Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States policy recognizing the Semele Massacre of 1933.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that it is U.S. policy to officially recognize and remember the Semele Massacre (the 1933 killing of up to 3,000 Assyrian Christian men, women, and children by the government of Iraq), to reject efforts to associate the U.S. government with denial of the massacre, and to encourage education and public understanding of the massacre and its relevance to modern-day crimes against humanity.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 143 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 143

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United 
         States policy recognizing the Semele Massacre of 1933.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 22, 2021

   Mrs. Lesko (for herself, Mr. Harder of California, Mr. Perry, Mr. 
    Sherman, Mr. Schweikert, and Ms. Eshoo) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United 
         States policy recognizing the Semele Massacre of 1933.

Whereas the United States has a history of recognizing and condemning atrocities 
        experienced by vulnerable and native minorities;
Whereas the First World War brought untold suffering to the world, and 
        particularly to the Assyrian people, who lost two-thirds of their 
        numbers to violence, famine, and disease inflicted upon them by hostile 
        forces, and found themselves in a difficult predicament as new nation-
        states formed around them;
Whereas the Assyrians had not been included in the Sykes-Picot Agreement between 
        the British and French Governments after the First World War and were 
        otherwise left vulnerable as refugees in the newly formed Kingdom of 
        Iraq;
Whereas the Government of Iraq became increasingly hostile toward the Assyrians, 
        and on August 18, 1933, exiled their leader, Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun 
        XXIII, to Cyprus, with the authorization of the British Government, 
        despite the Assyrians being recognized as Britain's ``smallest ally'' in 
        the Middle East;
Whereas the Government of Iraq rejected the Assyrian leaders' request for 
        autonomy and sought to cause division and animosity among them;
Whereas, in August 1933, after the surrender of those Assyrians who pledged 
        their loyalties to the Government of Iraq and laid down their arms in 
        the interest of peace, the armed forces of the Government of Iraq 
        targeted them for calculated slaughter that came to be known as the 
        Semele Massacre;
Whereas the greatest number of killings occurred between August 1 and September 
        16, 1933, when up to 3,000 unarmed Assyrian Christian men, women, and 
        children were slaughtered by the armed forces of the Government of Iraq;
Whereas at the time of the massacres, over 60 Assyrian villages were looted and 
        destroyed by various populations urged on to destroy the Assyrian 
        people;
Whereas as a result of the massacres, numerous Assyrians were forcedly displaced 
        within their country of Iraq, and others were forced to flee the 
        country;
Whereas the entire world was horrified at the indiscriminate slaughter of men, 
        women, and children; and
Whereas the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public 
        Law 115-441) establishes that atrocities prevention represents a United 
        States national interest, and affirms that it is the policy of the 
        United States to pursue a United States Governmentwide strategy to 
        identify, prevent, and respond to the risk of atrocities by 
        ``strengthening diplomatic response and the effective use of foreign 
        assistance to support appropriate transitional justice measures, 
        including criminal accountability, for past atrocities'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
it is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) commemorate the Semele Massacre through official 
        recognition and remembrance;
            (2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise 
        associate the United States Government with denial of the 
        Semele Massacre; and
            (3) encourage education and public understanding of the 
        facts of the Semele Massacre, including the United States role 
        in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the 
        Semele Massacre to modern-day crimes against humanity.
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