IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 81 

Calling on the President to support the creation of a Special Tribunal for 

the Punishment of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 31, 2023 

Mr. KEATING (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. QUIGLEY, and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the President to support the creation of a Special 

Tribunal for the Punishment of the Crime of Aggression 

against Ukraine. 

Whereas on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation initiated the full scale invasion of Ukraine; 

Whereas the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of 

Ukraine has resulted in enormous destruction of civilian 

infrastructure in Ukraine, the displacement of millions of 

Ukrainians both inside Ukraine and abroad, mass disruption of global food supplies resulting in increased food insecurity for the world’s most vulnerable populations as 

well as the death of thousands of Ukrainians civilians 

and military personnel; 


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•HRES 81 IH 

Whereas Article 1(1) the Charter of the United Nations 

states that it is the purpose of the United Nations to 

‘‘maintain international peace and security, and to that 

end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the 

peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international 

law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or 

situations which might lead to a breach of the peace’’; 

Whereas Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations 

states that ‘‘All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against 

the territorial integrity or political independence of any 

State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations’’; 

Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 

defines aggression as ‘‘the use of armed force by a State 

against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political 

independence of another State, or in any other manner 

inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as 

set out in this Definition’’; 

Whereas General Assembly Resolution 3314 defines the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, as qualifying as an act of aggression: 

(1) The invasion or attack by the Armed Forces of 

a State of the territory of another State, or any military 

occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of 

the territory of another State or part thereof; 

(2) Bombardment by the Armed Forces of a State 

against the territory of another State or the use of any 


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•HRES 81 IH 

weapons by a State against the territory of another 

State; 

(3) The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State 

by the Armed Forces of another State; 

(4) An attack by the Armed Forces of a State on 

the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State; 

(5) The use of Armed Forces of one State which are 

within the territory of another State with the agreement 

of the receiving State, in contravention of the conditions 

provided for in the agreement or any extension of their 

presence in such territory beyond the termination of the 

agreement; 

(6) The action of a State in allowing its territory, 

which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to 

be used by that other State for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third State; and 

(7) The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed 

bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out 

acts of armed force against another State of such gravity 

as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial 

involvement therein; and 

Whereas the Russian Federation’s unprecedented full-scale 

invasion of Ukraine has reached a critical point requiring 

immediate and decisive action by the international community: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns in the strongest terms the Rus3 sian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine; 

4 (2) supports the people of Ukraine in their 

5 fight for freedom, independence and democracy; 


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1 (3) underscores Ukraine’s sovereignty and terri2 torial integrity within its internationally recognized 

3 borders; 

4 (4) finds that there is significant evidence to 

5 suggest that individual leaders of the Russian Fed6 eration are culpable of committing the crime of ag7 gression against Ukraine and this requires proper 

8 adjudication by the international community; 

9 (5) recognizes the need for the creation of a 

10 Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression against 

11 Ukraine; 

12 (6) identifies an agreement between Ukraine 

13 and the United Nations following a favorable United 

14 Nations General Assembly vote as one option to15 wards the creation of such an international tribunal; 

16 and 

17 (7) urges the President to take all available 

18 measures to support the creation of a Special Tri19 bunal for Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. 

Æ 


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