[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 192 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 192
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States condemns the Russian Government's gross violations of
international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity,
stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and supports the
efforts of international organizations to help people displaced by war
and conflict.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 1, 2023
Mr. Espaillat (for himself and Mr. Cicilline) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States condemns the Russian Government's gross violations of
international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity,
stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and supports the
efforts of international organizations to help people displaced by war
and conflict.
Whereas the Government of Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, has engaged in an
unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine and gross violations of
international law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity;
Whereas the law of armed conflict, also known as international humanitarian law,
is a set of international rules regulating the conduct of armed
conflict;
Whereas the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols are the core of
international humanitarian law, and many rules contained in these
treaties are considered customary international law, binding on all
states, whether or not they have ratified the treaties;
Whereas Russia's military invasion of Ukraine constitutes an international armed
conflict governed by international humanitarian law as well as customary
international humanitarian law;
Whereas Article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions,
prohibits the targeting of civilians, as well as ``acts or threats of
violence, the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the
civilian population'';
Whereas Article 76 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, states
that women ``shall be protected in particular against rape, forced
prostitution, and any other form of indecent assault'';
Whereas Article 77 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions expresses
that ``children shall be the object of special respect and shall be
protected against any form of indecent assault'';
Whereas, on June 19, 2008, the United Nations Security Council adopted
Resolution 1820, noting that ``rape and other forms of sexual violence
can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive
act with respect to genocide'', and calling for ``prosecuting persons
responsible for such acts'';
Whereas Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
defines ``crimes against humanity'' as acts such as murder,
extermination, rape, persecution, and all other inhumane acts of a
similar character intentionally causing great suffering, which are
committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against
any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack;
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 Article 15 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions,
establishes that installations containing dangerous forces, including
nuclear electrical generating stations, ``shall not be made the object
of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such
attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe
losses among the civilian population'';
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked
military invasion of Ukraine's sovereign territory;
Whereas, on February 25, 2022, the Russian Federation threatened Sweden and
Finland with military and political repercussions if they joined the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance committed to the
collective defense of members against attacks;
Whereas, on February 28, 2022, the United Nations World Food Programme launched
an emergency operation to provide food assistance for people fleeing
Ukraine to neighboring countries, an operation which is ongoing to this
day and which has assisted between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 Ukrainians
per month during each month of the war;
Whereas, in late February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began its
ongoing effort to help coordinate Ukraine's requests for assistance and
to support Allies in the delivery of humanitarian aid;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike hit Kyiv's main television tower,
damaging broadcasting infrastructure, killing at least 5 people, and
injuring others;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian airstrike targeted Freedom Square in
Kharkiv, as cars were stopped at a traffic light on their morning
commute;
Whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized Russia's airstrike
on Freedom Square on March 1, 2022, as a ``war crime'';
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Secretary
of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia for killing civilians, striking
``schools, hospitals and residential buildings'' in Ukraine;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of
Ukraine, announced that a Russian missile hit the location of the Babyn
Yar Holocaust Memorial complex in Kyiv, a place where thousands of
Jewish people were killed between 1941 and 1943;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a Russian missile hit Freedom Square in the center of
Kharkiv, Ukraine, causing severe damage to an opera house, concert hall,
and government offices;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, President Zelenskyy expressed to the European
Parliament, ``we are fighting for our rights, for our freedoms, for
life, for our life, and now we are fighting for survival'';
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, a global spokesperson for the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Shabia Mantoo, announced that the
UNHCR would begin coordinating a refugee response plan with other United
Nations agencies and nongovernmental organization partners, in support
of national authorities helping people fleeing Ukraine, a response plan
which includes almost 250 partner organizations and which has assisted
millions of Ukrainians over course of the past year;
Whereas, on March 1, 2022, the United Nations and humanitarian partners launched
coordinated emergency appeals to urgently deliver humanitarian support
to people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries;
Whereas United States ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield
expressed to the United Nations on March 2, 2022, that videos showed
Russian forces moving lethal weaponry into Ukraine, including cluster
munitions and vacuum bombs, which are banned under the Geneva
Conventions;
