[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 296 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 296

 Expressing support for peaceful demonstrations and universal freedoms 
   in Syria and condemning the human rights violations by the Assad 
                                Regime.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 3, 2011

Mr. Lamborn (for himself, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Schock, Mr. King 
 of Iowa, Mr. Lance, Mr. Walsh of Illinois, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. 
   Culberson, Mr. Posey, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Visclosky, Mr. Hastings of 
Florida, Mr. Peters, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Terry) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing support for peaceful demonstrations and universal freedoms 
   in Syria and condemning the human rights violations by the Assad 
                                Regime.

Whereas, in March 2011, large-scale peaceful demonstrations began to take place 
        in Syria;
Whereas the Government of Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to 
        protests by launching a violent crackdown, committing human rights 
        abuses, and violating its international obligations, including the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 
        United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 
        Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
Whereas demonstrations have now spread to more than a dozen towns and cities 
        across all parts of Syria;
Whereas demonstrators initially demanded political reform, but under violent 
        attack by the Government of Syria, have increasingly demanded a change 
        in the Syrian regime;
Whereas Insan, a respected international nongovernmental organization, has 
        documented more than 600 deaths since demonstrations began in Syria, and 
        reported that ``arbitrary detained and enforceable disappearance in the 
        country easily exceeds 8,000 people'';
Whereas the Government of Syria has deployed tanks and snipers against civilian 
        population centers, including the cities of Daraa and Baniyas, and the 
        Damascus suburbs of Douma, Harasta, Saqba, and Zabadani;
Whereas the Government of Syria has cut off civilian population centers from 
        access to food, water, electricity, mobile and land lines, Internet, and 
        medical services;
Whereas several respected international human rights organizations, including 
        Human Rights Watch and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, 
        have documented a nationwide campaign of arbitrary arrests and enforced 
        disappearances of activists, protesters, and their family members, by 
        the Government of Syria;
Whereas the International Crisis Group, an independent international 
        nongovernmental organization, reported on May 3, 2011, that there is 
        ``ongoing, credible evidence'' in Syria of ``abundant instances of 
        excessive and indiscriminate state violence . . . including arbitrary 
        arrests, torture and firing into peaceful crowds'';
Whereas the International Crisis Group has also reported a ``determined and 
        cynical attempt to exploit and exacerbate'' sectarian tensions by the 
        Government of Syria;
Whereas, despite sectarian provocations by the Government of Syria, 
        demonstrations have maintained a message of national unity and 
        solidarity;
Whereas, on April 15, 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
        extrajudicial executions, Christof Heyns, stated that live ammunition 
        has been used by the Syrian regime against demonstrators ``in clear 
        violation of international law'';
Whereas international organizations, including Amnesty International and Human 
        Rights Watch, have documented evidence that peaceful protestors detained 
        by Government of Syria security forces are being subjected to torture, 
        including with electro-shock devices, cables, sticks, and whips, and are 
        being held in overcrowded cells, deprived of sleep, food, and water for 
        days at a time;
Whereas international non-governmental organizations, including the 
        International Committee on the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch, have 
        reported that Government of Syria security forces have prevented injured 
        protesters from accessing hospitals and have denied medical personnel 
        and humanitarian relief organizations access to those in need of medical 
        attention;
Whereas the Government of Iran is providing material support to assist the 
        Government of Syria in its efforts to suppress peaceful protestors, 
        including the transfer of equipment to help security forces crack down 
        on protests and curtail and monitor protesters' use of the Internet, 
        cell phones, and text-messaging;
Whereas the White House Press Secretary has repeatedly condemned the Government 
        of Syria's brutal crackdown, including on May 6, 2011, when he stated, 
        ``The Syrian government continues to follow the lead of its Iranian ally 
        in resorting to brute force and flagrant violations of human rights in 
        suppressing peaceful protests.'';
Whereas the Department of State has repeatedly condemned the Government of 
        Syria's brutal crackdown, including on May 6, 2011, when Secretary of 
        State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned ``in the strongest possible 
        terms'' the Government of Syria's continued use of force and 
