Title: Condemning atrocities committed by the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution condemns Azerbaijan's violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, encourages investigation of war crimes committed by Azerbaijani forces, and reaffirms the House of Representatives' support of Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1400 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1400

     Condemning atrocities committed by the Republic of Azerbaijan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2022

   Ms. Speier (for herself, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Eshoo, and Mr. Pallone) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Condemning atrocities committed by the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble states that ``Member 
        States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the 
        United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of 
        human rights and fundamental freedoms'';
Whereas Article 2 of the United Nations Charter directs all Member States to 
        ``refrain . . . from the threat or use of force against the territorial 
        integrity or political independence of any State'';
Whereas the Republic of Azerbaijan joined the United Nations on March 2, 1992, 
        and thus has a duty to abide by the conditions of the United Nations 
        Charter and pledges reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human 
        Rights;
Whereas the Republic of Azerbaijan ratified the Geneva Conventions in 1993, 
        which establish international legal standards on the treatment of 
        civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise 
        rendered incapable of fighting;
Whereas Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions prohibits, among other 
        violations, ``mutilation, cruel treatment and torture . . . [and] 
        outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading 
        treatment'';
Whereas grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions constitute war crimes 
        under both United States law and the Rome Statute, including willful 
        killing and extrajudicial executions, torture, inhumane treatment, 
        causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful 
        deportation or confinement, and hostage taking;
Whereas on September 13, 2022, the Republic of Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked 
        and illegal attack against the sovereign territory of the Republic of 
        Armenia;
Whereas this attack followed a large-scale, unprovoked invasion of the Nagorno-
        Karabakh region by Azerbaijan in October 2020;
Whereas on September 28, 2020, Azerbaijani forces conducted a targeted attack on 
        an Armenian military ambulance in which assailants shot and killed a 
        military doctor;
Whereas on October 14, 2020, Azerbaijani rocket artillery struck the Martakert 
        Military Hospital in an ``apparently deliberate'' attack, according to 
        Human Rights Watch, in which the nearest military target was over 1.5 
        kilometers away and the rocket's satellite guidance capability ensures 
        accuracy within 10 meters;
Whereas on October 28, 2020, an Azerbaijani artillery rocket struck the 
        maternity ward of the Republican Medical Center, causing extensive 
        damage;
Whereas the targeting of both military and civilian medical facilities and 
        workers is a violation of international humanitarian law;
Whereas in October 2020 video footage authenticated by non-governmental 
        organizations including Amnesty International showed Azerbaijani 
        soldiers decapitating two civilians on two separate occasions while they 
        were bound or pinned to the ground;
Whereas in October 2020 Azerbaijan's Armed Forces used white phosphorus 
        munitions, prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, causing severe burns 
        and the deaths of civilians;
Whereas firsthand accounts have confirmed the torture and extrajudicial killing 
        of Armenian POWs and captured civilians held illegally under Azerbaijani 
        detention;
Whereas since October 2020 Azerbaijan has illegally detained over 100 prisoners 
        of war and captured civilians in violation of the November 9, 2020, 
        tripartite agreement, in which Azerbaijan committed to repatriating all 
        prisoners of war and captured civilians;
Whereas as of September 20, 2022, Azerbaijani forces have captured at least 20 
        additional serviceman and 3 civilian prisoners of war;
Whereas Article 15 of the first Geneva Convention of 1949 directs parties to a 
        conflict to ``take all possible measures to search for and collect the 
        wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to 
        ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their 
        being despoiled'';
Whereas on September 16, 2022, Armenia's Chief of Staff of the Army verified 
        disturbing video footage showing the mutilation and desecration a female 
        servicemember's body by Azerbaijani soldiers;
Whereas video footage recorded in September 2022 depicted a captured Armenian 
        soldier receiving treatment for a shoulder wound, whose body was later 
        returned to the Armenian Government, suggesting that he was killed in 
        captivity;
Whereas Azerbaijan has directly targeted Armenian cultural sites as a means of 
        further disenfranchising the Armenian people by eliminating their 
        cultural existence;
Whereas Armenia and Azerbaijan are States parties to the Second Protocol of the 
        1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the 
        Event of Armed Conflict, adopted in 1991, which reads, ``the Parties to 
        a conflict shall ensure the immunity of cultural property under enhanced 
        protection by refraining from making such property the object of attack 
        or from any use of the property or its immediate surroundings in support 
        of military action.''
Whereas Article 53 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, prohibits 
        committing any ``acts of hostility directed against the historic 
        monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the 
        cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples'';
Whereas on October 8, 2020 Azerbaijan's forces twice shelled the 19th-century 
        Ghazanchetsots Holy Saviour Cathedral in Shushi, a culturally and 
        religiously significant building of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 
        causing extensive damage;
Whereas a report issued by Human Rights Watch on December 16, 2020, found that 
        the attack ``appear[ed] to be a deliberate targeting in violation of the 
        laws of war,'' and its analysis of weapon remnants found at the scene of 
        the strike were ``consistent with a munition capable of being accurately 
        directed at a specific target'';
Whereas a report issued on May 12, 2021, by the United States Commission on 
        International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended placing Azerbaijan 
        on U.S. Department of State's Special Watch List for engaging in or 
        tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the 
        International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), in part due to ``recent 
        violations committed amid renewed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and 
        surrounding territories'' and raised serious concerns over the 
        preservation of Armenian places of worship, cemeteries, and other 
        religious and cultural heritage sites in the region;
Whereas on September 16, 2021, the Republic of Armenia initiated proceedings 
        before the International Court of Justice alleging violations of the 
        International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to 
        which both the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan are 
        party;
Whereas international humanitarian law requires parties to a conflict to 
        distinguish between civilian and military objects and violations of the 
        laws of war committed with criminal intent, either intentionally or 
        through reckless action, can constitute war crimes;
Whereas the United States serves as a Co-Chair of the Organization for Security 
        and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group, along with France and Russia, 
        and is committed to sustainable, long-term peace in the region; and
Whereas both Azerbaijan and Armenia are NATO Partnership for Peace countries, 
        and have committed to increase stability, diminish threats to peace, and 
        build strengthened security relationships among NATO and nonmember 
        countries in the Euro-Atlantic area: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns Azerbaijan's destabilizing actions, including 
        violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which have severely 
        undermine the international rule of law;
            (2) encourages the United States Government and 
        international community to petition the International Court of 
        Justice, European Court of Human Rights, or other appropriate 
        international tribunals to take appropriate steps to 
        investigate any and all war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani 
        forces at the direction of President Ilham Aliyev;
            (3) calls on Azerbaijan to immediately investigate all 
        grave violations of the Geneva Conventions perpetrated by 
        Azerbaijani servicemembers against Armenian servicemembers and 
        civilians;
            (4) condemns the intentional or reckless destruction, 
        vandalization, or desecration of all Armenian cultural and 
        religious heritage sites;
            (5) reaffirms the United States strong support for Common 
        Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, to which the United 
        States is party, as well as the non-treaty based law and 
        longstanding norms outlined in the Geneva Protocol I and 1899 
        and 1907 Hague Conventions;
            (6) encourages the President of the United States to 
        explore the applicability of sanctions on Azerbaijan in 
        response to its aggression and potential war crimes; and
            (7) reaffirms its support of Armenia's sovereignty and 
        territorial integrity, as well as that of the Republic of 
        Artsakh, against Azerbaijan's military aggression and blatant 
        violations of international laws and norms.
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