[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 30 (Thursday, March 17, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              HUMAN RIGHTS

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, today as we celebrate St. Patrick's Day 
throughout the Nation, both those of us who are Irish and those of us 
who are non-Irish-Americans celebrate the tremendous contributions of 
Irish-Americans to our country, and the lilt of Irish laughter turns to 
tears when we think about the human rights abuses that go on in the 
north of Ireland.
  The fact of the matter is, many of us may have seen ``In the Name of 
the Father,'' a case that starts from the Guilford 4 case and, in fact, 
those human rights abuses, the legal rights abuses that take place in 
that movie, I personally experienced last September, when I went to 
belfast on behalf of seven boys who were arrested in a similar case for 
which there is no real evidence against them, for which only beaten, 
forced confessions are the only evidence at trial, no forensic 
evidence, no eyewitnesses. One of those boys recently was found 
innocent.
  The United States says, in its foreign policy, that it stands as a 
pilar of its foreign policy for human rights and democracy throughout 
the world. And nowhere is there a greater need of that than in the 
north of Ireland.
  Peace, real peace in Northern Ireland begins when the last boot of 
the last British soldier leaves.

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