III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 33 

Expressing the sense of Congress that those who commit or support atrocities 

against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities, including 

Yezidis, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka‘e, and Kurds, and who target 

them specifically for ethnic or religious reasons, are committing, and 

are hereby declared to be committing, ‘‘war crimes’’, ‘‘crimes against 

humanity’’, and ‘‘genocide’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2016 

Mr. SASSE submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that those who commit 

or support atrocities against Christians and other ethnic 

and religious minorities, including Yezidis, Turkmen, 

Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka‘e, and Kurds, and who target 

them specifically for ethnic or religious reasons, are committing, and are hereby declared to be committing, ‘‘war 

crimes’’, ‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and ‘‘genocide’’. 

Whereas those who commit or support atrocities against 

Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities, including Yezidis, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka‘e, and 

Kurds, and who target them specifically for ethnic or religious reasons, intend to exterminate or to force the miVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 14, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC33.IS SC33

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•SCON 33 IS 

gration or submission of anyone who does not share their 

views concerning religion; 

Whereas Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities 

have been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the 

Middle East for millennia; 

Whereas Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities 

have been murdered, subjugated, forced to emigrate, and 

suffered grievous bodily and psychological harm, including sexual enslavement and abuse, inflicted in a deliberate and calculated manner in violation of the laws of 

their respective nations, the laws of war, laws and treaties forbidding crimes against humanity, and the United 

Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 

of the Crime of Genocide, signed at Paris December 9, 

1948 (in this concurrent resolution referred to as the 

‘‘Convention’’); 

Whereas these atrocities are undertaken with the specific intent to bring about the eradication and displacement of 

their communities and the destruction of their cultural 

heritage in violation of local laws, the laws of war, laws 

and treaties that punish crimes against humanity, and 

the Convention; 

Whereas local, national, and international laws and treaties 

forbidding ‘‘war crimes’’ and ‘‘crimes against humanity’’ 

and the Convention condemn murder, massacre, forced 

migration, extrajudicial punishment, kidnapping, slavery, 

human trafficking, torture, rape, and persecution of individuals because of their religion and shall be punished, 

whether committed by ‘‘constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals’’ as provided by 

local laws, international laws and agreements, and the 

Convention; 


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•SCON 33 IS 

Whereas Article I of the Convention and international and 

local laws confirm that genocide and crimes against humanity, whether committed in time of peace or in time 

of war, are crimes that government authorities are obligated to prevent and to 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, on July 10, 2015, Pope Francis, Supreme Pontiff 

of the Roman Catholic Church, declared that Middle 

Eastern Christians are facing genocide, a reality that 

must be ‘‘denounced’’ and that ‘‘[i]n this third world 

war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a 

form of genocide—and I stress the word genocide—is 

taking place, and it must end’’; 

Whereas a March 13, 2015, report of the United Nations 

Committee on Human Rights prepared at the request of 

the Government of Iraq stated that ‘‘[e]thnic and religious groups targeted by ISIL include Yezidis, ChrisVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 14, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC33.IS SC33

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•SCON 33 IS 

tians, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka‘e, Kurds and 

Shi’a’’ and that ‘‘[i]t is reasonable to conclude that some 

of the incidents [in Iraq in 2014–2015] . . . may constitute genocide’’; and 

Whereas attacks on Yezidis included the mass killing of men 

and boys and enslavement and forcible transfer of women 

and children: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That— 

3 (1) the atrocities committed against Christians 

4 and other ethnic and religious minorities targeted 

5 specifically for religious reasons are, and are hereby 

6 declared to be, ‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and 

7 ‘‘genocide’’; 

8 (2) each of the Contracting Parties to the 

9 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and 

10 Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at 

11 Paris December 9, 1948, and other international 

12 agreements forbidding war crimes and crimes 

13 against humanity, particularly the governments of 

14 countries and their nationals who are in any way 

15 supporting these crimes, are reminded of their legal 

16 obligations under the Convention and these inter17 national agreements; 

18 (3) every government and multinational body 

19 should call the atrocities being committed in the 


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•SCON 33 IS 

1 name of religion by their rightful names: ‘‘crimes 

2 against humanity’’, ‘‘war crimes’’, and ‘‘genocide’’; 

3 (4) the United Nations and the United Nations 

4 Secretary-General are called upon to assert leader5 ship by calling the atrocities being committed in 

6 these places by their rightful names: ‘‘war crimes’’, 

7 ‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and ‘‘genocide’’; 

8 (5) the member states of the United Nations, 

9 with an urgent appeal to the Arab States that wish 

10 to uphold religious freedom, tolerance, and justice— 

11 (A) should join in this concurrent resolu12 tion; 

13 (B) should collaborate on measures to pre14 vent further war crimes, crimes against human15 ity, and genocide; and 

16 (C) should collaborate on the establishment 

17 and operation of domestic, regional and inter18 national tribunals to punish those responsible 

19 for the ongoing crimes; 

20 (6) the governments of the Kurdistan Region of 

21 Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Leba22 nese Republic, and other countries are commended 

23 for having undertaken to shelter and protect those 

24 fleeing the violence of the Islamic State in Iraq and 

25 Syria (‘‘ISIS’’ or ‘‘Da’esh’’) and other extremists 


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•SCON 33 IS 

1 until they can safely return to their homes in Iraq 

2 and Syria; and 

3 (7) all those who force the migration of reli4 gious communities from their ancestral homelands, 

5 where they have lived and practiced their faith in 

6 safety and stability for hundreds of years—including 

7 specifically in the Nineveh Plain, a historic heartland 

8 of Christianity in Iraq and Mount Sinjar, the his9 toric home of the Yezidis—should be tracked, sanc10 tioned, arrested, prosecuted, and punished in accord11 ance with the laws of the place where their crimes 

12 were committed and under applicable international 

13 criminal statutes and conventions. 

Æ 


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