Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need for investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression and other international crimes committed by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation against the Government and people of Ukraine, and calling on the President to direct the United States representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to immediately promote the establishment of an appropriate regional or international justice mechanism to investigate and prosecute possible international crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and further calling upon the President to convoke and convene the world's democracies for the purposes of establishing such an international justice mechanism at the earliest possible time, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 966 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 966

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need 
for investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression and other 
 international crimes committed by officials of the Government of the 
 Russian Federation against the Government and people of Ukraine, and 
calling on the President to direct the United States representative to 
the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
   States to immediately promote the establishment of an appropriate 
    regional or international justice mechanism to investigate and 
   prosecute possible international crimes stemming from the Russian 
invasion of Ukraine, and further calling upon the President to convoke 
 and convene the world's democracies for the purposes of establishing 
such an international justice mechanism at the earliest possible time, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2022

 Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Wilson of South 
    Carolina, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Suozzi) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need 
for investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression and other 
 international crimes committed by officials of the Government of the 
 Russian Federation against the Government and people of Ukraine, and 
calling on the President to direct the United States representative to 
the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
   States to immediately promote the establishment of an appropriate 
    regional or international justice mechanism to investigate and 
   prosecute possible international crimes stemming from the Russian 
invasion of Ukraine, and further calling upon the President to convoke 
 and convene the world's democracies for the purposes of establishing 
such an international justice mechanism at the earliest possible time, 
                        and for other purposes.

