H. Res. 1062 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

November 18, 2020. 

Whereas the United States remains committed to supporting 

a sovereign and democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors and safe for its citizens, regardless of their religion, 

sect, or ethnicity; 

Whereas in 2014, forces of the Islamic State (commonly 

known as ‘‘IS’’ and also known as ‘‘ISIS’’ or ‘‘ISIL’’) 

seized significant territory in Iraq, leading Iraq’s Prime 

Minister to request international military intervention; 

Whereas the United States began military intervention 

against the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014, working with 

international coalition partners and Iraqi security forces 

to combat the Islamic State and to retake Iraqi territory 

from Islamic State fighters; 

Whereas the Islamic State ruled areas it controlled with terror and brutal violence, including through heinous acts 

such as mass executions, public beheadings, desecration 

of holy sites, sexual enslavement and rape, and abuse and 

torture of minors; 

Whereas the Government of Iraq declared military victory 

against the Islamic State in December 2017, but insurgent attacks by remaining terrorist fighters have contin-
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ued and threaten peace and stability in some areas of 

Iraq; 

Whereas an estimated 6 million Iraqis have been rendered internally displaced since 2014, of whom 1.4 million remain 

internally displaced; 

Whereas members of religious and ethnic minority groups, including Iraqi Christian communities and Yezidis, faced 

particular brutality under the Islamic State and often 

lacked the resources and capacity for protection; 

Whereas the Islamic State’s destructive rule and ensuing 

military campaign left large areas of key population centers uninhabitable, including Anbar, Salah al-Din, and 

Ninewa governorates, where efforts at resettlement, reconstruction, service delivery, governance, and security 

remain challenging; 

Whereas the United Nations Office for the Coordination of 

Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) 2020 humanitarian 

needs assessment previously anticipated that as many as 

4.1 million Iraqis will need some form of humanitarian 

assistance in 2020, and humanitarian needs are likely to 

be further exacerbated by socio-economic disruptions attributable to the COVID–19 pandemic; 

Whereas the United States was the top donor to the 2018 

and 2019 United Nations Iraq Humanitarian Response 

Plans and has contributed nearly $2.75 billion to humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq since 2014, including more 

than $750 million in humanitarian support since fiscal 

year 2018; 

Whereas in July 2017, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported 

that ‘‘after decades of war, the sheer volume of explosive 
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devices renders Iraq one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world’’; 

Whereas multiple nongovernmental human rights organizations and media investigations have reported that areas 

still suffering from the lack of reconstruction, service delivery, governance, and security are acutely susceptible to 

re-radicalization by Islamic State underground cells or 

follow-on elements; 

Whereas human rights organizations have reported that thousands of displaced Iraqis, including children, are unable 

to obtain or replace civil documentation due to displacement caused by Islamic State; 

Whereas some paramilitary forces, including some elements 

of the ‘‘Popular Mobilization Units’’ or ‘‘PMUs’’ that 

mobilized to fight Islamic State terrorists have yet to be 

fully integrated into national security institutions and 

threaten civilian populations in some areas, including vulnerable minority groups; 

Whereas in late 2019, some Iraqi security force units, including non-state militias, responded violently to peaceful 

protests resulting in the deaths of more than 550 Iraqi 

civilians and many more injured; 

Whereas in 2019 and 2020, Iranian aligned militias, some of 

whom operate Iraqi PMUs conducted numerous attacks 

on United States and coalition forces in Iraq as well as 

Iraqi military facilities and Iraqi nationals, including a 

December 2019 attack that killed a United States citizen 

contractor and wounded others, and a March 2020, attack that killed a United States servicemember, a United 

States contractor, a British soldier, and injured at least 

a dozen other troops; 
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Whereas Iranian aligned militias and some PMUs were reportedly involved in the December 31, 2019, to January 

1, 2020, siege on the United States Embassy in Baghdad, in which attackers set fire to structures and damaged property; 

Whereas in July 2019 the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) informed the Department of Defense and Department of State Inspector 

General that the Islamic State in Iraq continues to recruit from isolated rural areas ‘‘exploiting perceived 

weaknesses and failures of the Iraqi government, particularly in Sunni areas where the population feels neglected’’; 

Whereas a July 2019 Department of Defense and Department of State Lead Inspector General (LIG) Report to 

Congress on Operation Inherent Resolve stated the ‘‘Department of State and USAID reported that the greatest 

obstacles preventing IDPs from returning * * * are lack 

of security and economic opportunity, and damage to 

housing’’ as well as a lack of ‘‘legal assistance to recover 

or renew identification documents’’; 

Whereas in March 2020 Iraq confirmed its first case of 

COVID–19, which soon spread throughout the country, 

straining Iraq’s already struggling healthcare system, and 

infecting 64,000 Iraqis and killing 2,685 Iraqis, including 

592 Iraqi doctors, as of June 2020; and 

Whereas the LIG reported in May 2020 that ‘‘the emergence 

of COVID–19 in Iraq has further restricted humanitarian access and presented a significant risk to internally displaced person (IDP) and refugee camps across 

the country’’: Now, therefore, be it 
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Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) supports a sovereign and democratic Iraq at 

peace with its neighbors and safe for its citizens, regardless of religion, sect, or ethnicity; 

(2) calls on the Administration to provide continued 

support for Iraqi efforts to ensure stability and security 

for a democratic Iraq; 

(3) calls on the Government of Iraq to take all appropriate action to protect United States diplomats and 

United States servicemembers, including by holding accountable those involved in the December 31, 2019, 

through January 1, 2020, attack on the United States 

Embassy; 

(4) supports robust exercise by Iraqis of the rights 

to free speech and assembly as guaranteed to them by 

the Constitution of Iraq; 

(5) calls on the Government of Iraq to hold accountable all those responsible for violence against 

peaceful protestors, including members of Iraqi security 

forces as applicable; 

(6) calls on all countries to continue upholding the 

principle of non-refoulement for refugees subject to violence, persecution, or death if forcibly returned to Iraq, 

including for reasons of religious persecution, and to as-
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sist internally displaced Iraqis to safely and voluntarily 

return to their homes; 

(7) encourages the United States to continue to 

work with bilateral and multilateral partners and international nongovernmental organizations on the stabilization of Iraq; 

(8) calls on the Administration to continue assisting 

religious and ethnic minority communities targeted by 

the Islamic State for genocide; 

(9) calls on the Administration to continue to work 

with the Government of Iraq to eliminate child labor and 

forced labor in Iraq; 

(10) supports expanded bilateral trade and investment between the United States and Iraq; 

(11) supports development of an Iraqi private sector 

based on rule of law and free market principles; 

(12) supports the 2020 United States–Iraq Strategic Dialogues and the principles agreed upon by both 

the United States and Iraq in such Dialogues and the 

fostering of continued dialogue based on such Dialogues; 

(13) calls on the Administration to continue providing medical assistance to support the Iraqi healthcare 

sector in combatting COVID–19; and 

(14) calls on the Government of Iraq to allow humanitarian and stabilization assistance programs to be 
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implemented without bureaucratic delays or impediments. 

Attest: 

Clerk.