[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 108 (Monday, September 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7003-H7006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    EXPRESSING GRAVE CONCERN OF CONGRESS REGARDING CONTINUING GROSS 
  VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OF SYRIAN PEOPLE BY 
                   GOVERNMENT OF SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 363) expressing the grave 
concern of Congress regarding the continuing gross violations of human 
rights and civil liberties of the Syrian people by the Government of 
the Syrian Arab Republic, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 363

       Whereas the Syrian Arab Republic is governed by an 
     authoritarian regime which continues to commit serious human 
     rights abuses, including the use of torture and arbitrary 
     arrest and detention;
       Whereas the Department of State's Country Reports on Human 
     Rights Practices for 2003 states that Syria ``significantly 
     restricts freedom of speech and of the press'', that 
     ``freedom of assembly does not exist under the law'', and 
     that ``the Government restricted freedom of association'';
       Whereas Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights states ``Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion 
     and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions 
     without interference and to seek, receive and impart 
     information and ideas through any media and regardless of 
     frontiers.'';
       Whereas Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights states ``Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful 
     assembly and association.'';
       Whereas Syria's September 2001 press law permits the 
     government to arbitrarily deny or revoke publishing licenses 
     for vague reasons and compels media to submit all material to 
     government censors;

[[Page H7004]]

       Whereas Syrian authorities have arrested, or, in the case 
     of foreigners, expelled two journalists for writing 
     critically about Syria's policies;
       Whereas Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have 
     reported that the security forces of Syria are targeting 
     emerging Syrian human rights organizations, as well as their 
     attorneys, in an apparent attempt to intimidate those 
     organizations;
       Whereas on March 8, 2004, Syrian security forces arrested 
     more than 30 human rights dissidents and civilians at a sit-
     in in front of the parliament;
       Whereas a United States diplomat who was watching the 
     peaceful demonstrations was also arrested and held for an 
     hour in what the United States Government called an 
     unacceptable violation of diplomatic practice and which the 
     United States protested ``in the strongest terms'';
       Whereas Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights states ``All are equal before the law and are entitled 
     without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.'';
       Whereas the criminal law of Syria provides for reduced 
     sentences in cases of ``honor'' killings, and spousal rape is 
     not illegal;
       Whereas the infringement by Syria on human rights and civil 
     liberties extends into the Lebanese Republic, which it 
     continues to occupy in violation of United Nations Security 
     Council resolutions;
       Whereas Human Rights Watch, in its 2003 World Report, 
     stated that ``political activists in Lebanon continued to 
     demand the withdrawal of all Syrian forces from the country 
     and organized demonstrations throughout the year, many of 
     which the internal security forces dispersed forcibly'';
       Whereas hundreds of Lebanese civilians are believed to have 
     been killed or ``disappeared'' by Syrian occupation forces or 
     its secret police;
       Whereas hundreds of Kurdish civilians were injured or 
     killed in clashes with the Syrian authorities that began on 
     March 12, 2004, in Qamishli, a city in northeastern Syria 
     and, according to Syrian Kurdish sources, security forces 
     used live ammunition against unarmed civilians; and
       Whereas human rights and democracy groups in Syria have 
     sponsored a petition urging greater freedoms and the release 
     of all political prisoners, which has garnered more than 
     6,000 signatures: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) condemns the consistent pattern of gross violations of 
     internationally recognized human rights by the Government of 
     the Syrian Arab Republic;
       (2) calls on the international community to adopt a 
     resolution at the upcoming session of the United Nations 
     General Assembly which details the dismal human rights record 
     of Syria;
       (3) expresses its support for the people of Syria in their 
     daily struggle for freedom, respect for human rights and 
     civil liberties, democratic self-governance, and the 
     establishment of the rule of law;
       (4) encourages the President and the Secretary of State to 
     reach out to dissidents, human rights activists, and the 
     nonviolent democratic opposition in Syria, and to assist them 
     in their efforts; and
       (5) urges the adoption and pursuit of these and other 
     policies to seek a democratic government in Syria that will--
       (A) bring freedom and democracy to the people of Syria;
       (B) cease the illegal occupation by Syria of the Lebanese 
     Republic;
       (C) abandon support for terrorism by Syria;
       (D) not pursue research, development, acquisition, 
     production, transfer, or deployment of biological, chemical, 
     or nuclear weapons, will provide credible assurances that 
     such behavior will not be undertaken in the future, and will 
     agree to allow United Nations and other international 
     observers to verify such assurances; and
       (E) live in peace and security with the international 
     community.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 363, the 
concurrent resolution now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume. I want to thank the leadership and the chairman and the 
ranking member of the Committee on International Relations, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for bringing House Concurrent 
Resolution 363 to the floor today. This important resolution expresses 
the grave concern of Congress regarding the continuing gross violations 
of human rights and civil liberties by the Syrian dictatorship.
  The Syrian regime is one that not only supports and facilitates 
terrorist attacks against innocent civilians throughout the world, but 
also engages in a widespread campaign of terror against its own people. 
Throughout this year, Syria's tyrannical regime has intensified its 
crackdown against Syrian Kurds and pro-democracy forces inside the 
country. The arrest and the detention in the last few months of Syrian 
peaceful demonstrators clamoring for the right to exercise their 
fundamental liberties is but the latest example of the brutal regime of 
the dictatorship in Damascus.
  International human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, 
Amnesty International, and others, have reported that the security 
forces of Syria are targeting emerging Syrian human rights 
organizations, as well as their attorneys, in an apparent attempt to 
intimidate those organizations into submission and silence.
  Unfortunately, the gross violations of human rights are not limited 
to Syria's immediate borders. The repressive apparatus also extends 
into neighboring Lebanon, which Syria continues to occupy, making 
Lebanon a captive nation.
  This fact was recently acknowledged by the international community 
through the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 
1559, calling on all foreign troops to withdraw without delay from 
Lebanon and to stop meddling in the country's November elections. 
Hundreds of Lebanese civilians are believed to have been killed or 
disappeared by Syrian occupation forces or its secret police.
  House Concurrent Resolution 363 details and condemns the persistent 
repression of our Syrian and Lebanese brothers and sisters at the hands 
of the terrorist regime in Syria. It articulates our support for 
Syria's human rights and pro-democracy activists and calls on free and 
democratic nations to take a unified stance and condemn the deplorable 
and heinous human rights record of the Syrian dictatorship. It 
expresses congressional support for the people of Syria in their daily 
struggle for freedom, for respect for human rights and civil liberties, 
for democratic self-governance, and for the establishment of the rule 
of law.
  House Concurrent Resolution 363 further encourages the President and 
the Secretary of State to reach out to dissidents and to the nonviolent 
democratic opposition in Syria. It calls for the United States to 
assist them in their efforts to help bring freedom to Syria so that 
they can achieve the ultimate goal of a democratic form of government 
in Syria that is truly responsive to the needs of its people and has 
permanently abandoned any support for terrorism and the development of 
deadly unconventional weapons.
  The people of Syria and the dissidents, such as the chairman of the 
Committees For the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in 
Syria, need our support. Upon being temporarily released from jail last 
month, this human rights activist said: ``I will persist. I will never 
retreat. And I will continue to exert more pressure for democratic 
initiatives.''
  My colleagues, we cannot stand idly by and allow the Syrian regime to 
continue these deplorable practices. We too must maintain the pressure 
on this pariah state. And so, accordingly, I ask my colleagues to 
support this important resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I stand in strong support of this resolution.
  This important resolution supports the people of Syria, who live 
under a violent, repressive regime. And I am delighted to commend my 
good friend and distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida 
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for bringing this resolution before the Congress.
  It was just 3 weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, that I was in Damascus, Syria, 
for a series of discussions and meetings with the government of Syria, 
specifically the foreign minister, our ambassador, and a number of 
people in Syrian academic and media life.
  Last fall, the Syrian Accountability Act was approved overwhelmingly 
on a

