Sec. 708. Report on accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Russian Federation in Syria
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Congress makes the following findings: In March 2016, Amnesty International issued a report stating, Syrian and Russian forces have been deliberately attacking health facilities in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. But what is truly egregious is that wiping out hospitals appears to have become part of their military strategy. . On September 21, 2017, Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert said, The United States is concerned by reports of airstrikes in Idlib province and northern Hama province on September 19 and 20 that killed at least three medical personnel and damaged a number of medical facilities, emergency equipment, and civil defense centers.
These attacks fit an all-too-familiar pattern in which medical facilities and personnel—and the civilians they serve—are victims of strikes by the Syrian regime and its Russian allies. . In February 2018, Syrian and Russian airstrikes in rebel-held areas killed 230 civilians and hit at least 9 medical facilities. In a statement on February 10, 2018, the office of Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the airstrikes may, depending on the circumstances, all constitute war crimes .
On March 6, 2018, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic noted, [I]n one particularly harmful attack on 13 November, the Russian Air Force carried out airstrikes on a densely populated civilian area in Atareb (Aleppo), killing at least 84 people and injuring another 150. Using unguided weapons, the attack struck a market, police station, shops, and a restaurant, and may amount to a war crime. . The Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity attributable to the Government of the Russian Federation or paramilitary forces or contractors responsive to the direction of that Government during the operations of that Government in Syria— not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act; and not later than 180 days after the date on which the Secretary of State determines that the violence in Syria has ceased.
Each report required by subsection
(b)shall include the following: A description of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity described in subsection (b), including— any such alleged crimes that may violate the principle of medical neutrality and, if possible, an identification of the individual or individuals who engaged in or organized such crimes; and if possible, a description of the conventional and unconventional weapons used for such alleged crimes and the origins of such weapons. An assessment of whether such alleged crimes constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, including genocide. A description and assessment by the Office of Global Criminal Justice of the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of Justice, and other appropriate Federal agencies, of programs that the United States Government has undertaken to ensure accountability for such alleged crimes, including programs— to train investigators within and outside of Syria on how to document, investigate, develop findings with respect to, and identify and locate alleged perpetrators of, such alleged crimes, including— the number of United States Government or contractor personnel currently designated to work full-time on such training; and an identification of the authorities and appropriations being used to support such training; and to document, collect, preserve, and protect evidence of such alleged crimes, including support for Syrian, foreign, and international nongovernmental organizations, and other entities, including the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic of the United Nations. In preparing the report required by subsection (b), the Secretary shall take due care to ensure that the identities of witnesses and physical evidence are not publicly disclosed in a manner that might place such witnesses at risk of harm or encourage the destruction of such evidence by the Government of the Russian Federation or the Government of Syria, violent extremist groups, anti-government forces, or any other combatants or participants in the conflict in Syria. Each report required by subsection
(b)may be submitted in unclassified or classified form, but shall include a publicly available annex. In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means— the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate; and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.