[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 33 (Thursday, March 1, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1206-S1208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 386--CALLING FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IN IRAN, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Graham,
Mr. McCain, Mr. Begich, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Ms.
Ayotte, Mr. Coons, Mr. McConnell, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Cornyn, Mr.
Schumer, Mr. Thune, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Alexander, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr.
Risch, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Blunt, Mrs.
McCaskill, Ms. Collins, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Isakson, Mr.
Lautenberg, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Coats, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr.
Coburn, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin, Mr. Casey, Mr.
Crapo, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Hutchison,
Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Lee, Mr. Portman, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Wicker, Mr.
Shelby, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Burr, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Brown of Massachusetts,
Ms. Snowe, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Moran, Ms.
Murkowski, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Franken,
Mr. Conrad, Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. Enzi) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 386
Whereas democracy, human rights, and civil liberties are
universal values and fundamental principles of United States
foreign policy;
Whereas an essential element of democratic self-government
is for leaders to be chosen and regularly held accountable
through elections that are organized and conducted in a
manner that is free, fair, inclusive, and consistent with
international standards;
Whereas governments whose power does not derive from free
and fair elections lack democratic legitimacy;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a
signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, adopted December 16, 1966
(ICCPR), which states that every citizen has the right to
vote ``at genuine periodic elections'' that reflect ``the
free expression of the will of the electors'';
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
regularly violates its obligations under the ICCPR, holding
elections that are neither free nor fair nor consistent with
international standards;
Whereas elections in Iran are marred by the
disqualification of candidates based on their political
views; the absence of credible international observers;
severe restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and
association, including censorship, surveillance, and
disruptions in telecommunications, and the absence of a free
media; widespread intimidation and repression of candidates,
political parties, and citizens; and systemic electoral fraud
and manipulation;
Whereas the last nationwide election held in Iran, on June
12, 2009, was widely condemned inside Iran and throughout the
world as neither free nor fair and provoked large-scale
peaceful protests throughout Iran;
Whereas, following the June 12, 2009, election, the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran responded to
peaceful protests with a large-scale campaign of politically
motivated violence, intimidation, and repression, including
acts of torture, cruel and degrading treatment in detention,
rape, executions, extrajudicial killings, and indefinite
detention;
Whereas, on December 26, 2011, the United Nations General
Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the serious human
rights abuses occurring in the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Whereas authorities in Iran continue to hold several
candidates from the 2009 election in indefinite detention;
Whereas authorities in Iran have announced that nationwide
parliamentary elections will be held on March 2, 2012;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has
banned more than 2,200 candidates from participating in the
March 2, 2012, elections, including current members of
parliament;
Whereas no domestic or international election observers are
scheduled to oversee the March 2, 2012, elections;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
continues to hold leading opposition figures under house
arrest;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
seeks to prevent the people of Iran from accessing news and
information by incarcerating more journalists than any other
country in the world, according to a 2011 report from the
Committee to Protect Journalists; disrupting access to the
Internet, including blocking e-mail and social networking
sites and limiting access to foreign news and websites,
developing a national Internet that will facilitate
government censorship of news and information, and jamming
international broadcasts such as the Voice of America's
Persian News Network and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's
Radio Farda; and
Whereas opposition groups in Iran have announced they will
boycott the March 2, 2012, election because they believe it
will be neither free nor fair nor consistent with
international standards: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to
democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law,
including the universal rights of freedom of assembly,
freedom of speech, and freedom of association;
(2) expresses support for freedom, human rights, civil
liberties, and rule of law in Iran, and for elections that
are free, fair, and meet international standards, including
granting independent international and domestic electoral
observers unrestricted access to polling and counting
stations;
(3) expresses strong support for the people of Iran in
their peaceful calls for a representative and responsive
democratic government that respects human rights, civil
liberties, and the rule of law;
(4) reminds the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
of its obligations under the international covenants to which
it is a signatory to hold elections that are free and fair;
(5) condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of
Iran's widespread human rights violations;
(6) calls on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to respect freedom of expression and association in Iran by--
(A) ending arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of
harassment against media professionals, human rights
defenders and activists, and opposition figures, and
releasing all individuals detained for exercising universally
recognized human rights;
(B) lifting legislative restrictions on freedoms of
assembly, association, and expression; and
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(C) allowing the Internet to remain free and open and
allowing domestic and international media to operate freely;
(7) further calls on the Government of the Islamic Republic
of Iran to allow international election monitors to be
present for the March 2, 2012, elections; and
(8) urges the President, the Secretary of State, and other
world leaders--
(A) to express support for the universal rights and
freedoms of the people of Iran, including to democratic self-
government;
(B) to broaden engagement with the people of Iran and
support efforts in the country to help promote human rights
and democratic reform, including by providing appropriate
funding to civil society organizations for democracy and
governance activities; and
(C) to condemn elections that are not free and fair and
that do not meet international standards.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak to the Hoeven-Blumenthal
resolution, and also, in addition to requesting 10 minutes, I request
that my cosponsor on the resolution, Senator Blumenthal, be allowed to
engage with me in this discussion.
We have submitted a resolution calling for free and fair elections in
Iran. Those elections will be held tomorrow, March 2. It is the first
time the Republic of Iran has had parliamentary elections since June
12, 2009. I thank Senator Blumenthal for joining me in this resolution
and also Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Senator
Kelly Ayotte. As I say, I think we have now over 60 sponsors on this
resolution, working to see that it can pass the Senate here very
quickly. It expresses a sense of the Senate clearly calling for open,
free, and fair elections in the Republic of Iran. The problem is that
the elections they will be holding tomorrow are neither free nor fair.
