Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States policy recognizing the Assyrian Genocide.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 537 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States policy recognizing the Assyrian Genocide. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 2, 2019 Mr. HARDER of California submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard- ing United States policy recognizing the Assyrian Geno- cide. Whereas the Ottoman Empire committed the crime of geno- cide against the Assyrian people, killing at least 300,000 innocent Assyrians during the time of the First World War; Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term ‘‘genocide’’ in 1944, drew on the history of the Assyrian Genocide in his seminal work that guided the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide; Whereas the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–441) establishes that atrocities prevention represents a United States national interest, and affirms that it is the policy of the United VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Aug 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR537.IH HR537 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HRES 537 IH States to pursue a United States Government-wide strat- egy to identify, prevent, and respond to the risk of atroc- ities by ‘‘strengthening diplomatic response and the effec- tive use of foreign assistance to support appropriate tran- sitional justice measures, including criminal account- ability, for past atrocities’’; Whereas the resilience and endurance of the Assyrian people is still commendable and praiseworthy, despite being vic- tims of an ethnocide that is being continued by the Is- lamic State; Whereas American families continue to feel the effects of the Assyrian Genocide, including families that have never been reunited since; Whereas recognition and commemoration of a genocide is critical to efforts to prevent both future genocides and further harm to the group upon which the genocide was committed; and Whereas the Assyrian Genocide remains unrecognized by many countries and organizations across the globe, in- cluding the United States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that it is the policy of the United States to— 2 (1) commemorate the Assyrian Genocide 3 through official recognition and remembrance; 4 (2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise 5 associate the United States Government with denial 6 of the Assyrian Genocide or any other genocide; 7 (3) call upon the Republic of Turkey to offi- 8 cially recognize the Assyrian Genocide; and 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Aug 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR537.IH HR537 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HRES 537 IH (4) encourage education and public under- 1 standing of the facts of the Assyrian Genocide, in- 2 cluding the United States role in the humanitarian 3 relief effort, and the relevance of the Assyrian Geno- 4 cide to modern-day crimes against humanity. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Aug 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR537.IH HR537 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS