SENATE RESOLUTION 180--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS AND UNIVERSAL FREEDOMS IN SYRIA AND CONDEMNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE ASSAD REGIME; Congressional Record Vol. 157, No. 64

<!-- -->

SENATE RESOLUTION 180--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS

AND UNIVERSAL FREEDOMS IN SYRIA AND CONDEMNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS

VIOLATIONS BY THE ASSAD REGIME

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Kirk, Mr.

Casey, Mr. McCain, Mr. Coons, Mr. Graham, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Kyl, Mr.

Isakson, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Ayotte, Mr.

Durbin, and Mr. Hoeven) submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

\[S. Res. 180\](https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-resolution/180)

Whereas, in March 2011, large-scale peaceful demonstrations

began to take place in Syria;

Whereas the Government of Syria, led by President Bashar

al-Assad, responded to protests by launching a violent

crackdown, committing human rights abuses, and violating its

international obligations, including the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the United

Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman

or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

Whereas demonstrations have now spread to more than a dozen

towns and cities across all parts of Syria;

Whereas demonstrators initially demanded political reform,

but under violent attack by the Government of Syria, have

increasingly demanded a change in the Syrian regime;

Whereas Insan, a respected international nongovernmental

organization, has documented more than 600 deaths since

demonstrations began in Syria, and reported that \\\`\\\`arbitrary

detained and enforceable disappearance in the country easily

exceeds 8,000 people'';

Whereas the Government of Syria has deployed tanks and

snipers against civilian population centers, including the

cities of Daraa and Baniyas, and the Damascus suburbs of

Douma, Harasta, Saqba, and Zabadani;

Whereas the Government of Syria has cut off civilian

population centers from access to food, water, electricity,

mobile and land lines, Internet, and medical services;

Whereas several respected international human rights

organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Damascus

Center for Human Rights Studies, have documented a nationwide

campaign of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of

activists, protesters, and their family members, by the

Government of Syria;

Whereas the International Crisis Group, an independent

international nongovernmental organization, reported on May

3, 2011, that there is \\\`\\\`ongoing, credible evidence'' in

Syria of \\\`\\\`abundant instances of excessive and indiscriminate

state violence. . . including arbitrary arrests, torture and

firing into peaceful crowds'';

Whereas the International Crisis Group has also reported a

\\\`\\\`determined and cynical attempt to exploit and exacerbate''

sectarian tensions by the Government of Syria;

Whereas, despite sectarian provocations by the Government

of Syria, demonstrations have maintained a message of

national unity and solidarity;

Whereas, on April 15, 2011, the United Nations Special

Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Christof Heyns,

stated that live ammunition has been used by the Syrian

regime against demonstrators \\\`\\\`in clear violation of

international law'';

Whereas international organizations, including Amnesty

International and Human Rights Watch, have documented

evidence that peaceful protestors detained by Government of

Syria security forces are being subjected to torture,

including with electro-shock devices, cables, sticks, and

whips, and are being held in overcrowded cells, deprived of

sleep, food, and water for days at a time;

Whereas international non-governmental organizations,

including the International Committee on the Red Cross and

Human Rights Watch, have reported that Government of Syria

security forces have prevented injured protesters from

accessing hospitals and have denied medical personnel and

humanitarian relief organizations access to those in need of

medical attention;

Whereas the Government of Iran is providing material

support to assist the Government of Syria in its efforts to

suppress peaceful protestors, including the transfer of

equipment to help security forces crack down on protests and

curtail and monitor protesters' use of the Internet, cell

phones, and text-messaging;

Whereas the White House Press Secretary has repeatedly

condemned the Government of Syria's brutal crackdown,

including on May 6, 2011, when he stated, \\\`\\\`The Syrian

government continues to follow the lead of its Iranian ally

in resorting to brute force and flagrant violations of human

rights in suppressing peaceful protests.'';

Whereas the Department of State has repeatedly condemned

the Government of Syria's brutal crackdown, including on May

6, 2011, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned

\\\`\\\`in the strongest possible terms'' the Government of Syria's

continued use of force and intimidation against peaceful

protestors and pledged to \\\`\\\`hold to account senior Syrian

officials and others responsible for the reprehensible human

rights abuses'';

Whereas, on April 29, 2011, President Obama issued an

Executive Order authorizing targeted sanctions against

individuals and organizations responsible for the human

rights abuses in Syria;

Whereas President Obama on April 29, 2011, designated 3

individuals pursuant to the Executive Order issued that same

day: Mahir al-Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar

al-Assad and brigade commander in the Syrian Army's 4th

Armored Division; Atif Najib, the former head of the

Political Security Directorate for Daraa Province and a

cousin of Bashar al-Assad; and Ali Mamluk, director of

Syria's General Intelligence Directorate;

Whereas, on May 6, 2011, envoys of the European Union's 27

nations agreed to impose sanctions on the Government of Syria

for the human rights abuses it is perpetrating, including

asset freezes and visa bans on 13 members of the Government

of Syria and an arms embargo on the country;

Whereas, on April 29, 2011, the United Nations Human Rights

Council passed Resolution S-16/1, which condemns the Syrian

regime for its human rights abuses and establishes a mandate

for an international inquiry led by the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate all

alleged violations of international human rights law in Syria

\\\`\\\`with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full

accountability'';

