SYRIAN WAR CRIMES ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015; Congressional Record Vol. 161, No. 109

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SYRIAN WAR CRIMES ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015

Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate

proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 117, \[S. 756\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/756).

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (\[S. 756\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/756)) to require a report on accountability for

war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.

Mr. ALEXANDER. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be read

a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made

and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The bill (\[S. 756\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/756)) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading,

was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

\[S. 756\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/756)

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 \\\`\\\`Syrian War Crimes

Accountability Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) March 2015 marks the fourth year of the ongoing

conflict in Syria.

(2) On December 17, 2014, the United Nations Security

Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2191 \\\`\\\`expressing

outrage at the unacceptable and escalating level of violence

and the killing of more than 191,000 people, including well

over 10,000 children'' and approximately 1,000,000 injured in

Syria.

(3) More than half of Syria's population is displaced as of

March 2015, with more than 7,600,000 internally displaced and

more than 3,700,000 refugees in neighboring countries.

(4) On February 19, 2015, United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon reported to the Security Council that \\\`\\\`parties

to the conflict are failing to live up to their international

legal obligations to protect civilians'' and called for

action to ensure the unfettered delivery of humanitarian

relief, an end to the use of denial of services as a weapon

of war, and a response to \\\`\\\`the relentless and indiscriminate

attacks on civilians, including through the use of barrel

bombs''.

(5) On February 27, 2014, the Department of State issued

its 2013 Human Rights Report on Syria, which described

President Bashar al Assad's use of \\\`\\\`indiscriminate and

deadly force'' in the conflict, including the August 21,

2013, use of \\\`\\\`sarin gas and artillery to target East Ghouta

and Moadamiya al-Sham, suburbs of Damascus, which killed over

1,000 people''.

(6) The 2014 United States Commission on International

Religious Freedom Annual Report states that in Syria

\\\`\\\`terrorist organizations espouse violence and the creation

of an Islamic state with no space for religious diversity and

have carried out religiously-motivated attacks and massacres

against Alawite, Shi'a and Christian civilians.''

(7) On February 4, 2015, the Executive Council of the

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

adopted a decision expressing serious concern about the

findings \\\`\\\`with a high degree of confidence'' of an OPCW

fact-finding mission

\\\[\\\[\[Page\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-161/senate-section/page/S5089) \[S5089\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-161/senate-section/page/S5089)\\\]\\\]

that chlorine had been used as a weapon in some areas of

Syria in 2014 and calling for those individuals responsible

to be held accountable.

(8) The United Nations Independent International Commission

of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic reports that pro-

government forces have conducted attacks on Syrian civilian

populations, and have utilized murder, torture, assault, and

rape as war tactics. Anti-government groups have also

committed murder and torture, engaged in hostage-taking,

attacked protected objects, and shelled civilian

neighborhoods. The Commission's February 2015 report states

that Syria's civil war \\\`\\\`has been characterized by massive,

recurrent violations of human rights and international

humanitarian law that demand urgent international and

national action''.

(9) On March 12, 2015, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)

reported that since 2011, at least 610 medical personnel have

been killed and there have been 233 deliberate or

indiscriminate attacks on 183 medical facilities in Syria.

The Physicians for Human Rights report cited evidence that

the Government of Syria committed 88 percent of the recorded

hospital attacks and 97 percent of medical personnel

killings, and \\\`\\\`has targeted health care and increasingly

used it as a weapon of war to destroy its opponents by

preventing care, killing thousands of civilians along the

way''.

(10) Internationally accepted rules of war require actors

to distinguish between civilians and combatants and that all

parties are obligated to respect and protect the wounded and

sick and to take care all reasonable measures to provide safe

and prompt access for the wounded and sick to medical care.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

Congress--

(1) strongly condemns the ongoing violence, use of chemical

weapons, targeting of civilian populations with barrel,

incendiary, and cluster bombs and SCUD missiles, and

systematic gross human rights violations carried out by

Government of Syria and pro-government forces under the

direction of President Bashar al-Assad, as well as all abuses

committed by violent extremist groups and other combatants

involved in the civil war in Syria;

(2) expresses its support for the people of Syria seeking

democratic change;

(3) urges all parties to the conflict to immediately halt

indiscriminate attacks on civilians, allow for the delivery

of humanitarian and medical assistance, and end sieges of

civilian populations;

(4) calls on the President to support efforts in Syria and

on the part of the international community to ensure

accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity

committed during the conflict; and

(5) supports the requirement in United Nations Security

Council Resolutions 2191, 2165 and 2139 for regular reporting

by the Secretary-General on implementation on the

resolutions, including of paragraph 2 of resolution 2139,

which demands that all parties desist from violations of

international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of

human rights and calls on the Security Council to establish a

committee to investigate past and ongoing gross violations of

human rights and war crimes in the Syrian conflict.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES

AGAINST HUMANITY IN SYRIA.

(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of

the enactment of this Act, and again not later than 180 days

after the cessation of violence in Syria, the Secretary of

State shall submit to the appropriate congressional

committees a report on war crimes and crimes against humanity

in Syria.

(b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a)

shall include the following elements:

(1) A description of violations of internationally

recognized human rights, war crimes, and crimes against

humanity perpetrated during the civil war in Syria,

including--

(A) an account of incidents that may constitute war crimes

and crimes against humanity committed by the regime of

President Bashar al-Assad and all forces fighting on its

behalf;

(B) an account of incidents that may constitute war crimes

and crimes against humanity committed by violent extremist

groups, anti-government forces, and any other combatants in

the conflict;

(C) a description of any incidents that may violate the

principle of medical neutrality and, when possible, an

identification of the individual or individuals who engaged

in or organized such violations; and

(D) where possible, a description of the conventional and

unconventional weapons used for such crimes and, the origins

of the weapons.

(2) A description of efforts by the Department of State and

the United States Agency for International Development to

ensure accountability for violations of internationally

recognized human rights, international humanitarian law, and

crimes against humanity perpetrated against the people of

Syria by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, violent

extremist groups, and other combatants involved in the

conflict, including--

(A) a description of initiatives that the United States

Government has undertaken to train investigators in Syria on

how to document, investigate, and develop findings of war

crimes, including the number of United States Government or

contract personnel currently designated to work full-time on

these issues and an identification of the authorities and

appropriations being used to support training efforts;

(B) a description and assessment of Syrian and

international efforts to ensure accountability for crimes

committed during the Syrian conflict, including efforts to

promote a transitional justice process that would include

criminal accountability and the establishment of an ad hoc

tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators of war crimes

committed during the civil war in Syria; and

(C) an assessment of the influence of accountability

measures on efforts to reach a negotiated settlement to the

conflict during the reporting period.

(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) may be

in unclassified or classified form, but shall include a

publicly available annex.

(d) Appropriate Congressional Committee Defined.--In this

section, the term \\\`\\\`appropriate congressional committees''

means--

(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and

(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of

Representatives.

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