[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7494-S7495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ESTABLISHING A DEMOCRACY CAUCUS WITHIN THE U.N.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign 
Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. 
Res. 83, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the concurrent resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 83) promoting the 
     establishment of a democracy caucus within the United 
     Nations.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their support of 
S. Con. Res. 83, a resolution that I introduced in support of the 
establishment of a Democracy Caucus within the United Nations. In 
particular, I thank Senators Lugar, Hagel, Lieberman, and Coleman for 
their co-sponsorship of this resolution. I also want to thank Chairman 
Lugar for permitting the resolution to come to the floor today.
  I am pleased that the Bush administration also supports the 
establishment of a U.N. Democracy Caucus, and that significant progress 
was made on this front in Geneva at this year's Commission on Human 
Rights. In particular, Peru, Romania, East Timor, Poland, Chile, South 
Korea, India and Italy have been very engaged in collaborative 
democracy-promotion initiatives. I am encouraged by such joint efforts. 
The broader the international support for a caucus, the more effective 
it will be.
  The establishment of a U.N. Democracy Caucus is not merely a project 
supported by Congress and the State Department. It is also endorsed by 
a broad-based coalition of U.S.-based organizations and advocacy groups 
such as Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the American Jewish 
Committee, the American Bar Association and the Council for Community 
of Democracies. I also thank them for their work and advocacy on this 
issue.
  The idea of establishing a Democracy Caucus within the United Nations 
makes extraordinary good sense. The basic principal is this: democratic 
nations share common values, and should work together at the United 
Nations to promote those values. We will be more effective in doing so.
  Working together with like-minded nations in the United Nations and 
other multilateral organizations is a logical and practical way to 
conduct foreign policy. We build coalitions in American politics, in 
legislatures across the land and here in the Congress. Similarly, we 
should build coalitions of like-minded states in the United Nations, 
particularly to bolster global democratic principles, advance human 
rights, and promote international security and stability.
  The administration has recently re-discovered the virtues of working 
in cooperation with other nations at the United Nations. There we are 
just one nation, though a very powerful one. We only have one vote, 
whether in the General Assembly or the Security Council. Other 
democratic states should be natural allies on many

[[Page S7495]]

issues; a caucus of democracies will facilitate such cooperation. 
Forging a coalition of democracies is not merely a statement that 
nations have shared values; it is a hard-headed diplomatic approach. By 
joining forces to make common cause, the democracies can be more 
effective in the U.N. and other world bodies.
  The unanimous passage of this resolution demonstrates the strong 
support of the Senate for the creation of a Democracy Caucus. I hope 
the Senate's action gives democracy-building efforts in the United 
Nations an important boost to this idea. I thank my colleagues within 
and outside the Senate for supporting this resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the preamble 
be agreed to, the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate, and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in 
the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 83) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 83

       Whereas a survey conducted by Freedom House in 2003, 
     entitled ``Freedom in the World'', found that of the 192 
     governments of nations of the world, 121 (or 63 percent) of 
     such governments have an electoral democracy form of 
     government;
       Whereas, the Community of Democracies, an association of 
     democratic nations committed to promoting democratic 
     principles and practices, held its First Ministerial 
     Conference in Warsaw, Poland, in June 2000;
       Whereas, in a speech at that Conference, Kofi Annan, the 
     Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated that ``when 
     the United Nations can truly call itself a community of 
     democracies, the [United Nations] Charter's noble ideals of 
     protecting human rights and promoting `social progress in 
     larger freedoms' will have been brought much closer'', that 
     ``democratically governed states rarely if ever make war on 
     one another'', and that ``in this era of intra-state wars, is 
     the fact that democratic governance--by protecting 
     minorities, encouraging pluralism, and upholding the rule of 
     law--can channel internal dissent peacefully, and thus help 
     avert civil wars'';
       Whereas a report by an Independent Task Force cosponsored 
     by the Council on Foreign Relations and Freedom House in 
     2002, entitled ``Enhancing U.S. Leadership at the United 
     Nations'', concluded that ``the United States is frequently 
     outmaneuvered and outmatched at the [United Nations]'' 
     because the 115 members of the nonaligned movement 
     ``cooperate on substantive and procedural votes, binding the 
     organization's many democratic nations to the objectives and 
     blocking tactics of its remaining tyrannies'';
       Whereas, at the First Ministerial Conference of the 
     Community of Democracies, the representatives of the 
     participating governments agreed to ``collaborate on 
     democracy-related issues in existing international and 
     regional institutions, forming coalitions and caucuses to 
     support resolutions and other international activities aimed 
     at the promotion of democratic governance''; and
       Whereas that agreement was reaffirmed at the Second 
     Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in 
     Seoul, Korea, in November 2002: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),

     SECTION 1. PROMOTION OF A DEMOCRACY CAUCUS WITHIN THE UNITED 
                   NATIONS.

       Congress urges the President to instruct any representative 
     of the United States to a body of the United Nations to use 
     the voice and vote of the United States to seek to establish 
     a democracy caucus within the United Nations as described in 
     this Resolution.

     SEC. 2. PURPOSE OF THE DEMOCRACY CAUCUS.

       The purpose of the democracy caucus referred to in section 
     1 should be to advance the interests of the United States and 
     other nations that are committed to promoting democratic 
     norms and practices by--
       (1) supporting common objectives, including bolstering 
     democracy and democratic principles, advancing human rights, 
     and fighting terrorism in accordance with the rule of law;
       (2) forging common positions on matters of concern that are 
     brought before the United Nations or any of the bodies of the 
     United Nations;
       (3) working within and across regional lines to promote the 
     positions of the democracy caucus;
       (4) encouraging democratic states to assume leadership 
     positions in the bodies of the United Nations; and
       (5) advocating that states that permit gross violations of 
     human rights, sponsor terrorist activities, or that are the 
     subject of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security 
     Council are not elected--
       (A) to leadership positions in the United Nations General 
     Assembly; or
       (B) to membership or leadership positions in the Commission 
     on Human Rights, the Security Council, or any other body of 
     the United Nations.

     SEC. 3. CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRACY CAUCUS.

       Participation in the democracy caucus referred to in 
     section 1 should be limited to countries that--
       (1) are qualified to participate in the Community of 
     Democracies, an association of democratic nations committed 
     to promoting democratic principles and practices; and
       (2) have demonstrated a commitment--
       (A) to the core democratic principles and practices set out 
     in the Final Warsaw Declaration of the Community of 
     Democracies, adopted at Warsaw June 27, 2000; and
       (B) to the democratic principles set forth in--
       (i) the United Nations Charter;
       (ii) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and
       (iii) the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights.

     SEC. 4. ANNUAL MEETING.

       The members of the democracy caucus referred to in section 
     1 should hold a ministerial-level meeting at least once each 
     year to coordinate policies and positions of the caucus.

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