IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 590 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding calling on 

the President to direct the United States Representative to the United 

Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to 

immediately promote the establishment of an appropriate regional or 

international justice mechanism through the United Nations and United 

Nations General Assembly to investigate and prosecute possible war 

crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of internationally recognized human rights stemming from the conflict in Syria, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 13, 2023 

Ms. TLAIB (for herself and Ms. OMAR) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding calling on the President to direct the United States 

Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, 

vote, and influence of the United States to immediately 

promote the establishment of an appropriate regional 

or international justice mechanism through the United 

Nations and United Nations General Assembly to investigate and prosecute possible war crimes, crimes against 

humanity, and violations of internationally recognized 

human rights stemming from the conflict in Syria, and 

for other purposes. 


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•HRES 590 IH 

Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 

10th, 1948, with the support of 48 countries including 

Syria, enshrines the fundamental and inviolable rights 

and freedoms of all human beings; 

Whereas the Syrian Arab Republic is a State Party to the 

following core international human rights instruments: 

(1) The International Convention on the Elimination 

of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 

(2) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

(3) The International Covenant on Economic, Social 

and Cultural Rights. 

(4) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms 

of Discrimination against Women. 

(5) The Convention against Torture and Other 

Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 

(6) The Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

(7) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the 

Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in 

armed conflict. 

(8) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the 

Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography. 

(9) The International Convention on the Protection 

of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of 

Their Families. 

(10) The Convention on the Rights of Persons with 

Disabilities. 

(11) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the 

Rights of Persons with Disabilities; 


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•HRES 590 IH 

Whereas significant volumes of publicly accessible information 

exist indicating that the Government of the Syrian Arab 

Republic, led by the dictator Bashar al-Assad, has violated significant portions of the aforementioned agreements, as well as the Geneva Conventions, during the 

conflict in Syria that began in 2011 and continues to this 

day; 

Whereas the international community has previously established ad hoc tribunals and special courts and other justice mechanisms through the United Nations to bring 

justice in specific countries where there have been war 

crimes; and 

Whereas various tribunals, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International 

Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for 

Sierra Leone, have successfully investigated and prosecuted war crimes, and there are many positive lessons 

to be learned from these 3 ad hoc tribunals: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the United States should publicly declare 

4 that it is a requirement of basic justice that viola5 tions of internationally recognized human rights, 

6 international law, war crimes, and crimes against 

7 humanity should be investigated and prosecuted; 

8 (2) the President should direct the United 

9 States Representative to the United Nations to use 

10 the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to 


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•HRES 590 IH 

1 immediately promote the establishment of an inter2 national justice mechanism for war crimes, crimes 

3 against humanity, and other violations of inter4 nationally recognized human rights, and to prosecute 

5 the alleged perpetrators of such serious crimes com6 mitted during the period of conflict in the Syrian 

7 Arab Republic; 

8 (3) in working with other countries to establish 

9 this regional or international justice mechanism, the 

10 United States should assist all its partners in this 

11 effort to develop judicial procedures that enable the 

12 fair and open prosecution of those persons accused 

13 of perpetrating such serious crimes; 

14 (4) the United States should encourage, sup15 port, and collect any and all information that can be 

16 supplied to an appropriate regional or international 

17 justice mechanism regarding possible war crimes, 

18 crimes against humanity, and violations of inter19 nationally recognized human rights for use as evi20 dence to support the indictment and trial of any per21 sons responsible; and 

22 (5) the United States should urge all other in23 terested states to apprehend and deliver into the 

24 custody of an appropriate regional or justice mecha25 nism for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 


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•HRES 590 IH 

1 violations of internationally recognized human rights 

2 persons indicted for international crimes and urge 

3 all interested states to provide any and all data and 

4 information pertaining to such crimes to that justice 

5 mechanism. 

Æ 


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