[[Page H7005]]

vote of 398 to 4. That bill addressed Syria's behavior in the Middle 
East, including its sponsorship of terrorist groups and its continuing 
occupation of Lebanon and its willingness to allow terrorist groups to 
filter into Iraq. Since the passage of that act, Syria has continued to 
make only token efforts to prevent the infiltration of foreign 
terrorists into Iraq. It continues to host terrorist headquarters in 
Damascus, it maintains 17,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon, it supports the 
terrorist organization Hezbollah, it transfers Iranian arms to 
Hezbollah, and it continues its vicious anti-American propaganda on all 
government-controlled media.
  When I met with President Assad in Damascus last year, I urged him to 
change his government's behavior, both at home and abroad, so that 
Syria at long last could rejoin the ranks of the civilized world. I 
repeated that message to Foreign Minister Shaara in a press conference 
last month in Damascus. Perhaps not surprisingly, while my press 
conference received considerable attention from the media throughout 
the region, the Syrian press was prohibited from covering the event. In 
fact, the Syrians let it be known before my trip that they would be 
displeased if I were even to hold a press conference. I nevertheless, 
of course, did so, fully aware that I was delivering a message with 
which most Syrians agreed but none could utter in public without the 
severest consequences.
  The resolution before us is one result of Syria's failure to heed the 
advice that I and many others, including our Secretary of State Colin 
Powell, have given. Another result was an all-too-rare slap from the 
international community in the form of U.N. Security Council Resolution 
1559, passed earlier this month and long overdue, which calls for an 
end to Syrian interference in and control of Lebanese affairs, the 
withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, the disbanding of all 
militias in Lebanon, including Syria's Hezbollah terrorist movement.
  The resolution before us today focuses on Syria's brutal suppression 
of dissent and human rights at home within Syria, for which Damascus 
must be held accountable. After all, nobody has suffered more from the 
brutality of the Syrian government than the Syrian people themselves.
  Syria continues to commit egregious human rights abuses, including 
torture, arbitrary detentions of political prisoners without trial, 
imprisonment of parliamentarians who dare to deviate from the Baath 
party line, censorship and harassment of journalists, and the lightest 
of sentences for so-called honor killings.
  According to Amnesty International, Syria is engaged in a campaign to 
harass and intimidate human rights organizations until their members 
leave the country. We cannot credibly say we favor political reform in 
the Middle East if we ignore Syria's crimes against its own citizens.
  In 2003, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights classified 
Syria as one of the world's most repressive regimes. It is very 
important that Congress be on record not merely to criticize the Syrian 
government for its actions abroad but, just as importantly, to express 
our support for the Syrian people in their struggle to achieve the kind 
of government they should have.
  Mr. Speaker, a Syria that is accountable to world standards and 
norms, a Syria that respects its own citizens and no longer occupies 
Lebanon or hosts and supports terrorists must be a central goal of our 
essential project of reforming the Middle East.

