Official Summaries

This resolution condemns Russia for committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people. It also calls on the United States, in cooperation with North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union allies, to undertake measures to support the Ukrainian government to prevent further acts of Russian genocide against the Ukrainian people.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 16 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 16

         Recognizing Russian actions in Ukraine as a genocide.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2025

  Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Boyle of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Quigley, 
   Mr. Lawler, Mr. Costa, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. 
     Veasey, Mr. Keating, and Ms. Kaptur) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
         Recognizing Russian actions in Ukraine as a genocide.

Whereas the Russian Federation's illegal, premeditated, unprovoked, and brutal 
        war against Ukraine includes extensive, systematic, and flagrant 
        atrocities against the people of Ukraine;
Whereas Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 
        Crime of Genocide (hereinafter the ``Genocide Convention''), approved 
        and opened for signature in 1948 and entered into force in 1951, defines 
        genocide as ``any of the following acts committed with intent to 
        destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious 
        group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious 
        bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately 
        inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 
        physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended 
        to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children 
        of the group to another group'';
Whereas substantial and significant evidence documenting widespread, systematic 
        actions against the Ukrainian people committed by Russian Forces under 
        the direction of Russian Federation political leadership meets one or 
        more of the criteria under Article II of the Genocide Convention, 
        including--

    (1) killing members of the Ukrainian people in mass atrocities through 
deliberate and regularized murders of fleeing civilians and civilians in 
passing as well as purposeful targeting of homes, schools, hospitals, 
shelters, and other residential and civilian areas;

    (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to the Ukrainian people by 
launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian areas, 
conducting willful strikes on humanitarian evacuation corridors, and 
employing widespread and systematic sexual violence against Ukrainian 
civilians, including women, children, and men;

    (3) deliberately inflicting upon the Ukrainian people conditions of 
life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in 
part, including displacement due to annihilated villages, towns, and cities 
left devoid of food, water, shelter, electricity, and other basic 
necessities, starvation caused by the destruction of farmlands and 
agricultural equipment, the placing of Russian landmines across thousands 
of acres of useable fields, and blocking the delivery of humanitarian food 
aid;

    (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births among the Ukrainian 
people, demonstrated by the Russian military's expansive and direct 
targeting of maternity hospitals and other medical facilities and 
systematic attacks against residential and civilian areas as well as 
humanitarian corridors intended to deprive Ukrainians of safe havens within 
their own country and the material conditions conducive to childrearing; 
and

    (5) forcibly mass transferring millions of Ukrainian civilians, 
hundreds of thousands of whom are children, to Russia or Russian 
Federation-controlled territories;

Whereas the Russian Federation's State-level intent in favor of these heinous 
        crimes against humanity has been demonstrated through frequent 
        pronouncements and other forms of official communication denying 
        Ukrainian nationhood and sovereignty, including President Putin's 
        ahistorical claims that Ukraine is part of a ``single whole'' Russian 
        nation with ``no historical basis'' for being an independent country;
Whereas some Russian soldiers and brigades accused of committing war crimes in 
        Bucha and elsewhere were rewarded with medals by President Putin;
Whereas the Russian State-owned media outlet RIA Novosti's published the article 
        ``What Should Russia do with Ukraine'' which outlines ``de-
        Nazification'' as meaning ``de-Ukrainianization'' or the destruction of 
        Ukraine;
Whereas Article I of the Genocide Convention confirms ``that genocide, whether 
        committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under 
        international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish''; and
Whereas additional documentation and analysis of atrocities committed by the 
        Russian Federation in Ukraine may be needed to punish those responsible, 
        the substantial and significant documentation already undertaken and 
        combined with statements showing intent, compel urgent action to prevent 
        further acts of genocide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Russian Federation for committing acts of 
        genocide against the Ukrainian people;
            (2) calls on the United States, in cooperation with North 
        Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union allies, to 
        undertake measures to support the Ukrainian Government to 
        prevent further acts of Russian genocide against the Ukrainian 
        people; and
            (3) supports tribunals and international criminal 
        investigations to hold Russian political leaders and military 
        personnel to account for a war of aggression, war crimes, 
        crimes against humanity, and genocide.
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