Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee issued the following statement on the Netherlands’ proposal for an international protection force to secure the MH17 crash site and investigators.  On Tuesday, Chairman Royce and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the Committee’s Ranking Member, called on the Obama Administration to press for a UN Security Council resolution to provide for a similar security force.  Their letter to Secretary of State John Kerry is HERE.      
 
Chairman Royce said:  “The Dutch call for an international protection force for the international investigation team is prudent and timely.  For a week now, the crash site has been guarded only by those responsible for shooting it down.  Predictably, evidence at the scene has been scattered, looted, or otherwise tampered with.  Only an independent protection force can adequately secure the site and provide the safe environment in which the international investigation and recovery teams can effectively operate.  Russia has also joined in the calls for an investigation, and now is the opportunity for Moscow to back its rhetoric with action.  I urge the United Nations Security Council to act swiftly to provide its backing for deployment of an international protection force in order to facilitate the international investigation the Council has already called for in its resolution.”

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