Rohingya Genocide Determination Act of 2021

II 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rohingya Genocide 4 Determination Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 (1) Since August 25, 2017, 740,000 Rohingya 8 have fled northern Rakhine State to neighboring 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1142 IS Bangladesh to escape a systematic campaign of 1 atrocities by Burma’s military and security forces, 2 and over three years later, conditions are still not 3 conducive to the safe, voluntary, and dignified re- 4 turn of the Rohingya to Burma. 5 (2) On November 23, 2017, the United States 6 Holocaust Museum and Fortify Rights released a re- 7 port entitled ‘‘They Tried to Kill Us All’’, docu- 8 menting widespread and systematic atrocities com- 9 mitted against Rohingya civilians at the hands of 10 Burmese ‘‘security forces, civilian perpetrators, and 11 militants’’ and highlighting ‘‘growing evidence of 12 genocide’’. 13 (3) According to the Department of State’s Au- 14 gust 24, 2018, report entitled ‘‘Documentation of 15 Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State’’, violence com- 16 mitted by the Burmese military against the 17 Rohingya, including from August to October 2017, 18 was not only ‘‘extreme, large-scale, widespread, and 19 seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the popu- 20 lation and driving out the Rohingya residents,’’ but 21 also ‘‘well-planned and coordinated’’. 22 (4) On August 28, 2018, the United States 23 Ambassador to the United Nations told the United 24 Nations Security Council that the Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1142 IS State report’s findings were ‘‘consistent with’’ those 1 in an August 27, 2018, report by the Independent 2 International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar 3 (IIFFMM) which urged that top Burmese military 4 officials be investigated and prosecuted for genocide. 5 (5) On September 12, 2018, the IIFFMM re- 6 ported, ‘‘The crimes in Rakhine State, and the man- 7 ner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in 8 nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed 9 genocidal intent to be established in other con- 10 texts.’’. 11 (6) The Public International Law & Policy 12 Group (PILPG), whose investigation informed the 13 Department of State’s August 2018 report, pub- 14 lished in December 2018 its Factual Findings & 15 Legal Analysis Report, which concluded that ‘‘there 16 are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was 17 committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s 18 northern Rakhine State’’. 19 (7) According to the PILPG report, ‘‘The scale 20 and severity of the attacks and abuses—particularly 21 the mass killings and accompanying brutality 22 against children, women, pregnant women, the elder- 23 ly, religious leaders, and persons fleeing into Ban- 24 gladesh—suggest that, in the minds of the perpetra- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1142 IS tors, the goal was not just to expel, but also to ex- 1 terminate the Rohingya.’’. 2 (8) On September 16, 2019, the IIFFMM re- 3 ported that it ‘‘has reasonable grounds to conclude 4 that the evidence that infers genocidal intent on the 5 part of the State, identified in its last report, has 6 strengthened that there is a serious risk that geno- 7 cidal actions may occur or recur’’. 8 (9) The IIFFMM also recognized in its Sep- 9 tember 16, 2019, report that Burma’s military and 10 security forces have committed abuses against mi- 11 nority groups other than the Rohingya: ‘‘All the eth- 12 nic minority communities that the Mission inves- 13 tigated,’’ including ethnic groups in Rakhine, Chin, 14 Kayin, Kachin, and Shan States, ‘‘have been de- 15 prived of justice for the serious human rights viola- 16 tions perpetrated against them.’’. 17 (10) Secretary of State Antony Blinken com- 18 mitted at his nomination hearing before the Com- 19 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on Janu- 20 ary 19, 2021, and in subsequent written responses 21 to questions for the record, that he will oversee an 22 interagency review of whether the atrocities com- 23 mitted against the Rohingya in Burma constitute 24 genocide. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1142 IS (11) The Burmese military’s February 1, 2021, 1 coup against the democratically elected government 2 in Burma further underscores the importance of the 3 United States speaking out forcefully against human 4 rights violations when they occur, sending a clear 5 signal to governments and other nongovernmental 6 actors around the world that those responsible for 7 such gross abuses of human rights will always be 8 held accountable. 9 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 10 It is the sense of Congress that the atrocities com- 11 mitted against the Rohingya by the Burmese military and 12 security forces constitute genocide. 13 SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF ATTACKS AGAINST ROHINGYA IN 14 BURMA. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 16 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 17 after consultation with the heads of other United States 18 Government agencies represented on the Atrocity Early 19 Warning Task Force and representatives of human rights 20 and civil society organizations, as appropriate, shall sub- 21 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 22 on the persecution of, including attacks against, the 23 Rohingya in Burma by Burmese military and security 24 forces that determines whether the crimes committed con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1142 IS stitute genocide (as defined in section 1091 of title 18, 1 United States Code), and includes— 2 (1) a description and assessment of what ac- 3 tions the United States Government has undertaken 4 to ensure accountability for war crimes, crimes 5 against humanity, and genocide perpetrated by the 6 Burmese military and security forces against the 7 Rohingya; 8 (2) a detailed description of any proposed atroc- 9 ities prevention response recommended by the Atroc- 10 ity Early Warning Task Force to prevent further 11 perpetration of mass atrocity crimes by Burmese 12 military and security forces against the Rohingya 13 people and other civilians in Burma; and 14 (3) recommendations on what actions the 15 United States Government will take to hold those re- 16 sponsible for these atrocities accountable, including 17 through international justice mechanisms. 18 (b) FORM.—The evaluation required under sub- 19 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form and 20 posted to the Department of State website, but may in- 21 clude a classified annex as necessary. 22 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 23 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- 24 sional committees’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1142 IS (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 1 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 2 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 3 (2) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 4 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 5 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1142.IS S1142 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS