Title: Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of State  to provide assistance to entities taking specified criminal and judicial actions against individuals who are suspected of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq since January 2014 or in Syria since March 2011.
The State Department shall encourage foreign governments to identify and prosecute individuals who are suspected of committing such crimes, including members of foreign terrorist organizations operating in Iraq or Syria.
The Department of Justice shall review existing criminal statutes concerning genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes to determine:
The State Department shall identify:
Aliens who are, or were, a national and a resident of Iraq or Syria, and who share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution on account of membership in a religious or ethnic minority in that country: (1) are deemed to be of special humanitarian concern to the United States; and (2) shall be eligible for priority-2 processing under the refugee resettlement priority system.
The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 is amended to extend: (1) refugee set-asides for nationals of the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania; and (2) the period of eligibility for status adjustment from a parolee who was denied refugee status to a lawfully admitted permanent resident for certain aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 390 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 390

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2017

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Meadows, Mr. 
  Fortenberry, 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency 
Relief and Accountability Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On March 17, 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry 
        stated, ``in my judgment, Daesh is responsible 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 Congress on March 17, 2016, 
        ``The Department of State has a longstanding commitment to 
        providing support for the urgent humanitarian needs of 
        conflict-affected populations in Iraq, Syria, and across the 
        world, including but not limited to members of ethnic 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 extermination, murder, rape or other forms of 
        sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance 
        and other inhuman acts. Based on the same conduct, war crimes 
        have also been committed. Both 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 population 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 considerably lower'' as of 2015, according to the annual 
        International Religious Freedom Reports of the Department of 
        State.
            (7) The Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil (Iraq) is an 
        example of an entity that has not received 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 Government 
        admitted to the United States through the United States Refugee 
        Admissions Program persons from Priority 2 groups of special 
        humanitarian concern, as designated by Congress, including--
                    (A) Jews, Evangelical Christians, Ukrainian 
                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 organization headquartered in 
                the United States, or an organization or entity that 
                received funding from the United States Government, or 
                are related to someone who is, or was, so employed;
                    (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 Admissions Program, 
        the United States Government--
                    (A) admitted 12,676 Iraqi refugees in fiscal year 
                2015, including at least 2,113 Christians 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 fiscal year 
                2015, including at least 30 Christians; and
                    (D) admitted 12,587 Syrian refugees in fiscal year 
                2016, including at least 64 Christians and 24 Yezidis.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 
                on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Homeland 
                Security of the House of Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
                Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on 
                Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
                Senate.
            (2) Capacity-building.--The term ``capacity-building'', 
        with respect to cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war 
        crimes, and terrorism in Iraq or Syria, means developing 
        domestic skills to efficiently adjudicate such cases, 
        consistent with due process and respect for the rule of law, 
        through the use of experts in international criminal 
        investigations and experts in international criminal law to 
        partner with, mentor, provide technical advice for, formally 
        train, and provide equipment and infrastructure where necessary 
        and appropriate to, investigators and judicial personnel in 
        Iraq, including the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and domestic 
        investigators and lawyers in Syria.
            (3) Foreign terrorist organization.--The term ``foreign 
        terrorist organization'' mean an organization designated by the 
        Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant 
        to section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1189(a)).
            (4) Humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs.--The 
        term ``humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs'', with 
        respect to an individual, includes water, sanitation, hygiene, 
        food security and nutrition, shelter and housing, medical, 
        education, and psychosocial needs.
            (5) Hybrid court.--The term ``hybrid court'' means a court 
        with a combination of domestic and international lawyers, 
        judges, and personnel.
            (6) Internationalized domestic court.--The term 
        ``internationalized domestic court'' means a domestic court 
        with the support of international advisers.

SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY IN IRAQ AND SYRIA.

