I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5961 
To provide for relief of victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and 
war crimes in Iraq and Syria, for accountability for perpetrators of 
these crimes, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 
and Mr. FORTENBERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for relief of victims of genocide, crimes against 
humanity, and war crimes in Iraq and Syria, for account-
ability for perpetrators of these crimes, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iraq and Syria Geno-
cide Relief and Accountability Act of 2016’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On March 17, 2016, Secretary of State 
John Kerry stated, ‘‘in my judgment, Daesh is re-
sponsible for genocide against groups in areas under 
its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia 
Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by 
ideology, and by actions—in what it says, what it 
believes, and what it does. Daesh is also responsible 
for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing di-
rected at these same groups and in some cases also 
against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities 
. . . the full facts must be brought to light by an 
independent investigation and through formal legal 
determination made by a competent court or tri-
bunal . . . the United States will strongly support 
efforts to collect, document, preserve, and analyze 
the evidence of atrocities, and we will do all we can 
to see that the perpetrators are held accountable 
. . . the best response to genocide is a reaffirmation 
of the fundamental right to survive of every group 
targeted for destruction. What Daesh wants to 
erase, we must preserve.’’. 
(2) Secretary of State Kerry stated in the 
‘‘Atrocities Prevention Report’’, transmitted to Con-
gress on March 17, 2016, ‘‘We assess that violent 
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extremists have committed mass atrocities in the 
Middle East and that Yezidis, Christians, and Shia 
Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious 
minority groups are among the victims. It is impor-
tant that the international community collectively 
support the victims of all Da’esh atrocities. We con-
tinue to work on responding to the situation on the 
ground and we continue to investigate and assess all 
relevant information as it becomes available . . . 
The United States supports accountability efforts 
for those responsible for atrocities, human rights 
violations and abuses and violations of international 
humanitarian law. The United States strongly sup-
ports a comprehensive approach towards transitional 
justice, including accountability for atrocities, com-
pensation and rehabilitation for victims, and steps 
towards national reconciliation . . . The Depart-
ment of State has a longstanding commitment to 
providing support for the urgent humanitarian needs 
of conflict-affected populations in Iraq, Syria, and 
across the world, including but not limited to mem-
bers of ethnic and religious minorities.’’. 
(3) The Independent International Commission 
of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic stated in its 
February 3, 2016, report, ‘‘Detainees held by the 
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Government were beaten to death, or died as a re-
sult of injuries sustained due to torture. Others per-
ished as a consequence of inhuman living conditions. 
The Government has committed the crimes against 
humanity of extermination, murder, rape or other 
forms of sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, en-
forced disappearance and other inhuman acts. Based 
on the same conduct, war crimes have also been 
committed . . . Jabhat Al-Nusra has set up deten-
tion facilities in Idlib where deaths in detention were 
documented. The terrorist group also conducted 
mass executions of captured Government soldiers. 
Both Jabhat Al-Nusra and some anti-Government 
armed groups have committed the war crimes of 
murder, cruel treatment, and torture. ISIS subjected 
detainees to serious abuses, including torture and 
summary executions. Detainees were frequently exe-
cuted after unauthorised courts issued a death sen-
tence. ISIS has committed the crimes against hu-
manity of murder and torture, and war crimes.’’. 
(4) The International Criminal Investigative 
Training Assistance Program and the Office of 
Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and 
Training of the Department of Justice have provided 
technical assistance to governmental judicial and law 
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enforcement entities in Iraq, including with funding 
support from the Department of State. 
(5) The Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil 
(Iraq) is an example of an entity that has not re-
ceived funding from any government and has been 
providing assistance to internally displaced families 
of Yezidis, Muslims, and Christians, including food, 
resettlement from tents to permanent housing, and 
rent for Yezidis, medical care and education for 
Yezidis and Muslims through clinics, schools, and a 
university that are open to all, and some form of 
these types of assistance to all of the estimated 
10,500 internally displaced Christian families in the 
greater Erbil region. 
