113 HRES 520 IH: Calling for an end to attacks on Syrian civilians and expanded humanitarian access.
U.S. House of Representatives
2014-03-14
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EN
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Whereas March 2014 marks the third year of the crisis in Syria, which has resulted in the world’s
largest ongoing humanitarian disaster, and the urgent need for a
resolution to the conflict;
Whereas Bashar al-Assad and supporting militias, including Hezbollah, continue to carry out
sectarian mass atrocities, which have included mass targeted killings,
mass graves, the extermination of entire families, including their
children, incidents of ethnic cleansing, sexual violence, widespread
torture, aerial bombardment of residential areas, and otherwise forced
displacement of certain Syrian civilians especially from areas in western
Syria where Assad is attempting to increase the dominance of his own
loyalists;
Whereas the United States Government should not continue to officially recognize a regime that is
guilty of such vicious abuses of basic human rights on such a vast scale;
Whereas the United States Department of State took appropriate action on March 5, 2014, in
restricting the movements of Assad’s loyal representative to the United
Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, to within a 25-mile radius of New York City;
Whereas approximately 140,000 people have been killed, including more than 11,000 children, many
more have been seriously wounded, and civilian casualties continue to
mount as widespread and systematic attacks on schools, hospitals, and
other civilian facilities persist in violation of international norms and
principles;
Whereas the United Nations has registered more than 2,500,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to
neighboring countries, while regional governments and the United Nations
estimate that the total number of refugees already has reached more than
3,000,000;
Whereas the United Nations expects the total refugee count to reach over 4,000,000 Syrians by the
end of 2014;
Whereas approximately half of Syrian refugees are children, including nearly 500,000 under the age
of 5, and thousands have been separated from their parents and are
especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation;
Whereas the United Nations estimates that over 9,000,000 civilians are in need of humanitarian
assistance within Syria, more than 40 percent of the country’s total
population, including 6,500,000 internally displaced persons;
Whereas Bashar al-Assad’s forces, supporting militias, and other parties to the conflict are
systematically blocking humanitarian aid delivery, including food and
medical care, from many civilian areas in violation of international norms
and principles;
Whereas the United Nations estimates that 3,000,000 Syrians are trapped in hard-to-reach or
besieged areas, with an estimated 250,000 cut off from assistance for over
a year;
Whereas the crisis has worsened already difficult conditions for Syrian women and girls, who are
especially vulnerable to economic hardship and gender-based violence,
including early marriage, forced marriage, trafficking, sexual violence,
or the fear of sexual violence;
Whereas over 5,000,000 children affected by the conflict desperately need food, clean water,
shelter, and medical care;
Whereas millions of Syrian children have been forced out of school, and an entire generation of
young Syrians are being shaped by violence, displacement, and persistent
lack of opportunity and are therefore at high risk of exploitation,
life-long underdevelopment, and radicalization;
Whereas the World Health Organization estimates that 70 percent of Syria’s medical professionals,
up to 80,000 people, have fled the country, while remaining professionals
are deliberately targeted by parties to the conflict;
Whereas regional states, including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq, are hosting well over
2,000,000 refugees;
Whereas despite the attention and resources refugee camps receive, most refugees from Syria, 83
percent regionally, do not live in formal refugee camps but rather among
host communities where resources and services, including health, water and
sanitation, electricity, and other systems are strained at the municipal
and national level;
Whereas many members of the Syrian-American community, especially medical professionals, have
generously donated their time and money, while taking great personal risk,
in heroic efforts to reach those in need inside Syria with humanitarian
assistance;
Whereas the United Nations launched its largest appeal in its history for a single humanitarian
emergency in December 2013, requesting an unprecedented $6,500,000,000 in
2014 for the Syrian response, representing nearly half of the United
Nations entire global humanitarian request; and
Whereas the United States has provided $1,700,000,000 in assistance to those suffering inside
Syria, as well as refugees and host communities in neighboring countries
and has committed to continue to increase its humanitarian contributions
for those affected by the conflict: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)strongly condemns all parties’ attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Syria, including
attacks on medical personnel, schools, and health facilities, and the use
of explosive weapons, including “barrel bombs” and missiles, in populated
areas, and calls on Bashar al-Assad’s regime and supporting militias, as
well as all other parties to the conflict in Syria, to end the violence
against civilians, respect international norms and principles, and pursue
all appropriate diplomatic options to work toward a negotiated end to the
crisis;
(2)demands that Bashar al-Assad’s regime and supporting militias, as well as all other parties to the
conflict in Syria, immediately cease attacks upon civilians and civilian
infrastructure, facilitate unfettered humanitarian access, especially that
of domestic and international medical professionals, throughout the
country, respect the safety and security of humanitarian workers, and
ensure freedom of movement for humanitarian workers and organizations so
they may deliver aid to those most in need;
(3)calls for the immediate and full implementation of the provisions of the October 2013 United
Nations Security Council Presidential Statement, especially including
facilitation of the expansion of humanitarian relief operations in
accordance with international humanitarian norms;
(4)calls for the immediate, full and United Nations-monitored implementation of the provisions of the
2014 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2139 to promptly allow
unhindered humanitarian access, including across conflict lines (for the
United Nations and its partners) to people in need throughout Syria;
(5)urges the Administration and allies of the United States to formally withdraw their recognition of
Bashar al-Assad’s regime as the rightful Government of Syria, unless and
until the Assad regime and its supporting militias discontinue their
barbaric slaughter, systematic starvation, and other grave human rights
abuses and are granted full and unfettered access for deliveries of
humanitarian assistance, even as other negotiations with Assad’s regime
may continue;
(6)further calls upon the United Nations Security Council, acting under Article 5 of the Charter of
the United Nations, to suspend the Government of Syria’s rights and
privileges of membership by the General Assembly until such time as the
Assad regime has ceased attacks upon civilians, and granted free and
unfettered access for deliveries of humanitarian assistance throughout the
territory of Syria;
(7)urges all donors, regional and otherwise, to meet the 2014 United Nations humanitarian funding
appeal;
(8)commends regional governments and communities for continuing to host Syrian refuges and urges them
to keep their borders open to civilians fleeing the Syria conflict;
(9)calls upon the Assad regime, the Syrian opposition, and all other parties to the conflict, the
Administration, and the United Nations to improve their facilitation and
support for the Syrian-American community, especially medical
professionals, as they work to aid the Syrian people with all forms of
humanitarian assistance;
(10)calls for continued international support of neighboring countries and host communities that are
supporting refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict;
(11)calls for international investment in education in host countries to expand learning opportunities
for refugee children, and support programs that help them gain access to
quality instruction, protect them from violence and abuse, and provide
counseling;
(12)calls on the international community to ensure that vulnerable refugee and displaced women and
girls have access to services and programs, implement steps to mitigate
risks and prevent gender-based violence, and assure the protection of
women and girls against sexual exploitation, early marriage, human
trafficking, and rape;
(13)calls for the meaningful participation of Syrian civil society, including women representatives, in
the overall humanitarian response, political processes, and peace
negotiations;
(14)urges international donors and aid agencies to integrate humanitarian relief and longer-term
development programs through a comprehensive strategy to address the
protracted Syrian crisis; and
(15)calls on the President of the United States to develop and submit to Congress within 60 days from
adoption of this resolution a strategy for United States engagement on the
Syria crisis, with a specific focus on humanitarian assistance and
development, and protecting human rights inside Syria and in the region.