I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5686 
To prevent ethnic cleansing and atrocities against ethnic Armenians, promote 
accountability for the same, protect and provide humanitarian assistance 
to Armenians in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh impacted by actions 
taken by the Government of Azerbaijan, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. SHERMAN) 
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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To prevent ethnic cleansing and atrocities against ethnic 
Armenians, promote accountability for the same, protect 
and provide humanitarian assistance to Armenians in 
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh impacted by actions 
taken by the Government of Azerbaijan, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Ethnic 
Cleansing and Atrocities in Nagorno-Karabakh Act of 
2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) In September 2020, Azerbaijan invaded 
Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in conflict in which 
more than 6,500 people in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and 
Nagorno-Karabakh were killed. 
(2) According to the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Azerbaijan’s 
2020 invasion resulted in the displacement of more 
than 91,000 individuals from Nagorno-Karabakh, 
with the vast majority, primarily women and chil-
dren, living in a ‘‘refugee-like’’ situation in the war’s 
aftermath. 
(3) People displaced by Azerbaijan’s invasion of 
Nagorno-Karabakh continue to have acute humani-
tarian needs, including access to drinking water and 
health care. 
(4) Human Rights Watch found that Azer-
baijani forces indiscriminately used cluster muni-
tions and artillery rockets against civilian targets 
and destroyed civilian infrastructure, including hos-
pitals and schools during the 2020 war. 
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(5) In September 2022, Azerbaijan unleashed 
another assault on Armenian territory, including the 
cities of Vardenis, Sotk, Artanish, Ishkhanasar, 
Goris, and Kapan, which killed almost 400 military 
personnel. 
(6) Azerbaijani forces shelled Armenian commu-
nities in September 2022, killing at least 4 civilians, 
injuring 14, and displacing at least 7,600 people, in-
cluding almost 1,500 children and 100 people with 
disabilities. 
(7) In December 2022, Azerbaijan imposed a 
blockade of the Lachin Corridor, a road by which 90 
percent of food consumed by residents of Nagorno- 
Karabakh previously entered the enclave. 
(8) The International Court of Justice ordered 
Azerbaijan in February 2023 to ‘‘ensure unimpeded 
movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the 
Lachin Corridor in both directions’’, a ruling with 
which it has failed to comply. 
(9) Azerbaijan’s installation of a military check-
point in the Lachin Corridor in April 2023 further 
threatened the supply of urgent humanitarian goods 
to Nagorno-Karabakh. 
(10) On August 6, 2023, the Armenian 
Ombudsperson reported that no humanitarian aid 
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had entered Nagorno-Karabakh since June 15, and 
that miscarriages had tripled. 
(11) On August 7, 2023, a United Nations 
group of experts stated that Azerbaijan’s ongoing 
blockade of the Lachin Corridor ‘‘is a humanitarian 
emergency that has created severe shortages of es-
sential food staples’’ and threatens medical reserves. 
(12) On August 7, 2023, Luis Moreno Ocampo, 
former Prosecutor of the International Criminal 
Court (2003–2012) released an Expert Opinion that 
the actions of the Government of Azerbaijan toward 
ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh constituted 
the crime of genocide under the Genocide Conven-
tion, and urged that members of the United Nations 
Security Council seek to refer the matter to the 
International Criminal Court for investigation and 
prosecution under the Genocide Convention. 
(13) In certain instances, Azerbaijani authori-
ties have detained residents of Nagorno-Karabakh 
traveling to Armenia through the Lachin Corridor, 
leaving ethnic Armenians who choose to depart for 
Armenia to avoid starvation to wonder if they can 
depart safely. 
(14) According to the International Committee 
of the Red Cross, residents of Nagorno-Karabakh 
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lack life-saving medication, hygiene products, and 
baby formula, and basic foodstuffs are increasingly 
scarce. 
(15) The United States Commission on Inter-
national Religious Freedom’s 2023 Annual Report 
noted the documented destruction of Armenian her-
itage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, including St. 
Sargis Church, while the European Parliament in 
March 2023 condemned an Azerbaijani policy to 
‘‘erase and deny Armenian cultural heritage in and 
around Nagorno-Karabakh’’. 
