S.Amdt. 1689

SA 1689. Mr. CARDIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities
of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle F of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1274. 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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