[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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