(16) In a September 2022 report, the United 
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination expressed deep concern in Azerbaijan 
regarding ‘‘[i]ncitement to racial hatred and the 
propagation of racist stereotypes against persons of 
Armenian national or ethnic origin, including on the 
Internet and social media, as well as by public fig-
ures and government officials, and the lack of de-
tailed information on investigations, prosecutions, 
convictions, and sanctions for such acts’’. 
(17) Any peace agreement between Armenia 
and Azerbaijan will only be sustainable if its in-
cludes protections for the Armenian population of 
Nagorno-Karabakh. 
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(18) On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan 
launched an assault on Nagorno-Karabakh, and in 
the first days of that attack killed more than 200 ci-
vilians, including children, and wounding 400. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) long-standing U.S. policy not to recognize 
changes to borders or political status that a party to 
a conflict attempts to make by force or aggression 
should be applied in relation to Azerbaijan, 
Nagorno-Karabakh, and Armenia; 
(2) long-standing U.S. policy has been and 
should remain to facilitate a negotiated settlement of 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s political status, neither recog-
nizing Azerbaijan’s claim to sovereign authority over 
Nagorno-Karabakh, nor Nagorno-Karabakh’s claim 
to independence, but to promote resolution of the 
question of its status through negotiation within the 
OSCE Minsk Group; 
(3) the U.S. should not recognize any settle-
ment of Nagorno-Karabakh’s political status that is 
achieved as a consequence of Azerbaijan’s military 
invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, its blockade 
of Nagorno-Karabakh since December 12, 2022, or 
the invasion that began on September 19, 2023, or 
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its threats and coercion of Armenian leaders in 
Nagorno-Karabakh, including by creating an atmos-
phere of terror; 
(4) numerous documented reports and evidences 
of atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity, 
and genocide committed by Azerbaijan in and 
around Nagorno-Karabakh should be investigated 
and those responsible should be held accountable, 
and the U.S. should play a leading role in promoting 
this process; 
(5) due to credible reports of ongoing atrocities 
against ethnic Armenians following the Azerbaijani 
invasion of Artsakh that began on September 19, 
2023, the U.S. should press for immediate access by 
international observers, including U.S. diplomats, to 
promote verification of these reports; 
(6) the United States should direct the United 
States Representative to the United Nations to use 
the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to 
refer the actions of the Government of Azerbaijan 
toward ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to 
the International Criminal Court for investigation 
and prosecution under the Genocide Convention; 
(7) Azerbaijan is conducting a campaign of eth-
nic cleansing against Armenians living in Nagorno- 
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Karabakh and the United States and the inter-
national community have a responsibility to provide 
immediate humanitarian support; 
(8) the Government of Azerbaijan must imme-
diately cease actions that undermine the mission of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross and 
restore unfettered humanitarian access to the region, 
including by facilitating the transfer of food, fuel, 
medicine, and hygiene products; and 
(9) the Government of Azerbaijan should imme-
diately release all Armenian prisoners of war. 
SEC. 4. HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR ARMENIANS IN 
ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the United 
States Agency for International Development, for fiscal 
year 2024, $30,000,000 to provide humanitarian assist-
ance to groups in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh im-
pacted by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan’s 
September 2022 attack on Armenia, and Azerbaijan’s 
blockade of the Lachin Corridor. 
SEC. 5. FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT SECTION 907 WAIVER RE-
PEAL. 
Title II of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, 
and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public 
Law 107–115) (22 U.S.C. 5812 note) is amended, under 
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the heading ‘‘ASSISTANCE
FOR
THE
INDEPENDENT 
STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION’’, by striking 
paragraphs (2) through (6) of subsection (g). 
SEC. 6. FOREIGN MILITARY FINANCING. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated $12,000,000 for the Department of State for 
fiscal year 2024 for Foreign Military Financing program 
assistance for the Republic of Armenia. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The Foreign Military Financing 
program assistance authorized by subsection (a) shall be 
used to— 
(1) support Armenia’s sovereign independence; 
(2) support joint training and exercises with the 
United States; 
(3) enhance United States-Armenia interoper-
ability; and 
(4) train Armenian forces for future inter-
national peacekeeping operations. 
