IV
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 533
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the culpability
of Hun Sen for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide
in Cambodia (the former Kampuchea, the People’s Republic of
Kampuchea, and the State of Cambodia).
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 11, 1998
Mr. ROHRABACHER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on International Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the culpability of Hun Sen for war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and genocide in Cambodia (the former
Kampuchea, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, and
the State of Cambodia).
Whereas the destruction of civil society in Cambodia (the
former Kampuchea, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea,
and the State of Cambodia) began with the rise to power
of the Khmer Rouge in 1975, when Hun Sen was a field
commander under Pol Pot, until 1977, during the ‘‘kill-
ing fields’’ period, when extreme violence was committed
against the Cambodian people, resulting in the deaths of
up to 2,000,000 people;
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Whereas under the Vietnamese communist occupation of
Cambodia between 1979 and 1989, Hun Sen was among
a large number of former Khmer Rouge members who
were designated by the Vietnamese communists as surro-
gate leaders of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea,
where international human rights organizations docu-
mented widespread persecution and exploitation of Cam-
bodia’s resources that resulted in the deaths of hundreds
of thousands, the arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, and
summary execution of tens of thousands, and the dis-
placement of nearly 350,000 refugees in neighboring
countries;
Whereas during the period leading to internationally super-
vised elections in 1993, as Prime Minister of the State
of Cambodia and a Politburo member of the communist
Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), Hun Sen was respon-
sible for the disappearances, murder, and assassination
attempts against democratic opponents of the Cambodian
People’s Party;
Whereas after the Cambodian People’s Party lost the 1993
national election, Hun Sen led an armored column that
threatened a military coup, resulting in his being given
a share of the Prime Minister position with the election
winner, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and his Cambodian
People’s Party maintaining control of the military, the in-
ternal security forces, and provincial government admin-
istration, and in addition Hun Sen formed a large private
army and security force funded, in part, by reputed drug
baron Teng Bunma;
Whereas in July 1997, Hun Sen ordered a coup d’etat
against First Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh which re-
sulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people
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caught in the crossfire and the torture and summary exe-
cution of at least 200 people and the forced displacement
of at least 30,000 as these assaults continued on people
or communities loyal to Prince Ranariddh;
Whereas during the period leading to the July 1998 national
election there were widespread reports of threats, as-
saults, and up to 100 deaths of members of parties op-
posed to Hun Sen;
Whereas in September 1998, Hun Sen ordered a violent
crackdown on thousands of unarmed demonstrators, in-
cluding Buddhist monks, who supported credible inves-
tigations of irregularities in the electoral process and the
change in the format for allocating seats in the National
Assembly which permitted Hun Sen to maintain a small
edge over Prince Ranariddh’s FUNCINPEC Party and
entitled Hun Sen to maintain the post of Prime Minister,
which resulted in the brutality toward tens of thousands
of pro-democracy advocates and the deaths of an un-
known number of people, and led to widespread civil un-
rest which threatens to further destroy Cambodian soci-
ety;
Whereas on July 17, 1997, the United Nations voted to cre-
ate the International Criminal Court (ICC) to implement
international criminal law established by treaties or by
custom and practice, including genocide, crimes against
humanity, and war crimes; and
Whereas Hun Sen has been the single person who has the
highest government office in a repressive and violent re-
gime, and has the power to decide for peace and democ-
racy and has instead decided for killing and repression,
who has the power to minimize illegal actions by subordi-
nates and allies and hold responsible those who commit-
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ted such actions, but did not, and who once again is di-
recting a campaign of murder and repression against un-
armed civilians, while treating with contempt inter-
national efforts to achieve a fair and peaceful resolution
to the question of a genuinely democratic government in
Cambodia: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is a sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) the United States should publicly declare
that there is reason to believe that Hun Sen, Prime
Minister of Cambodia (the former Kampuchea, the
People’s Republic of Kampuchea, and the State of
Cambodia), has committed war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and genocide;
(2) the United States should establish a collec-
tion of information that can be supplied to the Inter-
national Criminal Court (ICC) for use as evidence to
support an indictment and trial of Hun Sen for war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide a
high priority;
(3) any such information concerning Hun Sen
and persons under his authority already collected by
the United States, including information regarding
the March 1997 grenade attack against Sam Rainsy,
should be provided to the International Criminal
Court at the earliest possible time;
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(4) the United States should work with mem-
bers of interested countries and nongovernmental or-
ganizations relating to information any country or
organization may hold concerning allegations of war
crimes and crimes against humanity posed against
Hun Sen and any person under his authority in
Cambodia and give all such information to the Inter-
national Criminal Court;
(5) the United States should work with other
interested countries relating to measures to be taken
to apprehend indicted war criminals and persons in-
dicted for crimes against humanity in Cambodia
with the objective of concluding a plan of action that
will result in the prompt delivery of these indictees
into the custody of the International Criminal Court;
and
(6) the United States should urge the Inter-
national Criminal Court to promptly review all infor-
mation relating to Hun Sen’s possible criminal cul-
pability for conceiving, directing, and sustaining a
variety of actions in the former Kampuchea, Peo-
ple’s Republic of Kampuchea, the State of Cambodia
and the current Cambodia that have had the effect
of genocide, of war crimes, and other crimes against
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humanity with a view toward prompt issuance of a
public indictment of Hun Sen.
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