        intimidation against peaceful protestors and pledged to ``hold to 
        account senior Syrian officials and others responsible for the 
        reprehensible human rights abuses'';
Whereas Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denounced the Government of 
        Syria's actions on May 11, 2011, when she stated, ``There may be some 
        who think this is a sign of strength, but treating one's own people in 
        this way is in fact a sign of remarkable weakness.'';
Whereas Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also stated, ``Syria's future 
        will only be secured by a government that reflects the popular will of 
        all of the people and protects their welfare'';
Whereas, on April 29, 2011, President Obama issued an Executive Order 
        authorizing targeted sanctions against individuals and organizations 
        responsible for the human rights abuses in Syria;
Whereas President Obama on April 29, 2011, designated 3 individuals pursuant to 
        the Executive Order issued that same day: Mahir al-Assad, the brother of 
        Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and brigade commander in the Syrian 
        Army's 4th Armored Division; Atif Najib, the former head of the 
        Political Security Directorate for Daraa Province and a cousin of Bashar 
        al-Assad; and Ali Mamluk, director of Syria's General Intelligence 
        Directorate;
Whereas President Obama on May 18, 2011, designated seven individuals pursuant 
        to the Executive Order issue that same day, Bashar al-Assad, the 
        President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Farouk al-Shara, Vice President 
        of the Syrian Arab Republic, Adel Safar, Prime Minister of the Syrian 
        Arab Republic, Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar, Minister of the Interior of 
        the Syrian Arab Republic, Ali Habib Mahmoud, Minister of Defense of the 
        Syrian Arab Republic, Abdul Fatah Qudsiya, Head of Syrian Military 
        Intelligence, Mohammed Dib Zaitoun, Director of Political Security 
        Directorate;
Whereas, on May 18, 2011, the United States Department of the Treasury 
        designated ten individuals and entities pursuant to Executive Order 
        13572 authorizing the United States to sanction any person that is owned 
        or controlled by, or acts for or on behalf of any person designated 
        pursuant to Executive Order 13460, Hafiz Makhluf, cousin of Syrian 
        President Bashar al-Assad and senior official of the Syrian General 
        Intelligence Directorat, Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Iranian 
        Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, Mohsen Chizari, Commander 
        of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force Operations 
        and Training, Syrian Military Intelligence, Syrian National Security 
        Bureau, Syrian Air Force Intelligence, Cham Holdings and its Chairman 
        Nabil Rafik al Kuzbari, Bena Properties, and Al Mashreq Investment Fund;
Whereas, on May 6, 2011, envoys of the European Union's 27 nations agreed to 
        impose sanctions on the Government of Syria for the human rights abuses 
        it is perpetrating, including asset freezes and visa bans on 13 members 
        of the Government of Syria and an arms embargo on the country;
Whereas, on April 29, 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed 
        Resolution S-16/1, which condemns the Syrian regime for its human rights 
        abuses and establishes a mandate for an international inquiry led by the 
        Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to 
        investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in 
        Syria ``with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full 
        accountability'';
Whereas the Government of Syria, prior to March 2011, had a well-documented 
        track record of human rights abuses against its own citizens and 
        violations of international agreements and international law;
Whereas, in February 1982, the Syrian army, under the orders of then-Syrian 
        President Hafez al-Assad, killed at least 10,000 civilians in the city 
        of Hama in an effort to quell an uprising there;
Whereas, according to the Department of State's most recent Human Rights Country 
        Report, published on April 8, 2011, the Government of Syria commits 
        unlawful killings against civilians; has severely and systematically 
        restricted basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and 
        religion; is responsible for ongoing politically motivated arrests, 
        detentions, and disappearances; lacks an independent judiciary system; 
        and maintains prisons where torture and physical abuse are widespread 
        and where detainees lack access to food, proper clothing, and medical 
        treatment;
Whereas the Department of State has designated Syria since 1979 as a ``state 
        sponsor of terrorism'' and according to the Department of State's most 
        recent ``Country Reports on Terrorism,'' published in August 2010, the 
        Government of Syria provides ``political and material support to 
        Hizballah in Lebanon and allowed Iran to resupply this organization with 
        weapons'';
Whereas the Government of Syria's transfer of weapons to Hizballah in Lebanon is 
        in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), 
        which established an arms embargo requiring all states to prevent the 
        supply of arms and weapons to militias and terrorists in Lebanon;
