Rohingya Genocide Determination Act of 2021
Bill: S.1142 | Sponsor: Sen. Markey, Edward J. (D-MA)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Rohingya Genocide Determination Act of 2021
This bill requires the Department of State to report to Congress an assessment of the persecution of the Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim group in Burma (Myanmar), by Burma's military and security forces, and whether the situation constitutes genocide under U.S. law. The report shall also contain (1) a description of U.S. government actions to ensure that those responsible are held accountable, and (2) recommendations on further actions to take to ensure accountability and to prevent further mass atrocity crimes in Burma.

To require a determination as to whether crimes committed against the 
                 Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rohingya Genocide Determination Act 
of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Since August 25, 2017, 740,000 Rohingya have fled 
        northern Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a 
        systematic campaign of atrocities by Burma's military and 
        security forces, and over three years later, conditions are 
        still not conducive to the safe, voluntary, and dignified 
        return of the Rohingya to Burma.
            (2) On November 23, 2017, the United States Holocaust 
        Museum and Fortify Rights released a report entitled ``They 
        Tried to Kill Us All'', documenting widespread and systematic 
        atrocities committed against Rohingya civilians at the hands of 
        Burmese ``security forces, civilian perpetrators, and 
        militants'' and highlighting ``growing evidence of genocide''.
            (3) According to the Department of State's August 24, 2018, 
        report entitled ``Documentation of Atrocities in Northern 
        Rakhine State'', violence committed by the Burmese military 
        against the Rohingya, including from August to October 2017, 
        was not only ``extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly 
        geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out 
        the Rohingya residents,'' but also ``well-planned and 
        coordinated''.
            (4) On August 28, 2018, the United States Ambassador to the 
        United Nations told the United Nations Security Council that 
        the Department of State report's findings were ``consistent 
        with'' those in an August 27, 2018, report by the Independent 
        International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) which 
        urged that top Burmese military officials be investigated and 
        prosecuted for genocide.
            (5) On September 12, 2018, the IIFFMM reported, ``The 
        crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were 
        perpetrated, are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those 
        that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other 
        contexts.''.
            (6) The Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), 
        whose investigation informed the Department of State's August 
        2018 report, published in December 2018 its Factual Findings & 
        Legal Analysis Report, which concluded that ``there are 
        reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was committed 
        against the Rohingya in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State''.
            (7) According to the PILPG report, ``The scale and severity 
        of the attacks and abuses--particularly the mass killings and 
        accompanying brutality against children, women, pregnant women, 
        the elderly, religious leaders, and persons fleeing into 
        Bangladesh--suggest that, in the minds of the perpetrators, the 
        goal was not just to expel, but also to exterminate the 
        Rohingya.''.
            (8) On September 16, 2019, the IIFFMM reported that it 
        ``has reasonable grounds to conclude that the evidence that 
        infers genocidal intent on the part of the State, identified in 
        its last report, has strengthened that there is a serious risk 
        that genocidal actions may occur or recur''.
            (9) The IIFFMM also recognized in its September 16, 2019, 
        report that Burma's military and security forces have committed 
        abuses against minority groups other than the Rohingya: ``All 
        the ethnic minority communities that the Mission 
        investigated,'' including ethnic groups in Rakhine, Chin, 
        Kayin, Kachin, and Shan States, ``have been deprived of justice 
        for the serious human rights violations perpetrated against 
        them.''.
            (10) Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed at his 
        nomination hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
        the Senate on January 19, 2021, and in subsequent written 
        responses to questions for the record, that he will oversee an 
        interagency review of whether the atrocities committed against 
        the Rohingya in Burma constitute genocide.
            (11) The Burmese military's February 1, 2021, coup against 
        the democratically elected government in Burma further 
        underscores the importance of the United States speaking out 
        forcefully against human rights violations when they occur, 
        sending a clear signal to governments and other nongovernmental 
        actors around the world that those responsible for such gross 
        abuses of human rights will always be held accountable.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the atrocities committed against 
the Rohingya by the Burmese military and security forces constitute 
genocide.

SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF ATTACKS AGAINST ROHINGYA IN BURMA.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, after consultation with 
the heads of other United States Government agencies represented on the 
Atrocity Early Warning Task Force and representatives of human rights 
and civil society organizations, as appropriate, shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the persecution of, 
including attacks against, the Rohingya in Burma by Burmese military 
and security forces that determines whether the crimes committed 
constitute genocide (as defined in section 1091 of title 18, United 
States Code), and includes--
            (1) a description and assessment of what actions the United 
        States Government has undertaken to ensure accountability for 
        war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated 
        by the Burmese military and security forces against the 
        Rohingya;
            (2) a detailed description of any proposed atrocities 
        prevention response recommended by the Atrocity Early Warning 
        Task Force to prevent further perpetration of mass atrocity 
        crimes by Burmese military and security forces against the 
        Rohingya people and other civilians in Burma; and
            (3) recommendations on what actions the United States 
        Government will take to hold those responsible for these 
        atrocities accountable, including through international justice 
        mechanisms.
    (b) Form.--The evaluation required under subsection (a) shall be 
submitted in unclassified form and posted to the Department of State 
website, but may include a classified annex as necessary.
    (c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
        Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
        Senate; and
            (2) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 
        Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
        House of Representatives.
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