[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7515-7516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, on June 3, 1976, U.S. President Gerald 
Ford signed into law a bill establishing the Commission on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, more commonly known as the U.S. Helsinki 
Commission.
  I bring this 40th anniversary next week to my colleagues' attention 
today because the commission has played a particularly significant role 
in U.S. foreign policy.
  First, the commission provided the U.S. Congress with a direct role 
in the policymaking process. Members and staff of the commission have 
been integrated into official U.S. delegations to meetings and 
conferences of what is historically known as the Helsinki Process. The 
Helsinki Process started as an ongoing multilateral conference on 
security and cooperation in Europe that is manifested today in the 57-
country, Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe, or OSCE.
  As elected officials, our ideas reflecting the interests of concerned 
American citizens are better represented in U.S. diplomacy as a result 
of the commission. There is no other country that has a comparable 
body, reflecting the singular role of our legislature as a separate 
branch of government in the conduct of foreign policy. The commission's 
long-term commitment to this effort has resulted in a valuable 
institutional memory and expertise in European policy possessed by few 
others in the U.S. foreign affairs community.
  Second, the commission was part of a larger effort since the late 
1970s to enhance consideration of human rights as an element in U.S. 
foreign policy decisionmaking. Representatives Millicent Fenwick of New 
Jersey and Dante Fascell of Florida created the commission as a vehicle 
to ensure that human rights violations raised by dissident groups in 
the Soviet Union and the Communist countries of Eastern Europe were no 
longer ignored in U.S. policy.
  In keeping with the Helsinki Final Act's comprehensive definition of 
security--which includes respect for human rights and fundamental 
freedoms as a principle guiding relations between states--we have 
reviewed the records of all participating countries, including our own 
and those of our friends and allies.
  From its Cold War origins, the Helsinki Commission adapted well to 
changing circumstances, new challenges, and new opportunities. It has 
done much to ensure U.S. support for democratic development in East-
Central Europe and continues to push for greater respect for human 
rights in Russia and the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
  The Commission has participated in the debates of the 1990s on how 
the United States should respond to conflicts in the Balkans, 
particularly Bosnia and Kosovo and elsewhere, and it does the same 
today in regard to Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. It has pushed 
U.S. policy to take action to combat trafficking in persons, anti-
Semitism and racism, and intolerance

[[Page 7516]]

and corruption, as well as other problems which are not confined to one 
country's borders.
  The Helsinki Commission has succeeded in large part due to its 
leadership. From the House, the commission has been chaired by 
Representatives Dante Fascell of Florida, my good friend Steny Hoyer of 
Maryland, the current chairman, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, and 
Alcee Hastings of Florida. From this Chamber, we have had Senators 
Alfonse D'Amato of New York, Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Ben 
Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Sam Brownback of Kansas and today's 
cochairman, Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
  I had the honor, myself, to chair the Helsinki Commission from 2007 
to 2015. That time, and all my service on the commission, from 1993 to 
the present, has been enormously rewarding.
  I think it is important to mention that the hard work we do on the 
Helsinki Commission is not a job requirement for a Member of Congress.
  Rather than being a responsibility, it is something many of us choose 
to do because it is rewarding to secure the release of a longtime 
political prisoner, to reunify a family, to observe elections in a 
country eager to learn the meaning of democracy for the first time, to 
enable individuals to worship in accordance with their faiths, to know 
that policies we advocated have meant increased freedom for millions of 
individuals in numerous countries, and to present the United States as 
a force for positive change in this world.
  Several of us have gone beyond our responsibilities on the commission 
to participate in the leadership of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. 
Representative Hastings served for 2 years as assembly president, while 
Representative Hoyer, Representative Robert Aderholt of Alabama, and I 
have served as vice presidents. Senator Wicker currently serves as 
chairman of the assembly's security committee.
  Representative Hilda Solis of California had served as a committee 
chair and special representative on the critical issue of migration. 
Today, Representative Smith serves as a special representative on 
similarly critical issue of human trafficking, while I serve as special 
representative on anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance.
  Our engagement in this activity as elected Members of Congress 
reflects the deep, genuine commitment of our country to security and 
cooperation in Europe, and this rebounds to the enormous benefit of our 
country. Our friends and allies appreciate our engagement, and those 
with whom we have a more adversarial relationship are kept in check by 
our engagement. I hope my colleagues would consider this point today, 
especially during a time when foreign travel is not strongly encouraged 
and sometimes actively discouraged.
  Finally, let me say a few words about the Helsinki Commission staff, 
both past and present. The staff represents an enormous pool of talent. 
They have a combination of diplomatic skills, regional expertise, and 
foreign language capacity that has allowed the Members of Congress 
serving on the commission to be so successful. Many of them deserve 
mention here, but I must mention Spencer Oliver, the first chief of 
staff, who set the commission's precedents from the very start. Spencer 
went on to create almost an equivalent of the commission at the 
international level with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
  One of his early hires and an eventual successor was Sam Wise, whom I 
would consider to be one of the diplomatic heroes of the Cold War 
period for his contributions and leadership in the Helsinki Process.
  In closing, I again want to express my hope that my colleagues will 
consider the value of the Helsinki Commission's work over the years, 
enhancing the congressional role in U.S. foreign policy and advocating 
for human rights as part of that policy.
  Indeed, the commission, like the Helsinki Process, has been 
considered a model that could be duplicated to handle challenges in 
other regions of the world. I also hope to see my colleagues increase 
their participation on Helsinki Commission delegations to the OSCE 
Parliamentary Assembly, as well as at Helsinki Commission hearings. For 
as much as the commission has accomplished in its four decades, there 
continues to be work to be done in its fifth, and the challenges ahead 
are no less than those of the past.

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