    (a) Assistance To Support Certain Entities.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of State, acting through the 
        Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, the 
        Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law 
        Enforcement Affairs, and Administrator of the United States 
        Agency for International Development, shall provide assistance, 
        including financial assistance, to support entities that are 
        taking the actions described in paragraph (2) with respect to 
        individuals who are suspected to have committed genocide, 
        crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq since January 
        2014 or Syria since March 2011.
            (2) Actions described.--The actions described in this 
        paragraph are the following:
                    (A) Conducting criminal investigations.
                    (B) Developing investigative and judicial 
                capacities.
                    (C) Collecting evidence.
                    (D) Preserving the chain of evidence for 
                prosecution in domestic courts, hybrid courts, and 
                internationalized domestic courts.
                    (E) Capacity-building.
            (3) Availability of amounts.--Amounts authorized to be 
        appropriated or otherwise made available for programs, 
        projects, and activities carried out by the Assistant Secretary 
        for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the Assistant 
        Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement 
        Affairs are authorized to be made available to carry out this 
        subsection.
    (b) Actions by Foreign Governments.--The Secretary of State, in 
consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
shall seek to encourage governments of foreign countries--
            (1) to include in appropriate security databases and 
        security screening procedures of such countries information to 
        identify individuals who are suspected to have committed 
        genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq since 
        January 2014 or Syria since March 2011, including individuals 
        who are suspected to be members of foreign terrorist 
        organizations operating within Iraq or Syria; and
            (2) to prosecute such individuals for genocide, crimes 
        against humanity, or war crimes, as appropriate.
    (c) Review of Certain Criminal Statutes.--The Attorney General, in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, shall conduct a review of 
existing criminal statutes concerning genocide, crimes against 
humanity, and war crimes to determine the following:
            (1) The extent to which United States courts are currently 
        authorized by statute to exercise jurisdiction over such crimes 
        where the direct perpetrators, accomplices, or victims are 
        United States nationals, United States residents, or persons 
        physically present in the territory of the United States either 
        during the commission of the crime or subsequent to the 
        commission of the crime.
            (2) What statutes are currently in effect that would apply 
        to conduct constituting war crimes or crimes against humanity, 
        and whether those statutes provide for extraterritorial 
        jurisdiction, what the statute of limitations for offenses 
        under such statutes are, what penalties apply under such 
        statutes, and whether offenders would be subject to extradition 
        or mutual legal assistance treaties.
            (3) The extent to which the absence of criminal statutes 
        defining the crimes, or granting jurisdiction, would impede the 
        prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war 
        crimes in United States courts, including when United States 
        military forces capture persons outside the United States known 
        to have committed such crimes in a third country that is either 
        unable or unwilling to prosecute the crimes.
            (4) Whether additional statutory authorities are necessary 
        to prosecute a United States person or a foreign person within 
        the territory of the United States for genocide, crimes against 
        humanity, and war crimes.
    (d) Consultation.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of 
State shall consult with and consider credible information from 
entities described in paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) of such 
subsection.
    (e) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that an 
appropriate amount of the additional amount made available under the 
heading ``Economic Support Fund'' in title II of division B of the 
Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 
(Public Law 114-254) should be made available to carry out subsection 
(a).

SEC. 5. IDENTIFICATION OF AND ASSISTANCE TO ADDRESS HUMANITARIAN, 
              STABILIZATION, AND RECOVERY NEEDS OF CERTAIN PERSONS IN 
              IRAQ AND SYRIA.

    (a) Identification.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Defense, the Ambassador at Large for International 
Religious Freedom, the Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the 
Near East and South/Central Asia, the Assistant Secretary for 
Population, Refugees, and Migration, the Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development, and Director of National 
Intelligence, shall identify the following:
            (1) The threats of persecution and other warning signs of 
        genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against 
        individuals--
                    (A) who are or were nationals and residents of Iraq 
                or Syria, and are members of the religious or ethnic 
                groups that are minorities in Iraq, or minorities in 
                Syria, and with respect to which the Secretary of State 
                has determined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 
                (ISIS) has committed genocide, crimes against humanity, 
                or war crimes in Iraq or Syria since January 2014; or
                    (B) who are members of other religious or ethnic 
                groups that are minorities in Iraq, or minorities in 
                Syria and are identified by the Secretary of State (or 
                the Secretary's designee) as persecuted groups.
            (2) The humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs of 
        individuals described in paragraph (1).
            (3) The religious and ethnic groups that are minorities in 
        Iraq, or are minorities in Syria, with respect to which the 
        Secretary of State has determined ISIS has committed genocide, 
        crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq or Syria since 
        January 2014, or are other religious or ethnic groups that are 
        minorities in Iraq, or are minorities in Syria, identified by 
        the Secretary of State (or the Secretary's designee) as a 
        persecuted group, and are at risk of forced migration, within 
        or across the borders of Iraq, or Syria, or a country of first 
        asylum, and the primary reasons for such risk.
            (4) The assistance provided by the United States to address 
        humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs of individuals 
        described in paragraph (1) and groups described in paragraph 
        (3), including assistance to mitigate the risks of forced 
        migration of such persons and groups from Iraq or Syria.
            (5) The mechanisms of the United States Government to 
        identify, assess, and respond to humanitarian, stabilization, 
        and recovery needs, and risks of forced migration, of 
        individuals described in paragraph (1) and groups described in 
        paragraph (3).
            (6) The assistance provided by or through the United 
        Nations, including the Funding Facility for Immediate 
        Stabilization and Funding Facility for Expanded Stabilization, 
        to address humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs of 
        individuals described in paragraph (1) and groups described in 
        paragraph (3), including assistance to mitigate the risks of 
        forced migration of such individuals and groups within or 
        across the borders of Iraq, or Syria, or a country of first 
        asylum from Iraq or Syria.
            (7) The entities, including faith-based entities, that are 
        providing assistance to address humanitarian, stabilization, 
        and recovery needs of individuals described in paragraph (1) 
        and groups described in paragraph (3).
            (8) If the United States Government--
                    (A) is funding entities described in paragraph (7) 
                for purposes of providing assistance described in such 
                paragraph, the sources of such funding; and
                    (B) is not funding entities described in paragraph 
                (7) for purposes of providing assistance described in 
                such paragraph, a justification for not funding such 
                entities, including whether funding such entities is 
                prohibited under United States law.
    (b) Additional Consultation.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Secretary of State shall consult with, and consider credible 
information from, individuals described in paragraph (1) of subsection 
(a) and entities described in paragraph (7) of such subsection.
    (c) Assistance.--The Secretary of State and Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development shall provide 
assistance, including cash assistance, to support entities described in 
paragraph (7) of subsection (a) that the Secretary and Administrator 
determine are effectively providing assistance described in such 
paragraph, including entities that have received funding from the 
United States Government for such purposes before the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that an 
appropriate amount of the additional amount made available under the 
heading ``Economic Support Fund'' in title II of division B of the 
Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 
(Public Law 114-254) should be made available to carry out subsection 
(c).

