[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 300 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 300

              Encouraging the peace process in Sri Lanka.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 9, 2002

Mr. Lugar submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
              Encouraging the peace process in Sri Lanka.

Whereas the United States has enjoyed a long and cordial friendship with Sri 
        Lanka;
Whereas the people of Sri Lanka have long valued political pluralism, religious 
        freedom, democracy, and a respect for human rights;
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
        have waged a protracted and costly war for the past 19 years;
Whereas an estimated 65,000 people have died in Sri Lanka as a result of these 
        hostilities;
Whereas the war has created an estimated 1,000,000 displaced persons over the 
        course of the conflict;
Whereas 19 years of war have crippled the economy of the north and east of Sri 
        Lanka and resulted in low growth rates and economic instability in the 
        south of Sri Lanka;
Whereas the economic impact of the conflict is felt most severely by the poor in 
        both the north and the south of Sri Lanka;
Whereas efforts to solve the conflict through military means have failed and 
        neither side appears able to impose its will on the other by force of 
        arms;
Whereas the Government of Norway has offered and been accepted by the parties of 
        the conflict to play the role of international facilitator;
Whereas an agreement on a cease-fire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the 
        Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was signed by both parties and went 
        into effect February 23, 2002; and
Whereas both the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil 
        Eelam have agreed to meet for peace talks in Thailand: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) notes with great satisfaction the warm and friendly 
        relations that have existed between the people of the United 
        States and Sri Lanka;
            (2) recognizes that the costly military stalemate that has 
        existed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation 
        Tigers of Tamil Eelam can only be resolved at the negotiating 
        table;
            (3) believes that a political solution, including 
        appropriate constitutional structures and adequate protection 
        of minority rights and cessation of violence, is the path to a 
        comprehensive and lasting peace in Sri Lanka;
            (4) calls on all parties to negotiate in good faith with a 
        view to finding a just and lasting political settlement to Sri 
        Lanka's ethnic conflict while respecting the territorial 
        integrity of Sri Lanka;
            (5) denounces all political violence and acts of terrorism 
        in Sri Lanka, and calls upon those who espouse or use such 
        methods to reject these methods and to embrace dialogue, 
        democratic norms, and the peaceful resolution of disputes;
            (6) applauds the important role played by Norway in 
        facilitating the peace process between the Government of Sri 
        Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam;
            (7) applauds the cooperation of the Government of Sri Lanka 
        and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in lifting the 
        cumbersome travel restrictions that for the last 19 years have 
        hampered the movement of goods, services, and people in the 
        war-affected areas;
            (8) applauds the agreement of the Government of Sri Lanka 
        and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in implementing the 
        Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission;
            (9) calls on all parties to recognize that adherence to 
        internationally recognized human rights facilitates the 
        building of trust necessary for an equitable, sustainable 
        peace;
            (10) further encourages both parties to develop a 
        comprehensive and effective process for human rights 
        monitoring;
            (11) states its willingness in principle to see the United 
        States lend its good offices to play a constructive role in 
        supporting the peace process, if so desired by all parties to 
        the conflict;
            (12) calls on members of the international community to use 
        their good offices to support the peace process and, as 
        appropriate, lend assistance to the reconstruction of war-
        damaged areas of Sri Lanka and to reconciliation among all 
        parties to the conflict; and
            (13) calls on members of the international community to 
        ensure that any assistance to Sri Lanka will be framed in the 
        context of supporting the ongoing peace process and will avoid 
        exacerbating existing ethnic tensions.
                                 <all>