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Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, delivers remarks at the Security Council Stakeout on the veto of a United Nations Security Council Resolution on Syria at the United Nations in New York, N.Y., October 5, 2011.

Ambassador Rice Explains Vote on Situation in Syria

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Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, explains vote at a Security Council Adoption on the Situation in the Middle East (Syria) at a United Nations Security Council Meeting in New York, N.Y., October 5, 2011.

Syrian People “Slapped in the Face” by U.N., Rice Says

By Stephen Kaufman | Staff Writer | 05 October 2011

Washington — The Syrian people have been “slapped in the face” by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) because of its failure to pass a resolution condemning the ongoing violence by the Syrian government against peaceful demonstrators, says U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice.

Rice spoke in New York October 4 after Russia and China vetoed a measure that would have been the first legally binding condemnation of Bashar al-Assad’s regime since it began its violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in March. The United Nations estimates that more than 2,700 people have been killed by the regime’s security forces since the demonstrations began.

“This has been quite a sad day, most especially for the people of Syria, but also for this Security Council,” Rice told reporters.

“The people of Syria, who seek nothing more than the opportunity to achieve their universal human rights and to see their aspirations for freedom and liberty achieved, have been slapped in the face by several members of this Security Council today,” she said.

According to press reports, the United States had been working with other countries on a measure that would have imposed an arms embargo on Syria and targeted Assad and some senior regime members by freezing their financial assets and imposing a travel ban.

After weeks of discussions with other council members, the draft resolution that was submitted would have demanded an end to the use of force against Syrian civilians, the release of political prisoners and the granting of “fundamental freedoms” to the Syrian people. The Assad regime’s failure to comply would have required the council to meet again after 30 days to consider “other options.”

“The United States’ view has been, and remains, that this council ought to pass a resolution that contains real sanctions,” Rice said. “We supported this resolution because we thought it was a step, had it been passed, in the right direction.”

But Rice said the 9-2 vote with four abstentions showed that good faith efforts to reach a compromise on the council’s response had not been successful.

“The response today, I think, says the most about the people who were unable to support this resolution and those who cast the veto,” she said.

The vote had been an opportunity “to determine who among us stand with the people of the region in their quest for a better future, and who will go to whatever lengths are necessary to defend dictators who are on the warpath,” she said.

Rice said the Obama administration will continue its efforts to maintain pressure on the Assad regime.

“It is on the wrong side of history. It is not going to get what it seeks by the continual repression and killing and imprisoning of its people. It doesn’t work and it won’t succeed, and sooner or later that will be self-evident,” she said.

U.S. “WILL NOT REST” UNTIL UNSC “MEETS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES”

In her October 4 remarks explaining the U.S. vote on the resolution, Rice said U.N. reports, such as from the Human Rights Council in Geneva, have shown that the Assad regime’s attempts to mask its violence against the Syrian people “are as transparent as its promises of reform are empty.”

After compromises, Rice said the vetoed resolution was “a vastly watered-down text that doesn’t even mention sanctions.” She refuted accusations that it was a pretext for military intervention in the crisis.

“This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change in the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protesters crying out for freedom — or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human dignity and human rights,” Rice said.

“As matters now stand, this council will not even mandate the dispatch of human rights monitors to Syria — a grave failure that may doom the prospects for peaceful protest in the face of a regime that knows no limits,” she said.

Rice said Syrians and others in the Middle East are watching the council’s actions and can “see clearly which nations have chosen to ignore their calls for democracy and instead prop up desperate, cruel dictators.”

“The crisis in Syria will stay before the Security Council, and we will not rest until this council rises to meet its responsibilities,” she said.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/iipdigital-en/index.html)