IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 220 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding past 
genocides, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 22, 2017 
Mr. TROTT (for himself, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. PAL-
LONE, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. BILIRAKIS, 
Mr. SARBANES, Mr. ROYCE of California, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. CLARK of 
Massachusetts, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. 
COSTA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 
regarding past genocides, and for other purposes. 
Whereas the lessons of past genocides should be applied to 
help prevent future war crimes, crimes against humanity, 
and genocide; 
Whereas, on March 17, 2016, the Department of State de-
clared that ‘‘Da’esh is responsible for genocide against 
groups in areas under its control, including Yezidis, 
Christians, and Shia Muslims’’, and is ‘‘also responsible 
for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed 
at these same groups and in some cases against Sunni 
Muslims and Kurds and other minorities’’; 
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•HRES 220 IH 
Whereas the House of Representatives, on March 14, 2016, 
passed H. Con. Res. 75, which concluded that ‘‘the atroc-
ities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, and 
other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria 
constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
genocide’’; 
Whereas the Senate, on July 7, 2016, passed S. Res. 340, 
which concluded that ‘‘the atrocities perpetrated by the 
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against 
Christians, Yezidis, Shi’a, and other religious and ethnic 
minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, 
crimes against humanity, and genocide’’; 
Whereas the United States has a proud record of protesting 
and providing relief to Armenian and other Christian sur-
vivors of the Ottoman Empire’s genocidal campaign; 
Whereas President Woodrow Wilson encouraged the forma-
tion of the Near East Relief, chartered by an Act of Con-
gress, which raised $116,000,000 (over $2,500,000,000 
in 2017 dollars) between 1915 and 1930, the Senate 
adopted resolutions condemning these massacres, and 
United States diplomats organized and led protests of 
these crimes; 
Whereas the United States is on record as having officially 
recognized the Armenian Genocide, in the United States 
Government’s May 28, 1951, written statement to the 
International Court of Justice regarding the Convention 
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno-
cide, through President Ronald Reagan’s April 22, 1981, 
Proclamation No. 4838, and by House Joint Resolution 
148, adopted on April 8, 1975, and House Joint Resolu-
tion 247, adopted on September 10, 1984; and 
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•HRES 220 IH 
Whereas the proper commemoration and consistent con-
demnation of the Armenian Genocide will strengthen our 
international standing in preventing modern day geno-
cides: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the United States, in seeking to prevent 
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide 
against Christians, Yezidis, Muslims, Kurds, and other 
vulnerable religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East, 
should draw upon relevant lessons of the United States 
Government, civil society, and humanitarian response to 
the Armenian Genocide, Seyfo, and the broader genocidal 
campaign by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, As-
syrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Greeks, Pontians and other 
Christians upon their biblical era homelands. 
Æ 
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