Whereas the Government of Syria has violated the territorial integrity and 
        sovereignty of Lebanon in contravention of United Nations Security 
        Council resolutions, including Resolution 425 (1978), Resolution 520 
        (1982), and Resolution 1701 (2006);
Whereas Syria, as a party to the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 
        Weapons, is legally bound to declare all its nuclear activity to the 
        International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to place such activity 
        under the monitoring of the IAEA;
Whereas the IAEA issued a report on February 25, 2011, criticizing Syria's 
        implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement, concluding that ``Syria 
        has not cooperated with the Agency since June 2008'' in connection with 
        the Agency's investigation of the Dair Alzour site and 3 other 
        locations'' and warning that ``the Agency has not been able to make 
        progress towards resolving the outstanding issues related to those 
        sites'';
Whereas it has been widely reported that the Government of Syria was developing 
        a covert nuclear program, in violation of its international obligations 
        under the NPT, until that site was bombed by Israel in September 2007;
Whereas, on December 12, 2003, Congress passed the Syria Accountability and 
        Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-175) in 
        order to, among other purposes, hold the Government of Syria accountable 
        for its actions and as expression of support consistent with these aims; 
        and
Whereas, on May 19, 2011, President Obama stated ``Most recently, the Syrian 
        regime has chosen the path of murder and the mass arrests of its 
        citizens.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses solidarity and support for the people of 
        Syria as they seek to exercise universal rights and pursue 
        peaceful democratic change;
            (2) strongly condemns and deplores the human rights abuses 
        of the Government of Syria, including the use of arbitrary and 
        lethal violence and deployment of military forces against 
        peaceful demonstrators;
            (3) strongly condemns and deplores the Government of 
        Syria's extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, 
        torture, and arbitrary and mass arrests against civilians in 
        Syria;
            (4) strongly condemns and deplores the deliberate cut-off 
        of water, electricity, food, telecommunications, and other 
        basic services to civilian population centers in Syria;
            (5) strongly condemns the Government of Iran for assisting 
        the Government of Syria in its campaign of violence and 
        repression against the people of Syria;
            (6) warns that international crimes are being committed by 
        the Government of Syria against its people, for which the 
        responsible officials must be held accountable;
            (7) finds that the Government of Syria, led by Bashar al-
        Assad, through its campaign of violence and gross human rights 
        abuses, has lost legitimacy and expresses support for the 
        people of Syria to determine their future for themselves;
            (8) urges the President to speak out directly, and 
        personally, to the people of Syria about the situation in their 
        country;
            (9) urges the President to work, in conjunction with 
        international partners, to ensure access of humanitarian relief 
        organizations, medical workers, and international media to 
        affected areas of Syria, and to impose consequences on the 
        Government of Syria and its leaders if access by these 
        organizations continues to be impeded;
            (10) urges the President to work, in conjunction with 
        international partners, to ensure access by the people of Syria 
        to accurate news and information, as well as information and 
        social networking technologies;
            (11) urges the President to continue to work with the 
        European Union, the Government of Turkey, the Arab League, the 
        Gulf Cooperation Council, and other allies and partners to 
        bring an end to human rights abuses in Syria, hold the 
        perpetrators accountable, and support the aspirations of the 
        people of Syria;
            (12) encourages United States officials, including through 
        the United States Embassy in Damascus, to engage with civil 
        society in Syria, including human rights and democracy 
        activists, political dissidents, and opposition leaders;
            (13) urges the President to work with our allies and 
        partners at the United Nations Security Council to condemn and 
        hold accountable human rights abusers in Syria and to support 
        the human rights of the people of Syria; and
            (14) urges the United Nations Human Rights Council--
                    (A) to swiftly implement United Nations Human 
                Rights Council Resolution S-16/1 and to ensure that the 
                international investigation into violations by the 
                Government of Syria of international human rights law 
                called for in the resolution is undertaken immediately; 
                and
                    (B) reinforce the crucial need for the United 
                Nations General Assembly to reject Syria's candidacy 
                for membership on the Human Rights Council pending 
                democratic reform.
                                 <all>