Whereas Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter (``UN Charter'') states that 
        ``All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the 
        threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political 
        independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the 
        Purposes of the United Nations'';
Whereas Article 51 of the UN Charter states that ``Nothing in the present 
        Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective 
        self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United 
        Nations, until the Security Council has take measures necessary to 
        maintain international peace and security'';
Whereas the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) and the Ukrainian 
        Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) were founding members of the 
        United Nations (UN) and signatories to the UN Charter;
Whereas Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991, 
        which was subsequently reaffirmed in a popular referendum on December 1, 
        1991;
Whereas, on December 2, 1991, then-President of the Russian Soviet Federative 
        Socialist Republic, Boris Yeltsin, recognized that Ukraine was 
        independent, and on December 8, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved by 
        the Belovezh Accords and Ukraine was recognized as independent;
Whereas the United States recognized the independence of Ukraine on Christmas 
        Day, 1991;
Whereas both Ukraine and the Russian Federation are successor states to the 
        Ukrainian SSR and the Soviet Union that signed the UN Charter;
Whereas, on December 5, 1994, the Russian Federation signed the Budapest 
        Memorandum, in which Russia agreed to: ``respect the Independence and 
        Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine . . . refrain from the 
        threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political 
        independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be 
        used against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance 
        with the Charter of the United Nations . . . [and] to refrain from 
        economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the 
        exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus 
        to secure advantages of any kind.'';
Whereas, in February and March 2014, the Russian Federation military entered and 
        occupied the Crimean region of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autonomous 
        Republic of Crimea, ejected the legitimate Ukrainian authorities, 
        annexed the region to the Russian Federation, and subsequently sustained 
        a brutal campaign of repression against Crimean Tatars, ethnic 
        Ukrainians, and members of other minority ethnic and religious groups in 
        the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea, initiating a period of 
        conflict in Ukraine;
Whereas, in April 2014, pro-Russian separatists began to seize territory in the 
        eastern Donbas region of Ukraine and in August 2014 Russian Federation 
        forces invaded Ukraine to support the separatists;
Whereas, on February 12, 2015, the Russian Federation signed the Minsk Agreement 
        in which Russia agreed, inter alia, to ``An immediate and comprehensive 
        ceasefire in individual areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of 
        Ukraine . . . withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both parties . . . 
        Restoration of full control over the state border of Ukraine by 
        Ukraine's government throughout the whole conflict area . . . [and] 
        withdrawal of all foreign armed forces, military equipment, as well as 
        mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine'';
Whereas the Russian Federation has failed to meet its obligations under the 
        Minsk Agreement, and a state of conflict persisted until this year in 
        the Donbas region;
Whereas, on February 21, 2022, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, 
        alone among UN Member States, contrary to international law, and 
        contrary to Russia's commitments under the UN Charter, the Budapest 
        Memorandum, and the Minsk Agreement, recognized two eastern Ukrainian 
        oblasts in the Donbas region as independent states, which he called the 
        Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic;
Whereas, following Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin's illegal 
        February 21, 2022, recognition of the independence of the Ukrainian 
        oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, President Putin ordered Armed Forces 
        that he had massed on Ukraine's border for several months to occupy 
        these oblasts;
Whereas these and other actions perpetrated by the Russian Federation and all 
        other national groups may constitute international crimes, to include 
        the crime of aggression;
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, contrary to Russian Federation President Vladimir 
        Putin's commitments under the UN Charter, the Budapest Memorandum, and 
        the Minsk Agreement, he ordered his Armed Forces to mount a full scale 
        invasion of Ukraine from the occupied Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, 
        Luhansk, the occupied Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the 
        country of Belarus;
Whereas, on February 20, 2022, the Washington Post reported that United States 
        Representative to the Office of the United Nations and Other 
        International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Bathsheba Nell 
        Crocker, informed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle 
        Bachelet, that the United States has ``credible information that 
        indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to 
        be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation . . .'' and 
        ``. . . credible information that Russian forces will likely use lethal 
        measures to disperse peaceful protests or otherwise counter peaceful 
        exercises of perceived resistance from civilian populations. . . .'';
Whereas, on February 27, 2022, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin 
        publicly put his strategic nuclear forces on alert, thus exponentially 
        escalating the seriousness of his invasion of Ukraine, and implicitly 
        threatening NATO countries and others with nuclear annihilation;
Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of the United Nations 
        Security Council, with veto power;
Whereas the international community has previously established ad hoc tribunals 
        and special courts and other justice mechanisms through the United 
        Nations to bring justice in specific countries where there have been war 
        crimes;
Whereas various tribunals, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
        former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and 
        the Special Court for Sierra Leone, have successfully investigated and 
        prosecuted war crimes, and there are many positive lessons to be learned 
        from these three ad hoc tribunals;
Whereas the crime of aggression is an international crime and recognized as such 
        by most nations of the world; and
Whereas, if the United Nations is unwilling or unable to act, the world's 
        democracies have an interest in seeing accountability for international 
        crimes, to include the crime of aggression committed against a fellow 
        democracy: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the United States should urge the Governments of the 
        Russian Federation, Ukraine, and other groups involved in the 
        war in Ukraine to implement an immediate cease-fire and engage 
        in negotiations to end the bloodshed, while demanding that the 
        Russian Federation withdraw its forces from Ukraine, the 
        Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the Ukrainian 
        Autonomous Republic of Crimea;
            (2) the United States should publicly declare that it is a 
        requirement of basic justice that international crimes to 
        include the crime of aggression, whether committed by officials 
        of the Government of the Russian Federation, or members of 
        other irregular separatist groups involved in the war in 
        Ukraine, should be investigated and prosecuted;
            (3) the President should direct the United States 
        Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, 
        and influence of the United States to immediately promote the 
        establishment of an international justice mechanism for Russian 
        war crimes and other crimes against Ukraine, and to prosecute 
        the perpetrators of such serious crimes committed during the 
        period of conflict in Ukraine;
            (4) in the event that the United Nations is unable or 
        unwilling to establish a tribunal for Russian war crimes and 
        other crimes against Ukraine, the President should convoke and 
        convene the world's democracies for the purposes of 
        establishing such a regional or international justice 
        mechanism;
            (5) in working with other countries to establish this 
        regional or international justice mechanism for Russian war 
        crimes and other crimes against Ukraine, the United States 
        should assist all its partners in this effort to develop 
        judicial procedures that enable the fair and open prosecution 
        of those persons guilty of perpetrating such serious crimes;
            (6) the United States should encourage, support, and 
        collect any and all information that can be supplied to an 
        appropriate regional or international justice mechanism for 
        Russian war crimes and other crimes against Ukraine for use as 
        evidence to support the indictment and trial of any persons 
        responsible for international crimes to include the crime of 
        aggression in Ukraine an immediate priority; and
            (7) the United States should urge all other interested 
        states to apprehend and deliver into the custody of an 
        appropriate regional or justice mechanism for Russian war 
        crimes and other crimes against Ukraine persons indicted for 
        international crimes and urge all interested states to provide 
        any and all data and information pertaining to such crimes to 
        that justice mechanism.
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