SYRIAN WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL; Congressional Record Vol. 160, No. 49

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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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