Whereas, on March 2, 2022, Ukraine's foreign ministry reported that a Russian
missile strike destroyed the Pavlusenko maternity hospital;
Whereas, on March 2, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia for its military invasion of
Ukraine and demanded that the Russian Federation immediately,
completely, and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from
the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,
a vote which was repeated by the UNGA on February 23, 2023, and which
once again overwhelmingly condemned the Russian Federation;
Whereas, on March 3, 2022, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy accused Russian forces
of ``nuclear terror'' because ``Russian tanks are shooting at the
nuclear blocks'' in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe's
largest nuclear power station;
Whereas, on March 3, 2022, the United States embassy in Ukraine called the
Russian attack on the Ukrainian nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia a ``war
crime'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2022, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs accused Russian
soldiers of raping women in Ukrainian cities;
Whereas, on March 5, 2022, the World Health Organization confirmed several
Russian attacks on health care centers in Ukraine, causing multiple
deaths and injuries;
Whereas, on March 6, 2022, in response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian health
care facilities, the Director-General of the World Health Organization
expressed that ``attacks on healthcare facilities or workers breach
medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian
law'';
Whereas, on March 6, 2022, the UNHCR stated that Russia's war in Ukraine had
created the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II;
Whereas, on April 3, 2022, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk
announced that Russian troops occupying the Ukrainian village of
Motyzhyn had kidnaped, tortured, and killed the village's mayor, Olga
Sukhenko, Sukhenko's husband, and Sukhenko's son before disposing of
their bodies in a shallow grave;
Whereas, on April 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized
Russian troops' actions in Bucha, Ukraine, as ``genocide'' and ``war
crimes'' when the bodies of over 400 executed civilians were discovered
in the city, with many of these bodies displaying visible signs of
torture;
Whereas, on April 8, 2022, a Russian cluster munition strike on the train
station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, killed 58 civilians, many of whom were
gathered at the train station to board evacuation trains and flee the
ongoing fighting;
Whereas, on May 12, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a
resolution expressing ``deep concern at the grave human rights and
humanitarian situation in the city of Mariupol, the near total
destruction of its residential and civilian infrastructure caused by
Russian bombing and shelling, reports of tens of thousands of civilian
casualties and of mass graves near the city, and the limited progress in
securing safe and unhindered evacuations to safe areas under the control
of the government of Ukraine'';
Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International Commission of
Inquiry on Ukraine published a report stating that ``the Commission has
found that war crimes and violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022.
Russian armed forces are responsible for the vast majority of the
violations identified'';
Whereas, on October 18, 2022, the Independent International Commission of
Inquiry on Ukraine's report revealed that ``the Commission documented
patterns of summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, ill-
treatment, and rape and other sexual violence committed in areas
occupied by Russian armed forces across the four [Ukrainian] provinces
on which [the Commission's inquiry] focused. People have been detained,
some have been unlawfully deported to the Russian Federation, and many
are still reported missing. Sexual violence has affected victims of all
ages. Victims, including children, were sometimes forced to witness the
crimes'';
Whereas, as of January 31, 2023, the UNHCR asserts that, as a result of the war
in Ukraine, more than 8,000,000 Ukrainian refugees have been recorded
across Europe and approximately 17,600,000 people remain in need of
urgent humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine; and
Whereas, on February 14, 2023, the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, which was
launched by the Department of State, found, using data from the Yale
School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab, that the Russian
Government is operating an expansive network of ``re-education camps''
where it has held thousands of Ukrainian children since the start of the
war, with the primary purpose of these camps being the ``political re-
education'' of Ukrainian children: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) forcefully condemns the continued use of unlawful and
indiscriminate violence against civilian populations by the
Government of Russia, its allies, and any other parties to the
conflict;
(2) urges that the global community hold Vladimir Putin and
the Russian Government accountable for war crimes committed
during the military invasion of Ukraine;
(3) urges the United States and its allies to continue
providing defense security assistance and humanitarian aid to
Ukraine as Ukrainians valiantly defend themselves against
Russia's military invasion;
(4) supports the continued use of sanctions against Russia
and its allies until Russia ends its military invasion and
unequivocally recognizes Ukraine's internationally recognized
borders and political independence;
(5) urges the United States to maintain support for
international organizations, such as the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, helping Ukrainians fleeing conflict
as well as the over 100,000,000 people around the world who are
forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, and
human rights violations;
(6) urges the United States to treat all forcibly displaced
people with dignity and abide by the Protocol Related to the
Status of Refugees, ratified by the Senate in 1968, and
thereafter considered the ``supreme Law of the Land'' under
article VI, section 2 of the Constitution;
(7) urges the United States and members of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to meet NATO's funding
needs to ensure the ability to provide collective defense and
innovation;
(8) urges NATO to maintain its commitment to innovating and
work towards solving and dealing with emerging and disruptive
technologies; and
(9) stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine who are
fighting for their freedom and democracy, Slava Ukraini, glory
to Ukraine.
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