(6) In fiscal year 2015, the United States Gov-
ernment admitted to the United States through the 
U.S. Refugee Admissions Program persons from 
Priority Two groups of special humanitarian con-
cern, as designated by Congress, including— 
(A) Jews, Evangelical Christians, Ukrain-
ian Catholics, and Ukrainian Orthodox, from 
the former Soviet Union; 
(B) Iraqis at-risk because they were or are 
employed in Iraq by the United States Govern-
ment, a media or nongovernmental organization 
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headquartered in the United States, or an orga-
nization or entity that received funding from 
the United States Government, or are related to 
someone who is or was so employed; 
(C) religious minorities in Iran; or 
(D) members of other groups as des-
ignated by the United States Government, in-
cluding former political prisoners, active mem-
bers of persecuted religious minorities, human 
rights activists, and forced labor conscripts in 
Cuba, minors in Honduras, El Salvador, and 
Guatemala, ethnic minorities from Burma in 
Malaysia, Bhutanese in Nepal, and Congolese 
in Rwanda. 
(7) Through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Pro-
gram, the United States Government— 
(A) admitted 12,676 Iraqi refugees in fis-
cal year 2015, including at least 2,113 Chris-
tians, 213 Yezidis, and 4,554 Shia Muslims; 
(B) admitted 8,313 Iraqi refugees in fiscal 
year 2016 as of August 31, 2016, including at 
least 1,173 Christians, 295 Yezidis, and 2,629 
Shia Muslims; 
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(C) admitted 1,682 Syrian refugees in fis-
cal year 2015, including at least 30 Christians 
and 10 Shia Muslims; and 
(D) admitted 10,740 Syrian refugees in 
fiscal year 2016 as of August 31, 2016, includ-
ing at least 51 Christians, 17 Yezidis, and 20 
Shia Muslims. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Govern-
mental Affairs of the Senate. 
(2) CAPACITY-BUILDING.—The term ‘‘capacity- 
building’’, with respect to cases of genocide, crimes 
against humanity, war crimes, and terrorism in Iraq 
or Syria, means developing domestic skills to effi-
ciently adjudicate such cases, consistent with due 
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process and respect for the rule of law, through the 
use of experts in international criminal investiga-
tions and experts in international criminal law to 
partner with, mentor, provide technical advice for, 
formally train, and provide equipment and infra-
structure where necessary and appropriate to, inves-
tigators and judicial personnel in Iraq, including the 
Kurdistan region of Iraq, and domestic investigators 
and lawyers in Syria. 
(3) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.—The 
term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an or-
ganization designated by the Secretary of State as a 
foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 
219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1189(a)). 
(4) HUMANITARIAN, STABILIZATION, AND RE-
COVERY
NEEDS.—The term ‘‘humanitarian, sta-
bilization, and recovery needs’’, with respect to an 
individual, includes water, sanitation, hygiene, food 
security and nutrition, shelter and housing, medical, 
education, and psychosocial needs. 
(5) HYBRID COURT.—The term ‘‘hybrid court’’ 
means a court with a combination of domestic and 
international lawyers, judges, and personnel. 
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(6) INTERNATIONALIZED DOMESTIC COURT.— 
The term ‘‘internationalized domestic court’’ means 
a domestic court with the support of international 
advisers. 
SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY IN IRAQ 
AND SYRIA. 
(a) ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT CERTAIN ENTITIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, act-
ing through the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, 
Human Rights, and Labor and the Assistant Sec-
retary for International Narcotics and Law Enforce-
ment Affairs, and Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development shall 
provide assistance, including financial assistance, to 
support entities that are taking the actions described 
in paragraph (2) with respect to individuals who are 
suspected to have committed genocide, crimes 
against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq since Janu-
ary 2014 or Syria since March 2011. 
(2) ACTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The actions de-
scribed in this paragraph are the following: 
(A) Conducting criminal investigations. 
(B) Developing investigative and judicial 
capacities. 
(C) Collecting evidence. 
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(D) Preserving the chain of evidence for 
prosecution in domestic courts, hybrid courts, 
and internationalized domestic courts. 
(E) Capacity-building. 
(3) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts au-
thorized to be appropriated or otherwise made avail-
able for programs, projects, and activities carried 
out by the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, 
Human Rights, and Labor and the Assistant Sec-
retary for International Narcotics and Law Enforce-
ment Affairs are authorized to be made available to 
carry out this subsection. 
(b) ACTIONS BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.—The Sec-
retary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall seek to encour-
age governments of foreign countries— 
(1) to include in appropriate security databases 
and security screening procedures of such countries 
information to identify individuals who are suspected 
to have committed genocide, crimes against human-
ity, or war crimes in Iraq since January 2014 or 
Syria since March 2011, including individuals who 
are suspected to be members of foreign terrorist or-
ganizations operating within Iraq or Syria; and 
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