SEC. 7. STRATEGY TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN 
NAGORNO-KARABAKH. 
(a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—Not later than 45 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a detailed strategy to ensure the durable secu-
rity for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. 
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(b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 
(a) shall include— 
(1) incorporating the rights and security of the 
people in Nagorno-Karabakh into any and all efforts 
to facilitate peace talks between Armenia and Azer-
baijan, including the right of the ethnic Armenians 
to live safely in Nagorno-Karabakh; and 
(2) a plan to work with leaders of Nagorno- 
Karabakh and the international community to en-
sure— 
(A) the establishment of accountability 
measures to ensure the rights and security of 
the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 
event that the Governments of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan reach a peace agreement; 
(B) the stationing of U.S. diplomats in 
Nagorno-Karabakh in order that they can ob-
serve, interact with and receive reports from in-
habitants; 
(C) support for the protection of Armenian 
cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, 
including the 24-hour video monitoring of those 
sites; 
(D) Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh are 
able maintain their right to study according to 
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a curriculum designed by local representatives, 
worship according to their chosen religious be-
liefs, and speak their preferred language; and 
(E) the survival of Armenian cultural her-
itage in Nagorno-Karabakh, including mon-
asteries, churches, and cemeteries. 
SEC. 8. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALLEGED AZERBAIJANI 
ATROCITIES DURING SEPTEMBER 2022 AT-
TACK ON ARMENIA. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a detailed report regarding evidence that Azerbaijan and 
its proxies violated international humanitarian law and 
committed atrocities and war crimes during its attacks on 
Armenia in September 2022 and on Nagorno-Karabakh 
in September 2023. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub-
section (a) shall include the following elements: 
(1) A description of the status of efforts to in-
vestigate, verify, and promote accountability for al-
leged atrocities, including war crimes and crimes 
against humanity that Azerbaijani forces committed 
during the course of Azerbaijan’s attacks on Arme-
nia in September 2022 and on Nagorno-Karabakh in 
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September 2023, and a description of any docu-
mented atrocities to date. 
(2) A description of United States support for 
efforts to investigate, verify, and promote account-
ability for alleged atrocities, including war crimes 
and crimes against humanity that Azerbaijani forces 
committed during the course of attacks on Armenia 
in September 2022 and on Nagorno-Karabakh in 
September 2023. 
(3) A description of efforts to promote justice 
for victims of alleged atrocities, including statements 
by civilians who were victimized. 
(4) A strategy for diplomatic engagement to 
build support multilaterally for widespread account-
ability for these atrocities, including multilateral en-
gagements, economic sanctions, and visa restrictions, 
and freezing of foreign assets by the perpetrators 
and their family members. 
(5) Plans to deter future Azerbaijani attacks 
against Armenia by expanding U.S.-Armenia joint 
exercises and other forms of security cooperation. 
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SEC. 9. ENHANCED REPORTING RE INCITEMENT TO ETH-
NIC HATRED AND VIOLENCE, HUMAN RIGHTS 
VIOLATIONS, 
ATROCITIES, 
WAR 
CRIMES, 
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDE. 
The State Department shall assess incitement of eth-
nic hatred and violence, human rights violations, atroc-
ities, war crimes, violations of international humanitarian 
law, crimes against humanity, and genocide, including ele-
ments of these crimes committed in Nagorno-Karabakh 
and surrounding areas of Azerbaijan in relation to the 
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since January 1, 2020. 
Such enhanced reporting shall include gathering and eval-
uating evidence, including that which is publicly available 
on Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities website, and 
including a description of documented atrocities, and 
should also include information on perpetrators in Azer-
baijan’s Armed Forces, as well as militias including 
Islamist armed groups engaged on the ground. 
(1) Such enhanced reporting shall be made available 
on the website of the State Department. 
(2) Evidence gathered pursuant to subsection (a) 
shall be available to appropriate law enforcement or judi-
cial authorities, including appropriate national, regional or 
international justice mechanisms for use as evidence to 
support the indictment and trial of any persons respon-
sible for human rights abuses including incitement to ha-
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