I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 390 
To provide for emergency relief to victims of genocide, crimes against human-
ity, and war crimes in Iraq and Syria, to provide accountability for 
perpetrators of these crimes, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 10, 2017 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. FOR-
TENBERRY, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. FRANKS of 
Arizona, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. WEBER 
of Texas, Mr. TROTT, Mr. DUFFY, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Ms. 
SLAUGHTER, and Mrs. COMSTOCK) 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 emergency relief to victims of genocide, crimes 
against humanity, and war crimes in Iraq and Syria, 
to provide accountability 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 Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017’’. 
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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 . . . 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’’. 
(2) Secretary of State Kerry stated in the 
‘‘Atrocities Prevention Report’’, transmitted to Con-
gress on March 17, 2016, ‘‘The Department of State 
has a longstanding commitment to providing support 
for the urgent humanitarian needs of conflict-af-
fected populations in Iraq, Syria, and across the 
world, including but not limited to members of eth-
nic and religious minorities.’’. 
(3) The Independent International Commission 
of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic stated in its 
February 3, 2016, report, ‘‘The Government has 
committed the crimes against humanity of extermi-
nation, murder, rape or other forms of sexual vio-
lence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance 
and other inhuman acts. Based on the same con-
duct, war crimes have also been committed. Both 
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Jabhat Al-Nusra and some anti-Government armed 
groups have committed the war crimes of murder, 
cruel treatment, and torture.’’. 
(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 
enforcement entities in Iraq, including with funding 
support from the Department of State. 
(5) There were an estimated 800,000 to 
1,400,000 Christians in Iraq in 2002, 500,000 in 
2013, and less than 250,000 in 2015, according to 
the annual International Religious Freedom Reports 
of the Department of State. 
(6) Although Christians were an estimated 
eight to 10 percent of the 21,000,000 person popu-
lation of Syria in 2010, ‘‘media and other reports of 
Christians fleeing the country as a result of the civil 
war suggest the Christian population is now consid-
erably lower’’ as of 2015, according to the annual 
International Religious Freedom Reports of the De-
partment of State. 
(7) The Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil 
(Iraq) is an example of an entity that has not re-
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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, more 
than 70,000 people, in the greater Erbil region. 
(8) In fiscal year 2015, the United States Gov-
ernment admitted to the United States through the 
United States Refugee Admissions Program persons 
from Priority 2 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 
Government, a media or nongovernmental orga-
nization headquartered in the United States, or 
an organization or entity that received funding 
from the United States Government, or are re-
lated to someone who is, or was, so employed; 
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(C) religious minorities in Iran; and 
(D) members of other groups designated 
by the United States Government, including— 
(i) former political prisoners, active 
members of persecuted religious minorities, 
human rights activists, and forced labor 
conscripts in Cuba; 
(ii) minors in Honduras, El Salvador, 
and Guatemala; 
(iii) ethnic minorities from Burma in 
Malaysia; 
(iv) Bhutanese in Nepal; and 
(v) Congolese in Rwanda. 
(9) Through the United States Refugee Admis-
sions Program, the United States Government— 
(A) admitted 12,676 Iraqi refugees in fis-
cal year 2015, including at least 2,113 Chris-
tians and 213 Yezidis; 
(B) admitted 9,880 Iraqi refugees in fiscal 
year 2016, including at least 1,524 Christians 
and 393 Yezidis; 
(C) admitted 1,682 Syrian refugees in fis-
cal year 2015, including at least 30 Christians; 
and 
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