’; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has ‘‘called on the U.S. government to designate the Christian, Yazidi, Shi’a, 

Turkmen, and Shabak communities of Iraq and Syria as 

victims of genocide by ISIL’’ and USCIRF Chairman 

Robert P. George has observed that ‘‘ISIL’s intent to destroy religious groups that do not subscribe to its extremist ideology in the areas of Iraq and Syria that it controls, or seeks to control, is evident in, not only its barbarous acts, but also its own propaganda’’; and 

Whereas members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, in their Appeal to Congress of September 

9, 2015, stated, ‘‘ISIS’s mass murders of Chaldean, Assyrian, Melkite Greek, and Coptic Christians, Yazidis, 

Shi’a Muslims, Sunni Kurds and other religious groups 

meet even the strictest definition of genocide.’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) finds that ISIS, its affiliated organizations, 

3 and supporters are parts of an expanding, worldwide 

4 criminal network, the members of which have 

5 pledged allegiance to its leaders, support its actions, 


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1 act in concert with them, claim credit for targeted 

2 killings, and are ‘‘fully aware that [their] participa3 tion’’ and support will ‘‘assist [in] the commission’’ 

4 of its crimes; 

5 (2) finds that ISIS and its affiliated organiza6 tions maintain sophisticated publishing and social 

7 media networks that seek to attract others to join 

8 their efforts and seek to incite the murder of Chris9 tians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Jews, and any reli10 gious believers who refuse to convert to their 

11 Wahhabi-Salafist jihadist ideology; 

12 (3) declares that ISIS and its leaders should be 

13 charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and 

14 war crimes; 

15 (4) calls upon on the Attorney General to inves16 tigate and prosecute any United States citizens or 

17 residents alleged to be perpetrators of or complicit 

18 in these crimes and to report back to Congress re19 garding what steps are being taken to investigate 

20 and prosecute those involved; 

21 (5) calls upon the Secretary of the Treasury to 

22 investigate and sanction any person, organization, 

23 business, or financial institution alleged to be per24 petrators of or complicit in these crimes, and to re25 port back to Congress regarding what additional auVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Dec 19, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR340.IS SR340

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1 thority, if any, is needed to disrupt ISIS financial 

2 support networks; 

3 (6) calls upon the President to authorize the 

4 Secretary of State, the Under Secretary of State for 

5 Democracy and Global Affairs, and the Ambassador6 at-Large for War Crimes Issues to cooperate in the 

7 collection of forensic evidence of crimes against hu8 manity, genocide, war crimes, slavery, or other viola9 tions of international humanitarian law; 

10 (7) calls on the President, the Secretary of 

11 State, and the United States Permanent Representa12 tive to the United Nations, working through the 

13 United Nations Security Council and its member 

14 states as appropriate, to accelerate the implementa15 tion of an immediate, coordinated, and sustained re16 sponse to provide humanitarian assistance, protect 

17 civilians, build resilience, and help reestablish liveli18 hoods for displaced and persecuted persons in their 

19 communities of origin; 

20 (8) calls upon the contracting parties to the 

21 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and 

22 Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at 

23 Paris December 9, 1948, and other international 

24 agreements forbidding war crimes and crimes 

25 against humanity, to join with the United States in 


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1 an effort to investigate, arrest, and prosecute indi2 vidual and organizational perpetrators responsible 

3 for these crimes; 

4 (9) calls upon the United Nations Secretary5 General to urge all United Nations member states to 

6 cooperate in an international effort to investigate, 

7 try, and prosecute all cases in which prosecutors can 

8 prove that the accused have committed crimes 

9 against humanity, war crimes, and genocide; 

10 (10) makes an urgent appeal to the Cooperation 

11 Council for the Arab States of the Gulf to collabo12 rate on the establishment and operation of domestic, 

13 regional, and hybrid international tribunals with ju14 risdiction to punish the individuals and organiza15 tions responsible for or complicit in actions that con16 stitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 

17 genocide; and 

18 (11) commends the Governments of the 

19 Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, 

20 and every other country sheltering and protecting in21 dividuals fleeing the violence of ISIS. 

Æ 


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