[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 590 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 590
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding 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 through the United Nations
and United Nations General Assembly to investigate and prosecute
possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of
internationally recognized human rights stemming from the conflict in
Syria, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 13, 2023
Ms. Tlaib (for herself and Ms. Omar) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding 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 through the United Nations
and United Nations General Assembly to investigate and prosecute
possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of
internationally recognized human rights stemming from the conflict in
Syria, and for other purposes.
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly on December 10th, 1948, with the support of 48
countries including Syria, enshrines the fundamental and inviolable
rights and freedoms of all human beings;
Whereas the Syrian Arab Republic is a State Party to the following core
international human rights instruments:
(1) The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination.
(2) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
(3) The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
(4) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.
(5) The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
(6) The Convention on the Rights of the Child.
(7) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
(8) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.
(9) The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
(10) The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
(11) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities;
Whereas significant volumes of publicly accessible information exist indicating
that the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, led by the dictator
Bashar al-Assad, has violated significant portions of the aforementioned
agreements, as well as the Geneva Conventions, during the conflict in
Syria that began in 2011 and continues to this day;
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; and
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 3 ad hoc tribunals: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) the United States should publicly declare that it is a
requirement of basic justice that violations of internationally
recognized human rights, international law, war crimes, and
crimes against humanity should be investigated and prosecuted;
(2) 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 war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of
internationally recognized human rights, and to prosecute the
alleged perpetrators of such serious crimes committed during
the period of conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic;
(3) in working with other countries to establish this
regional or international justice mechanism, 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 accused of perpetrating such serious crimes;
(4) the United States should encourage, support, and
collect any and all information that can be supplied to an
appropriate regional or international justice mechanism
regarding possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, and
violations of internationally recognized human rights for use
as evidence to support the indictment and trial of any persons
responsible; and
(5) the United States should urge all other interested
states to apprehend and deliver into the custody of an
appropriate regional or justice mechanism for war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and violations of internationally
recognized human rights 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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