                              {time}  1430

  In the long run, a Middle East in which people are stakeholders in 
public life offers the greatest hope for peace and safety in the region 
and beyond. I urge all of my colleagues to support this carefully 
crafted resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone).
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this important 
resolution, and I thank both of my colleagues, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos), for introducing this important resolution.
  Despite recent sanctions put on Syria pursuant to the Syria 
Accountability Act by our government and warnings that the sanctions 
will continue until Syria ends their support for terrorism, Syria 
continues to play host to terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. We 
know Hamas took responsibility for the suicide bombings in Israel a 
couple of weeks ago, and yet Syria continues to harbor Hamas leaders. 
Despite claims that Syria is not an occupying force in Lebanon, recent 
reports indicate that Syria forced the Lebanese government to keep 
their hand-picked president in office for another term, basically 
violating the Constitution of Lebanon. So the fact of the matter is 
that Syria continues to interfere in Lebanese affairs and is, in fact, 
an occupying force.
  Syria has committed a laundry list of human rights abuses not only in 
Lebanon but also against its own people. It has imprisoned hundreds of 
political prisoners without charges, including two journalists from 
Lebanon who wrote editorials against Syria's occupation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have spoken on several occasions regarding Syria's 
systematic oppression of the Syrian Jewish community. Those Jews who 
remain in Syria, and there are very few, they nonetheless face constant 
terror and intimidation from Syria's secret police, nightly curfews and 
have been forced to carry special identification cards.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this 
resolution. Syria has proven to be a destabilizing force in the Middle 
East, and it is critical that we urge the international community to 
take a stand on Syria's abysmal human rights record.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a long-time 
supporter of human rights in the Middle East and throughout the world. 
Clearly, I am in support of human rights in Syria. Every human being 
deserves to be treated with respect and without the fear of persecution 
and death. I stand firmly against the use of torture, arbitrary arrest 
and detention. I cannot deny that Syria has a long way to go to meet 
the human rights standards that we have established. However, I do not 
believe complete condemnation of the nation of Syria will yield the 
results we seek. We must continue to push for freedom of the press and 
greater freedom for women, but I feel that we must engage Syria in a 
dialogue instead of turning a cold shoulder to them.
  I also feel that it is worth reviewing the relationship between Syria 
and Lebanon. I do not believe we should condemn Syria for their 
relationship with Lebanon, but we must engage in an examination to 
determine if the relationship between Syria and Lebanon can be 
improved. We must seek to build relationships in the Middle East as 
opposed to tearing them down. Our goal is to establish greater 
stability and a more free society in the Middle East; to accomplish 
these lofty goals we must press forward with new initiatives as opposed 
to complete condemnations.
  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I support and applaud the authors of H. Con. 
Res. 363 for urging Syria to live in peace and security with the 
international community and for condemning Syrian human rights 
violations. The U.S. Congress is an appropriate venue for highlighting 
human rights abuses and forum for urging other nations to abide by the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  Every year Congress passes dozens of resolutions condemning human 
rights violations throughout the world. Unfortunately, while there are 
a plethora of countries that demand censure, the House of 
Representatives tends to focus more frequently on a few specific 
countries like the People's Republic of China, Iran and Syria; all 
countries that we must prod to do better. Many of the statements 
regarding human rights violations in H. Con. Res. 363 apply to numerous 
other countries in the world.
  If we condemn one country and turn a blind eye to the very same 
abuses in another country, the magnitude and moral legitimacy of our 
censure is greatly diminished. For example, H. Con. Res. 363 condemns: 
``The family law of Syria as applied to Muslim women is governed by 
Sharia law and is discriminatory in marriage, divorce, and inheritance 
matters.'' But Sharia family law is also practiced in numerous other 
Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
  Syria needs to understand that by passage of H. Con. Res. 363, the 
United States Congress expects Syria to improve its human rights record 
and adhere to the rule of law. Approval of H. Con. Res. 363 should also 
signal to other countries that the United States will continue to 
express its disapproval of violators of basic human rights and 
disregard of the dignities of its citizens.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H7006]]

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Aderholt). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. 
Res. 363, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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