I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8744 

To require a determination as to whether crimes committed against the 

Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 12, 2020 

Mr. LEVIN of Michigan (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. 

TRONE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require a determination as to whether crimes committed 

against the Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rohingya Genocide 

5 Determination Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Since August 25, 2017, 740,000 Rohingya 

9 have fled northern Rakhine State to neighboring 

10 Bangladesh to escape a systematic campaign of 


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1 atrocities by Burma’s military and security forces, 

2 and three years later, conditions are still not condu3 cive to the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of 

4 the Rohingya to Burma. 

5 (2) On November 23, 2017, the United States 

6 Holocaust Museum and Fortify Rights released a re7 port entitled ‘‘They Tried to Kill Us All’’, docu8 menting widespread and systematic atrocities com9 mitted against Rohingya civilians at the hands of 

10 Burmese ‘‘security forces, civilian perpetrators, and 

11 militants’’ and highlighting ‘‘growing evidence of 

12 genocide.’’ 

13 (3) According to the Department of State’s Au14 gust 24, 2018, report entitled ‘‘Documentation of 

15 Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State,’’ violence com16 mitted by the Burmese military against the 

17 Rohingya, including from August to October 2017, 

18 was not only ‘‘extreme, large-scale, widespread, and 

19 seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the popu20 lation and driving out the Rohingya residents,’’ but 

21 also ‘‘well-planned and coordinated’’. 

22 (4) On August 28, 2018, the United States 

23 Ambassador to the United Nations told the United 

24 Nations Security Council that the Department of 

25 State report’s findings were ‘‘consistent with’’ those 


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1 in an August 27, 2018, report by the Independent 

2 International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar 

3 (IIFFMM) which urged that top Burmese military 

4 officials be investigated and prosecuted for genocide. 

5 (5) On September 12, 2018, the IIFFMM re6 ported, ‘‘The crimes in Rakhine State, and the man7 ner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in 

8 nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed 

9 genocidal intent to be established in other con10 texts.’’. 

11 (6) The Public International Law & Policy 

12 Group (PILPG), whose investigation informed the 

13 Department of State’s August 2018 report, pub14 lished in December 2018 its Factual Findings & 

15 Legal Analysis Report, which concluded that ‘‘there 

16 are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was 

17 committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s 

18 northern Rakhine State’’. 

19 (7) According to the PILPG report, ‘‘The scale 

20 and severity of the attacks and abuses—particularly 

21 the mass killings and accompanying brutality 

22 against children, women, pregnant women, the elder23 ly, religious leaders, and persons fleeing into Ban24 gladesh—suggest that, in the minds of the perpetraVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8744.IH H8744

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1 tors, the goal was not just to expel, but also to ex2 terminate the Rohingya.’’. 

3 (8) On December 13, 2018, the House of Rep4 resentatives agreed to H. Res. 1091, which states 

5 that ‘‘it is the sense of the House of Representatives 

6 that . . . the atrocities committed against the 

7 Rohingya by the Burmese military and security 

8 forces since August 2017 constitute crimes against 

9 humanity and genocide’’. 

10 (9) On September 16, 2019, the IIFFMM re11 ported that it ‘‘has reasonable grounds to conclude 

12 that the evidence that infers genocidal intent on the 

13 part of the State, identified in its last report, has 

14 strengthened that there is a serious risk that geno15 cidal actions may occur or recur’’. 

16 (10) The IIFFMM also recognized in its Sep17 tember 16, 2019, report that Burma’s military and 

18 security forces have committed abuses against mi19 nority groups other than the Rohingya: ‘‘All the eth20 nic minority communities that the Mission inves21 tigated,’’ including ethnic groups in Rakhine, Chin, 

22 Kayin, Kachin, and Shan States, ‘‘have been de23 prived of justice for the serious human rights viola24 tions perpetrated against them.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that the atrocities com3 mitted against the Rohingya by the Burmese military and 

4 security forces constitute genocide. 

5 SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF ATTACKS AGAINST ROHINGYA IN 

6 BURMA. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 

9 after consultation with the heads of other United States 

10 Government agencies represented on the Atrocity Early 

11 Warning Task Force and representatives of human rights 

12 organizations, as appropriate, shall submit to the appro13 priate congressional committees an evaluation of the per14 secution of, including attacks against, the Rohingya in 

15 Burma by Burmese military and security forces, including 

16 whether the situation constitutes genocide (as defined in 

17 section 1091 of title 18, United States Code), and a de18 tailed description of any proposed atrocities prevention re19 sponse recommended by the Atrocity Early Warning Task 

20 Force. 

21 (b) FORM.—The evaluation required under sub22 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form and 

23 posted to the Department of State website, but may in24 clude a classified annex as necessary. 


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1 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE2 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres3 sional committees’’ means— 

4 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

5 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

6 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

7 (2) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

8 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

9 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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