IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 75 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 
Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mr. DENHAM, and Mr. VARGAS) submitted the following con-
current resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
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 com-
mitting, 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, in-
cluding Yezidis, Turkmen, Sabea-Mandeans, Kaka‘e, and 
Kurds, and who target them specifically for ethnic or reli-
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•HCON 75 IH 
gious reasons, intend to exterminate or to force the mi-
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, includ-
ing sexual enslavement and abuse, inflicted in a delib-
erate and calculated manner in violation of the laws of 
their respective nations, the laws of war, laws and trea-
ties forbidding crimes against humanity, and the United 
Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 
of the Crime of Genocide, signed at Paris on December 
9, 1948 (in this concurrent resolution referred to as the 
‘‘Convention’’); 
Whereas these atrocities are undertaken with the specific in-
tent 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’’, ‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and 
the Convention condemn murder, massacre, forced migra-
tion, extrajudicial punishment, kidnapping, slavery, 
human trafficking, torture, rape, and persecution of indi-
viduals because of their religion and shall be punished, 
whether committed by ‘‘constitutionally responsible rul-
ers, public officials or private individuals’’ as provided by 
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•HCON 75 IH 
local laws, international laws and agreements, and the 
Convention; 
Whereas Article I of the Convention, international, and local 
laws confirm that genocide and crimes against humanity, 
whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, 
are crimes which government authorities are obligated to 
prevent and to punish; 
Whereas Article II of the Convention declares that ‘‘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 seri-
ous bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) 
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life cal-
culated 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 that ‘‘The fol-
lowing acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Con-
spiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incite-
ment to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit geno-
cide; (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 ‘‘In 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.’’; 
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•HCON 75 IH 
Whereas a March 13, 2015, report of the United Nations 
Committee on Human Rights prepared at the request of 
the Government of Iraq stated ‘‘[e]thnic and religious 
groups targeted by ISIL include Yezidis, Christians, 
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 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
(1) the atrocities committed against Christians 
and other ethnic and religious minorities targeted 
specifically for religious reasons are, and are hereby 
declared to be, ‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and 
‘‘genocide’’; 
(2) each of the Contracting Parties to the 
United Nations Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at 
Paris on December 9, 1948, and other international 
agreements forbidding war crimes and crimes 
against humanity, particularly the governments of 
countries and their nationals who are in any way 
supporting these crimes, are reminded of their legal 
obligations under the Convention and these inter-
national agreements; 
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•HCON 75 IH 
(3) every government and multinational body 
should call the atrocities being committed in the 
name of religion by their rightful names: ‘‘crimes 
against humanity’’, ‘‘war crimes’’, and ‘‘genocide’’; 
(4) the United Nations and the United Nations 
Secretary-General are called upon to assert leader-
ship by calling the atrocities being committed in 
these places by their rightful names: ‘‘war crimes’’, 
‘‘crimes against humanity’’, and ‘‘genocide’’; 
(5) the member states of the United Nations, 
with an urgent appeal to the Arab States that wish 
to uphold religious freedom, tolerance, and justice— 
(A) should join in this concurrent resolu-
tion; 
(B) should collaborate on measures to pre-
vent further war crimes, crimes against human-
ity, and genocide; and 
(C) should collaborate on the establishment 
and operation of domestic, regional and inter-
national tribunals to punish those responsible 
for the ongoing crimes; 
(6) the governments of the Kurdistan Region of 
Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Leba-
nese Republic, and other countries are commended 
for having undertaken to shelter and protect those 
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•HCON 75 IH 
fleeing the violence of ISIS (Da’esh) and other ex-
tremists until they can safely return to their homes 
in Iraq and Syria; and 
(7) all those who force the migration of reli-
gious communities from their ancestral homelands, 
where they have lived and practiced their faith in 
safety and stability for hundreds of years—including 
specifically in the Nineveh Plain, a historic heartland 
of Christianity in Iraq and Mount Sinjar, the his-
toric home of the Yezidis—should be tracked, sanc-
tioned, arrested, prosecuted, and punished in accord-
ance with the laws of the place where their crimes 
were committed and under applicable international 
criminal statutes and conventions. 
Æ 
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