Whereas the Government of Syria, prior to March 2011, had a

well-documented track record of human rights abuses against

its own citizens and violations of international agreements

and international law;

Whereas, in February 1982, the Syrian army, under the

orders of then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, killed at

least 10,000 civilians in the city of Hama in an effort to

quell an uprising there;

Whereas, according to the Department of State's most recent

Human Rights Country Report, published on April 8, 2011, the

Government of Syria commits unlawful killings against

civilians; has severely and systematically restricted basic

freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and

religion; is responsible for ongoing politically motivated

arrests, detentions, and disappearances; lacks an independent

judiciary system; and maintains prisons where torture and

physical abuse are widespread and where detainees lack access

to food, proper clothing, and medical treatment;

Whereas the Department of State has designated Syria since

1979 as a \\\`\\\`state sponsor of terrorism'' and according to the

Department of State's most recent \\\`\\\`Country Reports on

Terrorism,'' published in August 2010, the Government of

Syria provides \\\`\\\`political and material support to Hizballah

in Lebanon and allowed Iran to resupply this organization

with weapons'';

Whereas the Government of Syria's transfer of weapons to

Hizballah in Lebanon is in violation of United Nations

Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), which established an

arms embargo requiring all states to prevent the supply of

arms and weapons to militias and terrorists in Lebanon;

Whereas the Government of Syria has violated the

territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon in

contravention of United Nations Security Council resolutions,

including Resolution 425 (1978), Resolution 520 (1982), and

Resolution 1701 (2006);

Whereas Syria, as a party to the Treaty of the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, is legally bound to declare

all its nuclear activity to the International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA) and to place such activity under the monitoring

of the IAEA;

Whereas the IAEA issued a report on February 25, 2011,

criticizing Syria's implementation of the NPT Safeguards

Agreement, concluding that \\\`\\\`Syria has not cooperated with

the Agency since June 2008'' in connection with the Agency's

investigation of the Dair Alzour site and 3 other locations''

and warning that \\\`\\\`the Agency has not been able to make

progress towards resolving the outstanding issues related to

those sites'';

Whereas it has been widely reported that the Government of

Syria was developing a covert nuclear program, in violation

of its international obligations under the NPT, until that

site was bombed by Israel in September 2007; and

\\\[\\\[\[Page\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-157/senate-section/page/S2891) \[S2891\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-157/senate-section/page/S2891)\\\]\\\]

Whereas, on December 12, 2003, Congress passed the Syria

Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of

2003 (Public Law 108-175) in order to, among other purposes,

hold the Government of Syria accountable for its actions and

as expression of support consistent with these aims: Now,

therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) expresses solidarity and support for the people of

Syria as they seek to exercise universal rights and pursue

peaceful democratic change;

(2) strongly condemns and deplores the human rights abuses

of the Government of Syria, including the use of arbitrary

and lethal violence and deployment of military forces against

peaceful demonstrators;

(3) strongly condemns and deplores the Government of

Syria's extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances,

torture, and arbitrary and mass arrests against civilians in

Syria;

(4) strongly condemns and deplores the deliberate cut-off

of water, electricity, food, telecommunications, and other

basic services to civilian population centers in Syria;

(5) strongly condemns the Government of Iran for assisting

the Government of Syria in its campaign of violence and

repression against the people of Syria;

(6) warns that international crimes are being committed by

the Government of Syria against its people, for which the

responsible officials must be held accountable;

(7) finds that the Government of Syria, led by Bashar al-

Assad, through its campaign of violence and gross human

rights abuses, has lost legitimacy and expresses support for

the people of Syria to determine their future for themselves;

(8) commends President Obama for authorizing targeted

sanctions on human rights abusers in Syria, including United

States visa bans and asset freezes, and using that authority

to designate 3 individuals;

(9) urges the President to act swiftly to expand the list

of sanctioned persons to include all individuals responsible

for gross human rights abuses in Syria, including Bashar al-

Assad;

(10) urges the President to speak out directly, and

personally, to the people of Syria about the situation in

their country;

(11) urges the President to work, in conjunction with

international partners, to ensure access of humanitarian

relief organizations, medical workers, and international

media to affected areas of Syria, and to impose consequences

on the Government of Syria and its leaders if access by these

organizations continues to be impeded;

(12) urges the President to work, in conjunction with

international partners, to ensure access by the people of

Syria to accurate news and information, as well as

information and social networking technologies;

(13) urges the President to continue to work with the

European Union, the Government of Turkey, the Arab League,

the Gulf Cooperation Council, and other allies and partners

to bring an end to human rights abuses in Syria, hold the

perpetrators accountable, and support the aspirations of the

people of Syria;

(14) encourages United States officials, including through

the United States Embassy in Damascus, to engage with civil

society in Syria, including human rights and democracy

activists, political dissidents, and opposition leaders;

(15) urges the President to work with our allies and

partners at the United Nations Security Council to condemn

and hold accountable human rights abusers in Syria and to

support the human rights of the people of Syria; and

(16) urges the United Nations Human Rights Council--

(A) to swiftly implement United Nations Human Rights

Council Resolution S-16/1 and to ensure that the

international investigation into violations by the Government

of Syria of international human rights law called for in the

resolution is undertaken immediately; and

(B) reinforce the crucial need for the United Nations

General Assembly to reject Syria's candidacy for membership

on the Human Rights Council and terminate the consideration

of Syria's candidacy.

&nbsp;