Florida Senate - 2017                            (NP)    SR 1834
       
       
        
       By Senator Farmer
       
       
       
       
       
       34-03469-17                                           20171834__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution condemning the recent attack on the
    3         Syrian people by the government of Syrian President
    4         Bashar al-Assad and urging the President of the United
    5         States and Congress to take significant action to hold
    6         accountable President Bashar al-Assad for these
    7         egregious human rights violations and breaches of
    8         international agreements.
    9  
   10         WHEREAS, as a signatory of the Geneva Convention and its
   11  additional protocols, and in recognition of basic human rights
   12  and international standards, the United States has been and
   13  remains opposed to the direct targeting of civilian populations
   14  by any nation or its military, and
   15         WHEREAS, the United States has been a signatory of the
   16  Chemical Weapons Convention since January 1993, and
   17         WHEREAS, in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention
   18  and in recognition of basic human rights, the United States
   19  opposes the use of chemical weapons under any circumstance, and
   20         WHEREAS, in August 2014, the Syrian government, led by
   21  President Bashar al-Assad, guaranteed the international
   22  community that it had destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles,
   23  and
   24         WHEREAS, on April 4, 2017, the Syrian military, at the
   25  direction of President Bashar al-Assad, employed chemical nerve
   26  agents in an attack on his own people, killing more than 70
   27  civilians, including women and children, in violation of the
   28  Chemical Weapons Convention, and
   29         WHEREAS, a second bombing that followed the initial attack
   30  targeted hospitals where victims of the initial attack were
   31  being treated, and
   32         WHEREAS, these attacks violate not only international
   33  agreements on chemical weapons, but also the Fourth Geneva
   34  Convention, and
   35         WHEREAS, the United States has a moral obligation to
   36  prevent and deter human rights abuses, NOW, THEREFORE,
   37  
   38  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   39  
   40         That, at the direction of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
   41  the Syrian government has committed grave human rights
   42  violations against its own people and others.
   43         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Syrian government is in
   44  violation of numerous international agreements, including, but
   45  not limited to, the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Chemical
   46  Weapons Convention.
   47         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida Senate urges the
   48  President of the United States and Congress to take significant
   49  actions to see that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is held
   50  accountable for these egregious human rights violations and
   51  breaches of international agreements.
   52         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   53  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to the President of
   54  the United States, the President of the United States Senate,
   55  the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and
   56  the members of the Florida delegation to the United States
   57  Congress.