IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 97 
Calling on the President to support United Nations Security Council referrals 
of situations involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity 
to the International Criminal Court, to cooperate with investigations 
and prosecutions conducted by the International Criminal Court, and 
participate as an observer at meetings of the Assembly of States Parties 
to the Rome Statute. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2009 
Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) submitted the following concurrent 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Calling on the President to support United Nations Security 
Council referrals of situations involving genocide, war 
crimes, and crimes against humanity to the International 
Criminal Court, to cooperate with investigations and 
prosecutions conducted by the International Criminal 
Court, and participate as an observer at meetings of 
the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. 
Whereas the preservation of international peace and security 
rests on adherence to the rule of law and the principles 
of justice by the nations and peoples of the world; 
Whereas international peace and security are threatened by 
the commission of the most serious international crimes, 
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•HCON 97 IH 
including war crimes, genocide, and crimes against hu-
manity; 
Whereas the prosecution of individuals suspected of commit-
ting the most serious international crimes is often im-
peded by domestic, political, and legal obstacles; 
Whereas the inability of local and national court systems to 
prosecute those individuals responsible for the most seri-
ous violations of international criminal law demonstrates 
the need for a permanent international mechanism for 
ensuring that such violations are investigated and pros-
ecuted; 
Whereas while ad hoc tribunals have demonstrated the suc-
cess of international courts in addressing the atrocities 
committed in specific conflicts, they have significant limi-
tations; 
Whereas the ability of ad hoc tribunals to punish and deter 
the most serious international crimes is severely limited 
by the difficulty of creating and sustaining them; 
Whereas, on July 1, 2002, the Rome Statute of the Inter-
national Criminal Court entered into force and the per-
manent International Criminal Court (ICC) was created; 
Whereas the ICC has jurisdiction over only the most serious 
violations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
genocide committed by individuals after July 1, 2002; 
Whereas these are the most serious and horrendous crimes 
imaginable, and the failure to systematically punish such 
crimes offends universally accepted standards of law and 
morality and threatens the establishment of peace and se-
curity; 
Whereas the ICC follows universally accepted international 
law in defining war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
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•HCON 97 IH 
genocide, including the Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the Ge-
neva Conventions (1949), but it does not create any new 
international crimes; 
Whereas the ICC was designed as a court of last resort, not 
as a replacement for national judicial systems; 
Whereas the ICC only has jurisdiction if national courts are 
too weak, too damaged, or too biased to try those respon-
sible for the most serious violations of international 
criminal law; 
Whereas the ICC guarantees the right to a fair trial, includ-
ing the right to counsel, a prohibition on trials in 
absentia, the right to cross-examine witnesses, protection 
against double jeopardy, and protection from self-incrimi-
nation; 
Whereas more than half the countries of the world, 108, have 
ratified the Rome Statute and become members of the 
ICC; 
Whereas the democracies of the world have overwhelmingly 
embraced the ICC, more than 70 percent of the world’s 
democracies are already members of the ICC and many 
more have indicated a desire to join; 
Whereas almost all of the most significant allies of the 
United States are already members of the ICC, including 
the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Ger-
many, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and 
many others; 
Whereas new democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin Amer-
ican, and Africa are also strong supporters of the ICC, 
joining the ICC helps them strengthen the rule of law 
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•HCON 97 IH 
and respect for human rights, protecting against a return 
to tyranny; 
Whereas the ICC has investigated crimes against humanity, 
war crimes, and genocide in the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, and 
Darfur, Sudan, and has issued arrest warrants in all four 
situations; 
Whereas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, govern-
ment forces and rebel militias have killed hundreds of 
thousands of civilians and devastated large portions of 
the country; 
Whereas in Uganda, more than 20,000 boys and girls, some 
as young as 9, have been abducted by the Lord’s Resist-
ance Army to serve as child soldiers and sex slaves; 
Whereas the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Omar al- 
Bashir, President of Sudan, for war crimes and crimes 
against humanity; 
Whereas in the Darfur region of Sudan, government-backed 
forces have conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing and 
genocide that has killed nearly 400,000 people; and 
Whereas none of the individuals responsible for the atrocities 
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African 
Republic, Sudan, or Uganda are likely to be prosecuted 
by the local court systems, the ICC is the only hope for 
punishing those responsible for the worst atrocities: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the 
President, acting through the Secretary of State and the 
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•HCON 97 IH 
permanent representatives of the United States to the 
United Nations, should— 
(1) support United Nations Security Council re-
ferrals of situations involving genocide, war crimes, 
and crimes against humanity to the International 
Criminal Court (ICC), except where such a referral 
would not be in the national interest of the United 
States; 
(2) include as stated policy of the United States 
Government to support the mandate and purpose of 
the Rome Statute of the ICC, and in support of that 
policy reactivate the United State signature of the 
Rome Statute by a note to the United Nations Sec-
retary-General; 
(3) cooperate with investigations and prosecu-
tions conducted by the ICC, except where such in-
vestigations or prosecutions are not in the national 
interest of the United States; 
(4) exercise the right of the United States to 
actively participate as an observer in meetings of the 
Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute so as 
to ensure that the ICC develops in a manner con-
sistent with the national interest of the United 
States; and 
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(5) invoke in the interest of the United States, 
waivers of provisions in United States law that re-
strict or limit assistance and cooperation with the 
ICC. 
Æ 
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