[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 115 (Wednesday, September 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1689]
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

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 13, 2004

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, last fall, the Syrian 
Accountability Act was overwhelmingly approved. That bill required the 
President to impose a number of economic and diplomatic sanctions 
against Syria if the Syrian government failed to end its support for 
various terrorist organizations, refuses to eliminate its weapons of 
mass destruction, and fails to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. 
Correctly, the President invoked such sanctions earlier this summer.
  Since the passage of that act, Syria continues to host terrorist 
headquarters in Damascus, it maintains 17,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon, 
it supports the terrorist organization Hezbollah, and it continues its 
vicious anti-American propaganda on government-controlled media.
  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.
  In 2003, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights classified 
Syria as one of the world's most oppressive regimes.
  According to Human Rights International, in 2003 the Syrian 
Government used its vast powers to prevent any organized political 
opposition, continued grave abuses including the use of torture in 
detention and arbitrary arrests, and allowed violence and societal 
discrimination against women.
  Unfortunately, the gross violations of human rights are not limited 
to Syria's immediate borders. The repressive regime also extends into 
neighboring Lebanon, which Syria continues to occurpy. 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.
  For all these reasons, I support wholeheartedly House Concurrent 
Resolution 363, which condemns the continuing gross violations of human 
rights and civil liberties by the Syrian dictatorship.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Con. Res. 363 details and condemns the persistent 
repression of the people of Syria and Lebanon by the dictatorial Syrian 
government. 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 condemns the deplorable and heinous human 
rights record of the Syrian government. Also, it calls for the United 
States to assist Syrian dissidents in their efforts to help bring 
freedom to Syria.
  I take this opportunity to speak directly to the President and urge 
him to take these instructions seriously. With respect to Syria, the 
United States must encourage greater openness, democratization, and 
economic reform, and to do so it must engage with civil society.
  As president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE PA) I am intimately aware of the success of the 
Organization in motivating the Soviet Union and Eastern European 
countries to sigh on to progressive standards of human rights and 
internal goverance. The United States should use a similar strategy of 
encouraging civil society activists in Syria.
  The people of Syria struggle daily from freedom, respect for human 
rights and civil liberties, democratic self-governance, and the 
establishment of the rule of law against an authoritarian and 
tyrannical regime. I support them in their great effort, and denounce 
the oppressive government of Syria.
  Therefore, I ask my colleagues to support this important resolution.
    




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