They are certainly not consistent with international standards.
As I said, these will be the first nationwide parliamentary elections
since June 12, 2009. Those elections were neither free nor fair, and
they provoked widespread protests throughout Iran. Those protests were
brutally repressed, put down by the regime, Ayatollah Khamenei and
Prime Minister Ahmadinejad, trampling human rights and taking political
prisoners who remain in prison to this very day.
Since the last elections, uprisings, popular movements for self-
determination, have taken place throughout the Middle East--often
referred to as the Arab spring--in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt,
Libya, and other places as well. We want to support that right to self-
determination in Iran for the people in Iran as well.
Right now the only people who can run for office in Iran are people
who are approved to run by the regime itself. They have the Council of
Guardians, and the Council of Guardians has to approve anyone who wants
to run for office, so the reality is the government of the regime
itself decides whether you can run for office. About over 5,000
individuals applied to run for government, and of those 5,000 about
3,000 were approved by the Iranian regime to run. More than 2,000 were
denied, so they cannot even run. Well, how can you have a free or a
fair and or an open election that meets independent standards when the
government decides who can run and who cannot run? It doesn't work.
That is not the way elections should work.
America truly is a force for freedom and for democracy in the world,
and that is why we are working to call the attention of the world to
these elections. It is particularly important at this time that we
stand with the Iranian people in calling for free and fair elections as
we impose sanctions to try to prevent government from developing a
nuclear weapon. We want to make very clear that while we need to impose
strong, consistent sanctions that prevent the Iranian regime from
obtaining a nuclear bomb, at the same time we support the Iranian
people's right to self-determination.
Mr. President, I thank the good Senator from Connecticut for working
with me on this resolution and recognizing the right of the Iranian
people. I also want to thank our colleagues, as I say, now more than
60--who have joined us on this resolution and also look forward to
quick passage.
With that, I wish to turn the floor over to my colleague, the good
Senator from Connecticut.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from North
Dakota for his leadership on this very important issue. I want to thank
him for his perseverance and his vision in seeing the importance--along
with Senator McCain, Senator Graham, and Senator Sessions--of this kind
of effort, which had its genesis in the trip that we took to
Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Tunisia, and Libya.
What impressed us so much is how democracy is growing and starting
there, and in that part of the world how the dictatorship and tyranny
of Iran are such contrasts with the hopeful, burgeoning democracies
that are growing there. That is the reason so many of our colleagues--I
believe that over 60--have joined.
I want to ask unanimous consent that Senator Klobuchar of Minnesota
be added as a cosponsor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored today to speak in support
of the Hoeven-Blumenthal resolution calling for free and fair elections
in Iran and condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
for its ongoing violations of human rights. These violations are
brutal, tangible, and real in their impact on individual lives in that
country, and our hearts go out to the people of Iran, particularly the
individuals there fighting for freedom and democracy.
The world has watched the Arab spring bring down dictators in Tunisia
and Tripoli, and the people of Iran continue to be denied those basic
human rights that we hold dear and which should be universal.
I also want to thank Secretary Clinton for her tireless work in this
region. She arrived in Tunisia shortly after we left to consult with
all nations interested in aiding the Syrian people and she showed,
again, her dedication to this same cause of human rights through her
leadership there.
I saw in our meetings with a new generation of leaders that is
emerging in the Middle East how dramatic the statements we make here
and the actions that we take impress them in their fight for basic
human rights. How we are speaking out here for universal suffrage and
freedom has an impact on what they do, and perhaps many in our own
country need to be reminded about the importance of what we say and do
here.
The parliamentary elections that will occur on Friday in Iran will be
neither free nor fair. They have already taken actions to assure that
it will be, as one observer said, the fakest one yet. But the brutal
oppression in human rights going on there is too real for those who
suffer at that government's and that regime's hands. As the resolution
makes clear, Iran has already disqualified 2,200 candidates from
actually running for office simply based on their political views.
It maintains severe restrictions on the press, strangling a free
press, preventing even the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe from
reaching the people of Iran, having created a sham election, a
travesty, and a tragedy. The Iranian regime now will force Iranians to
vote at the polls in an effort to show popular support, and force them
to vote simply to show this sham support. The truth is it has no such
support. Allowing international monitors to bear witness, as we demand
in our resolution, would reveal these acts of oppression for what they
are and for the world to see.
The last nationwide election held in Iran, on June 12, 2009, was
widely condemned throughout the world. Following the election, there
was brutal repression documented all too dramatically by the videos and
other evidence that, in effect, was smuggled out of Iran, although in
real time. That large campaign of politically motivated violence,
intimidation, repression, torture, cruel and degrading treatment,
including rape, executions, and extrajudicial killings, and indefinite
detention is all well documented.
On December 26, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a
resolution denouncing the serious human rights abuses occurring in
Iran. The Hoeven-Blumenthal resolution lets the people of Iran know we
are with them, they are not alone; that we side with them, and we stand
and speak out on their behalf because they are not forgotten in their
effort for democracy.
The future of the Middle East will be determined first and foremost
by the
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people of the Middle East themselves, but American strength, vision,
and leadership are absolutely essential. So in that regard I am very
proud and grateful for the 62 cosponsors of this resolution--now 63
with Senator Klobuchar--and I again thank the Senator from North
Dakota.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I, too, wish to express my appreciation to
Senator Blumenthal and to all our cosponsors, and I look forward to the
Senate agreeing to this important resolution.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank the two Senators for their good
work on this very important resolution.
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