On September 13, the House approved, 342-0, a resolution (H. Con. Res. 363) condemning the numerous violations of human rights by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The House International Relations Committee approved the resolution on June 24 (see The Source, 6/25/04). Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) sponsored the resolution.
The resolution contains a number of findings, including:
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The resolution calls on the international community to adopt a resolution at the upcoming 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, detailing the dismal human rights record of Syria and establishing a task force to further investigate these abuses.
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen explained that the resolution “details and condemns the persistent repression of our Syrian and Lebanese brothers and sisters at the hands of the terrorist regime in Syria. It articulates our support for Syria’s human rights and pro-democracy activists and calls on free and democratic nations to take a unified stance and condemn the deplorable and heinous human rights record of the Syrian dictatorship. It expresses congressional support for the people of Syria in their daily struggle for freedom, for respect for human rights and civil liberties, for democratic self-governance, and for the establishment of the rule of law.”
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) stated, “The resolution before us today focuses on Syria’s brutal suppression of dissent and human rights at home within Syria, for which Damascus must be held accountable. After all, nobody has suffered more from the brutality of the Syrian government than the Syrian people themselves,” adding, “Syria continues to commit egregious human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary detentions of political prisoners without trial, imprisonment of parliamentarians who dare to deviate from the Baath party line, censorship and harassment of journalists, and the lightest sentences for so-called honor killings.”
