[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1142 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1142
To require a determination as to whether crimes committed against the
Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 15, 2021
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Durbin, Ms.
Baldwin, Mr. Brown, Mr. Reed, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Casey)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a determination as to whether crimes committed against the
Rohingya in Burma amount to genocide.
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 ``Rohingya Genocide Determination Act
of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Since August 25, 2017, 740,000 Rohingya have fled
northern Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a
systematic campaign of atrocities by Burma's military and
security forces, and over three years later, conditions are
still not conducive to the safe, voluntary, and dignified
return of the Rohingya to Burma.
(2) On November 23, 2017, the United States Holocaust
Museum and Fortify Rights released a report entitled ``They
Tried to Kill Us All'', documenting widespread and systematic
atrocities committed against Rohingya civilians at the hands of
Burmese ``security forces, civilian perpetrators, and
militants'' and highlighting ``growing evidence of genocide''.
(3) According to the Department of State's August 24, 2018,
report entitled ``Documentation of Atrocities in Northern
Rakhine State'', violence committed by the Burmese military
against the Rohingya, including from August to October 2017,
was not only ``extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly
geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out
the Rohingya residents,'' but also ``well-planned and
coordinated''.
(4) On August 28, 2018, the United States Ambassador to the
United Nations told the United Nations Security Council that
the Department of State report's findings were ``consistent
with'' those in an August 27, 2018, report by the Independent
International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) which
urged that top Burmese military officials be investigated and
prosecuted for genocide.
(5) On September 12, 2018, the IIFFMM reported, ``The
crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were
perpetrated, are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those
that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other
contexts.''.
(6) The Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG),
whose investigation informed the Department of State's August
2018 report, published in December 2018 its Factual Findings &
Legal Analysis Report, which concluded that ``there are
reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was committed
against the Rohingya in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State''.
(7) According to the PILPG report, ``The scale and severity
of the attacks and abuses--particularly the mass killings and
accompanying brutality against children, women, pregnant women,
the elderly, religious leaders, and persons fleeing into
Bangladesh--suggest that, in the minds of the perpetrators, the
goal was not just to expel, but also to exterminate the
Rohingya.''.
(8) On September 16, 2019, the IIFFMM reported that it
``has reasonable grounds to conclude that the evidence that
infers genocidal intent on the part of the State, identified in
its last report, has strengthened that there is a serious risk
that genocidal actions may occur or recur''.
(9) The IIFFMM also recognized in its September 16, 2019,
report that Burma's military and security forces have committed
abuses against minority groups other than the Rohingya: ``All
the ethnic minority communities that the Mission
investigated,'' including ethnic groups in Rakhine, Chin,
Kayin, Kachin, and Shan States, ``have been deprived of justice
for the serious human rights violations perpetrated against
them.''.
(10) Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed at his
nomination hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate on January 19, 2021, and in subsequent written
responses to questions for the record, that he will oversee an
interagency review of whether the atrocities committed against
the Rohingya in Burma constitute genocide.
(11) The Burmese military's February 1, 2021, coup against
the democratically elected government in Burma further
underscores the importance of the United States speaking out
forcefully against human rights violations when they occur,
sending a clear signal to governments and other nongovernmental
actors around the world that those responsible for such gross
abuses of human rights will always be held accountable.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the atrocities committed against
the Rohingya by the Burmese military and security forces constitute
genocide.
SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF ATTACKS AGAINST ROHINGYA IN BURMA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, after consultation with
the heads of other United States Government agencies represented on the
Atrocity Early Warning Task Force and representatives of human rights
and civil society organizations, as appropriate, shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report on the persecution of,
including attacks against, the Rohingya in Burma by Burmese military
and security forces that determines whether the crimes committed
constitute genocide (as defined in section 1091 of title 18, United
States Code), and includes--
(1) a description and assessment of what actions the United
States Government has undertaken to ensure accountability for
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated
by the Burmese military and security forces against the
Rohingya;
(2) a detailed description of any proposed atrocities
prevention response recommended by the Atrocity Early Warning
Task Force to prevent further perpetration of mass atrocity
crimes by Burmese military and security forces against the
Rohingya people and other civilians in Burma; and
(3) recommendations on what actions the United States
Government will take to hold those responsible for these
atrocities accountable, including through international justice
mechanisms.
(b) Form.--The evaluation required under subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form and posted to the Department of State
website, but may include a classified annex as necessary.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on
Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate; and
(2) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives.
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