[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 60 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2734-S2735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 435--CALLING FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IN SYRIA, AND FOR 
                             OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 435

       Whereas the Republic of Syria is a party to the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 
     adopted at New York December 16, 1966, and the United Nations 
     Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or 
     Degrading Treatment or Punishment, done at New York December 
     10, 1984, and voted in favor of the Universal Declaration of 
     Human Rights, adopted at Paris December 10, 1948;
       Whereas, since March 2011, the Government of Syria has 
     engaged in a sustained campaign of violence and gross human 
     rights violations against civilians in Syria, including the 
     use of weapons of war, torture, extrajudicial killings, 
     arbitrary executions, sexual violence, and interference with 
     access to medical treatment;
       Whereas the United Nations estimated that, as of April 16, 
     2012, at least 10,000 people had been killed in Syria since 
     the violence began in March 2011;
       Whereas, on August, 18, 2011, President Barack Obama called 
     upon President Bashar al Assad to step aside;
       Whereas, in November 2011 and February 2012, the United 
     Nations Commission of Inquiry released reports documenting 
     gross human rights violations committed in Syria;

[[Page S2735]]

       Whereas the League of Arab States deployed a team of 
     international monitors to Syria on December 26, 2011;
       Whereas, on January 28, 2012, the League of Arab States 
     suspended its monitoring mission in Syria in response to an 
     escalation in violence;
       Whereas, on March 16, 2012, United Nations and League of 
     Arab States Special Envoy Kofi Annan presented a six-point 
     peace plan for Syria that called on the Government of Syria 
     to, among other things: commit to stop the fighting and 
     urgently achieve a United Nations-supervised cessation of 
     violence; work with the Envoy in an inclusive Syrian-led 
     political process; cease military activity in and around 
     civilian population centers; ensure timely provision of 
     humanitarian assistance; release arbitrarily detained 
     persons; ensure freedom of movement for journalists; and 
     respect the freedom of association and the right to 
     demonstrate peacefully;
       Whereas, on March 21, 2012, the United Nations Security 
     Council unanimously adopted a Presidential Statement giving 
     full support to the efforts of Joint Special Envoy Annan and 
     calling on the Government of Syria and the opposition in 
     Syria to work in good faith to fully and immediately 
     implement Mr. Annan's six point proposal;
       Whereas, on April 1, 2012, the group Friends of the Syrian 
     People met in Istanbul and announced measures to increase the 
     pressure on the Assad regime, provide greater humanitarian 
     relief to people in need, and support the Syrian opposition 
     as it works toward an inclusive democratic transition.
       Whereas, as of April 1, 2012, the United States Government 
     had pledged $25,000,000 in humanitarian assistance, as well 
     as non-lethal communications equipment, to activists inside 
     Syria;
       Whereas, on April 5, 2012, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted a Presidential Statement calling on the 
     Government of Syria to implement urgently and visibly its 
     commitments to Mr. Annan, including ceasing armed violence 
     within 48 hours;
       Whereas, on April 14, 2012, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted Resolution 2042, which authorized the 
     deployment of an advance team of United Nations military 
     observers to monitor adherence to a ceasefire in the country;
       Whereas the Governments of Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and 
     Iraq have provided refuge for tens of thousands of people 
     displaced by the violence in Syria; and
       Whereas the Governments of the Russian Federation and the 
     Islamic Republic of Iran continue to supply military 
     equipment to the Government of Syria notwithstanding that 
     government's violent repression of demonstrators:
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ongoing 
     slaughter of his own people;
       (2) reaffirms that it is the policy of the United States 
     that the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people cannot 
     be realized so long as Bashar al-Assad remains in power and 
     that he must step aside;
       (3) recognizes the efforts of the United Nations and the 
     League of Arab States to establish a ceasefire in Syria and 
     to deploy international personnel to observe adherence by the 
     Government of Syria to Special Envoy Kofi Annan's six-point 
     peace plan to bring an end to violence and human rights 
     violations and as a first step toward a full democratic 
     transition in Syria;
       (4) urges robust support for the United Nations-
     administered Emergency Response Fund to ensure the sustained 
     provision of humanitarian and emergency medical support for 
     the population of Syria affected by the conflict;
       (5) urges the continued provision of adequate humanitarian 
     assistance to displaced Syrians currently located in Turkey, 
     Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq;
       (6) calls on the President to engage with the League of 
     Arab States, the European Union, and the Government of the 
     Republic of Turkey to explore options to protect civilians in 
     Syria;
       (7) demands that the Government of Syria allow additional 
     United Nations personnel into the country, with complete 
     freedom of movement, and take necessary measures to ensure 
     their safety in Syria so that they may observe the ceasefire 
     and the adherence by the Government of Syria to the United 
     Nation six-point peace plan;
       (8) urges the Syrian opposition to renew its commitment to 
     a democratic and inclusive society in the post-Assad era 
     based on the rule of law, commitment to universal human 
     rights for all of its people, and protections for religious 
     and ethnic minorities;
       (9) calls upon the League of Arab States, the United 
     Nations, the Friends of the Syrian People, and other 
     interested international bodies to continue to exert maximum 
     diplomatic pressure for Assad to step aside and for a 
     political transition in Syria;
       (10) urges the Friends of the Syrian People to renew 
     efforts to incentivize the enhanced cohesion of 
     democratically oriented organizations in Syria, and to 
     encourage these groups to make clear their intention to 
     represent and protect the interests of all Syrians;
       (11) calls upon the President to continue to provide 
     support, including communications equipment to organizations 
     in Syria that are representative of the people of Syria, make 
     demonstrable efforts to protect human rights and religious 
     freedom, reject terrorism, cooperate with international 
     counterterrorism and nonproliferation efforts, and abstain 
     from destabilizing neighboring countries;
       (12) urges the President to develop a plan to identify 
     weapons stockpiles and prevent the proliferation of 
     conventional, biological, chemical, and other types of 
     weapons in Syria; and
       (13) strongly condemns the Governments of the Russian 
     Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for providing 
     military and security equipment to the Government of Syria, 
     which has been used to repress peaceful demonstrations and 
     commit mass atrocities against unarmed civilian populations 
     in Syria.

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