SEC. 6. REFUGEE ADMISSIONS OF NATIONALS AND RESIDENTS OF IRAQ OR SYRIA.

    (a) In General.--Aliens who are, or were, a national and a resident 
of Iraq or Syria, and who share common characteristics that identify 
them as targets of persecution on account of membership in a religious 
or ethnic minority in that country, in particular being survivors of 
genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes, or being the 
surviving spouse or child of an individual who was killed by a 
perpetrator of such a crime--
            (1) are deemed to be of special humanitarian concern to the 
        United States; and
            (2) shall be eligible for Priority 2 processing under the 
        refugee resettlement priority system.
    (b) In-Country and Out-of-Country Processing.--Aliens described in 
subsection (a) shall be allowed to apply, and interview, for admission 
to the United States through refugee processing mechanisms in countries 
where aliens may apply, and interview, for admission to the United 
States as refugees.
    (c) Applicability of Other Requirements.--Aliens who qualify under 
this section for Priority 2 processing under the refugee resettlement 
priority system may only be admitted to the United States after 
satisfying the requirements of section 207 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) and having cleared a background check 
and appropriate screening, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security.
    (d) Waiver of Certain Grounds of Inadmissibility.--In the case of 
an alien described in subsection (a), the Secretary of State, after 
consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, or the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation 
with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, may waive, in 
such Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, paragraph (3)(B) 
(other than clause (i)(II)) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) with respect to activities 
undertaken by such an alien in the course of avoiding or evading 
persecution by an organization described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) of 
such Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)).
    (e) Categorical Eligibility.--The Foreign Operations, Export 
Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 (Public Law 
101-167) is amended--
            (1) in section 599D (8 U.S.C. 1157 note)--
                    (A) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``and 2016'' 
                and inserting ``2016, 2017, and 2018''; and
                    (B) in subsection (e), by striking ``2016.'' each 
                place it appears and inserting ``2018.''; and
            (2) in section 599E(b)(2) (8 U.S.C. 1255 note), by striking 
        ``2016,'' and inserting ``2018,''.
    (f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed 
to lessen the protections under United States law for bona fide 
refugees who are not described in this section.

SEC. 7. REPORTS.

    (a) Section 4(a) and (b) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the following:
            (1) A detailed description of the efforts taken, and 
        efforts proposed to be taken, by the Secretary of State to 
        implement section 4(a) and section 4(b).
            (2) An assessment of the feasibility and advisability of 
        prosecuting individuals who are suspected to have committed 
        genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Iraq since 
        January 2014 or Syria since March 2011 in domestic courts in 
        Iraq, hybrid courts, and internationalized domestic courts, and 
        of the capacity-building, and other measures, needed to ensure 
        effective criminal investigations of such individuals.
    (b) Section 4(c) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the following:
            (1) The results of the review conducted under section 4(c).
            (2) Such recommendations for legislative and administrative 
        actions to implement the results of the review as the Attorney 
        General determines appropriate.
    (c) Sections 5 and 6 Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a report on the following:
            (1) A detailed description of the efforts taken, and 
        efforts proposed to be taken, by the Secretary of State to 
        implement section 5.
            (2) A detailed description of the identifications under 
        section 5(a).
            (3) A detailed description of the efforts taken, and 
        efforts proposed to be taken, by the Secretary of State and the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security to implement section 6.
    (d) Form.--Each report required under this section shall be 
submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if 
necessary.
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