[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 49 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1813-S1814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SYRIAN WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Senators Rubio, Murphy, Kaine, and I 
recently introduced in the Senate a concurrent resolution on the need 
for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against 
humanity, and genocide committed by any groups involved in civil war in 
Syria. Congressman Chris Smith has introduced the House version of this 
concurrent resolution. It calls for President Obama to have our 
Ambassador to the U.N. use the influence and vote of the United States 
to promote the establishment of a Syrian war crimes tribunal. The need 
is stark. Quite simply, the terrible crimes being committed in the 
civil war in Syria call out for justice. As such, the U.N. should 
establish a tribunal similar to the ones created in response to the 
charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in the 
former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda.
  As the Syrian conflict entered its fourth year this month, the 
horrific violence there continues unabated. The losses from the 
conflict are staggering. According to some estimates the death toll has 
reached more than 146,000. There are an estimated 6.5 million 
internally displaced persons in Syria and millions of Syrian refugees 
have fled their country.
  Last week I had the privilege of meeting with a number of dedicated

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Chicago-area members of the Syrian-American Medical Society who 
recently returned from a medical mission to treat Syrian patients in 
the north of Lebanon. They shared heartbreaking stories of the Syrian 
refugees they met and treated and appealed for continued international 
help for these millions of innocent victims. As a hearing I chaired in 
January on Syrian refugees illustrated, this humanitarian catastrophe 
has created grave challenges for neighboring countries that are hosting 
the vast majority of the refugees. Additionally, the fighting in Syria 
is inflaming sectarian violence in neighbors such as Iraq and Lebanon.
  A staggering 9.3 million Syrians inside the country are estimated to 
be in need of assistance due to the conflict, and even more barbaric, 
starvation is being used as a weapon of war, with an estimated 220,000 
people trapped in besieged areas in Syria. The Assad regime and, to a 
far lesser extent, some opposition groups have blocked humanitarian 
assistance in a deliberate effort to increase pressure on besieged 
civilians. If the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime wasn't 
horrific enough, it has also utilized so-called barrel bombs, mixes of 
explosives and shrapnel stuffed into barrels, that helicopter gunships 
drop in civilian areas controlled by the opposition such as Aleppo.
  The Syrian conflict has devastated even the most innocent members of 
Syrian society. I was deeply moved by the plight of the children when 
last year I visited Kilis, a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey. Yet sadly 
their plight continues. In January the U.N. issued a report which 
estimated that more than 10,000 children have been killed. UNICEF said 
in March that the real number is likely to be even higher. The January 
U.N. report stated that children in Syria experienced suffering which 
was ``unspeakable.'' Some of the reports of terrible abuses include 
sexual violence against children held in Syrian Government detention as 
well as minors being used in combat and as human shields. In addition, 
UNICEF released a report in March that estimated there are up to 1 
million children who live under siege and in hard-to-reach areas that 
UNICEF and its humanitarian partners cannot access on a regular basis.
  As my colleague Senator McCain mentioned in his remarks in February 
on the Senate floor, respected former war crimes prosecutors issued a 
report in January based on evidence they obtained regarding torture and 
murder by the Syrian regime. The report stated that the evidence--
largely provided by a Syrian defector and which includes 55,000 
photographic images of approximately 11,000 detained persons who had 
been tortured and killed by the Syrian regime--was credible. 
Additionally, these war crimes prosecutors noted that such evidence 
could support findings of war crimes as well as crimes against humanity 
against the Assad regime.
  In 2011, I was joined by Senators Boxer, Cardin, and Menendez on a 
letter to then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice urging that Assad be referred 
by the Security Council to the International Criminal Court. Now, 2\1/
2\ years later, with so many further atrocities in Syria, the need for 
holding those accountable for war crimes is as strong as ever. We, and 
other concerned countries, have an interest in seeing justice served. 
Those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity must be put on 
notice that the international community will strive to hold them 
accountable for their unlawful acts.
  Unfortunately, establishing a Syrian war crimes tribunal may face 
opposition from other members of the U.N. Security Council, most 
notably Russia. Particularly given the widespread condemnation of 
Russia illegally violating the territorial integrity of another state, 
it seems that Russian President Putin does not care about the laws or 
views of the international community. The hypocrisy of Putin stating 
that other countries should not intervene in Syria where there is an 
undisputed humanitarian catastrophe, while he illegally annexes the 
territory of another state, in part on false humanitarian ground, is 
staggering.
  Nevertheless, if Putin wants to block establishing a Syrian war 
crimes tribunal, let us have Russia go on the record to say why it 
opposes justice for those who have suffered so much in Syria. Let them 
explain how Russia, having suffered its own horrific siege of Leningrad 
during which 800,000 people--one-third of the city's population--died 
of starvation during the almost 900-day siege by the Nazis, continues 
to support the same brutal starvation techniques of its client autocrat 
in Syria, Bashar al-Assad. With these types of brazen actions and 
statements, Putin will never earn the global respect and credibility he 
so desperately demands by invading neighboring countries, while at the 
same time continuing to support and arm butchers such as Assad.
  In February the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution, which 
Russia finally supported, demanding greater humanitarian access as well 
as calling on all parties to immediately cease attacks against 
civilians and lift the siege of populated areas. Yet 1 month after the 
Security Council ordered all parties in Syria to allow aid workers into 
besieged areas and stop indiscriminate attacks on civilians, a soon-to-
be-released U.N. report says that the Syrian Government has essentially 
ignored the Security Council. Food supplies have been held up at 
government checkpoints, medical supplies removed from aid convoys, 
visas stalled for U.N. officials, and key supply routes cynically kept 
closed. And Assad's forces persist in using brutal barrel bombs, 
causing horrific indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. The 
international community should not let this obstruction stand and must 
enforce the Security Council resolution.
  Ultimately, as President Obama has stated, this conflict needs to be 
resolved politically. Last year, I did support the limited use of 
military force when Assad broke a long-established global taboo against 
the use of chemical weapons but also agree that a political solution 
must ultimately be pursued in Syria. But for a long-term and stable 
political solution to the war there must also be justice for those who 
have suffered so much, and a Syrian war crimes tribunal would play a 
vital role in such a process.

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