[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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