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Congressional Record—House H4068 H4068 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 25, 2007 Mr. ACKERMAN. If the gentleman attacks. Hezbollah terrorists used Lebanese resulted in the killing of eight brave will yield back the balance of his time, civilians as human shields, sacrificing the Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of we are prepared to do so as well. innocent in an effort to protect themselves two others, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I from Israeli response . .’’; Regev. Whereas Jan Egeland, United Nations Un- yield back the balance of my time. dersecretary-General for Humanitarian Af- The suffering of the Lebanese people Mr. ACKERMAN. I yield back the fairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, ac- was immense as thousands fled their balance of our time. cused Hezbollah of ‘‘cowardly blending . homes in the subsequent fighting. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The among women and children’’; Many homes were damaged or de- question is on the motion offered by Whereas for states parties to Additional stroyed, and lives were lost. the gentleman from New York (Mr. Protocol I, such as Lebanon, Article 50(1) to The key reason that civilian areas ACKERMAN) that the House suspend the the Geneva Convention defines civilian as, were destroyed was the cynical strat- rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1678. ‘‘[a]ny person who does not belong to one of egy of Hezbollah guerrillas to stage the categories of persons referred to in Arti- their attacks from the middle of towns The question was taken. cle 4(A)(1), (2), (3), and (6) of the Third Con- The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the vention and in Article 43 of this Protocol. In and residential areas. opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being the case of doubt whether a person is a civil- The use of civilians as human shields in the affirmative, the ayes have it. ian, that person shall be considered a civil- is reprehensible and is in direct viola- Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, on ian.’’; tion of all the laws of warfare. Indeed, that I demand the yeas and nays. Whereas for states parties to Additional the Rome Statute of the International The yeas and nays were ordered. Protocol I, such as Lebanon, Article 51(7) to Criminal Court provides that such con- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- the Geneva Convention states, ‘‘[T]he pres- duct is a serious violation of the laws ence or movement of the civilian population of war and should be prosecuted. ant to clause 8 of rule XX and the or individual civilians shall not be used to Chair’s prior announcement, further render certain points or areas immune from This resolution properly condemns proceedings on this question will be military operations, in particular in at- the use of human shields and, in par- postponed. tempts to shield military objectives from at- ticular, the conduct of Hezbollah in tacks or to shield, favour or impede military this bloody conflict. Let us make no f operations. The Parties to the conflict shall mistake. The loss of civilian life in EXPRESSING DEEP CONCERN OVER not direct the movement of the civilian pop- Lebanon was due solely to Hezbollah’s THE USE OF CIVILIANS AS ulation or individual civilians in order to at- cruel and uncivilized use of civilian HUMAN SHIELDS tempt to shield military objectives from at- areas as military bases. Meanwhile, tacks or to shield military operations.’’; and Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I Whereas Convention IV, Article 28, Rel- Hezbollah used rocket fire to murder move to suspend the rules and agree to ative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Israeli civilians indiscriminately and the resolution (H. Res. 125) expressing Time of War of the Geneva Convention to destroy Israeli civilian areas that deep concern over the use of civilians states, ‘‘The presence of a protected person were of no military value whatsoever. as ‘‘human shields’’ in violation of may not be used to render certain points or This resolution calls on all respon- international humanitarian law and areas immune from military operations.’’: sible nations to condemn such heinous Now, therefore, be it the law of war during armed conflict, acts and to work to eliminate them. No Resolved, That the House of Representa- nation that calls itself a member of the including Hezbollah’s tactic of embed- tives— ding its forces among civilians to use (1) strongly condemns the use of innocent international community can engage them as human shields during the sum- civilians as human shields, including in such barbaric practices. In conflicts mer of 2006 conflict between Hezbollah Hezbollah’s use of this brutal and illegal tac- all over the globe, human shields have and the State of Israel, as amended. tic during the summer of 2006 conflict with been used for various purposes. None of The Clerk read the title of the resolu- Israel; them are acceptable. (2) calls on responsible nations to condemn Let us urge the President and our tion. the use of civilians as human shields as a The text of the resolution is as fol- friends and allies to join us and do violation of international humanitarian law; their utmost to stop the use of human lows: and shields once and for all. H. RES. 125 (3) calls on responsible nations and experts in the area of international humanitarian Madam Speaker, I urge all of our col- Whereas the term ‘‘human shields’’ refers leagues to support the resolution. to the use of civilians, prisoners of war, or law to focus particular attention on the use other noncombatants whose mere presence is of human shields in violation of inter- Madam Speaker, I reserve the bal- designed to protect combatants and objects national humanitarian law and make further ance of my time. from attack; recommendations on the prevention of such Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I Whereas the use of human shields violates violation in the future. yield myself such time as I may con- international humanitarian law (also re- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- sume. ferred to as the Law of War or Law of Armed ant to the rule, the gentleman from During last summer’s war between Conflict); New York (Mr. ACKERMAN) and the gen- Israel and Lebanon, which was initi- Whereas throughout the summer of 2006 tleman from Arkansas (Mr. BOOZMAN) ated by Hezbollah jihadist militants conflict with the State of Israel, Hezbollah each will control 20 minutes. breaching Israel’s border and killing forces utilized human shields to protect themselves from counterattacks by Israeli The Chair recognizes the gentleman and kidnapping Israeli soldiers, forces; from New York. Hezbollah extremists used Lebanese ci- Whereas the majority of civilian casualties GENERAL LEAVE vilians as human shields to protect of that conflict might have been avoided and Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I themselves from counterattacks by civilian lives saved had Hezbollah not em- ask unanimous consent that all Mem- Israeli forces. ployed this tactic; bers may have 5 legislative days to re- Hezbollah jihadists embedded their Whereas the news media made constant vise and extend their remarks and in- forces among innocent civilians in vio- mention of civilian casualties but rarely clude extraneous materials on the reso- lation of international law. pointed to the culpability, under inter- According to Secretary of State national law, of Hezbollah for their lution under consideration. endangerment of such civilians; The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there Condoleezza Rice, ‘‘Hezbollah and its Whereas United States and international objection to the request of the gen- sponsors have brought devastation leaders attempted to call the use of human tleman from New York? upon the people of Lebanon, dragging shields to the world’s attention; There was no objection. them into a war that they did not Whereas on August 11, 2006, Secretary of Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I choose, and exploiting them as human State Condoleezza Rice stated, ‘‘Hezbollah rise in strong support of this resolution shields.’’ and its sponsors have brought devastation and yield myself such time as I might To express deep concern over the use upon the people of Lebanon, dragging them of civilians by Hezbollah and to con- into a war that they did not choose, and ex- consume. ploiting them as human shields . .’’; Last year, we witnessed a tragic con- demn these actions, my distinguished Whereas on August 14, 2006, President flict in Lebanon, instigated by colleagues, Congressman RON KLEIN George W. Bush stated, ‘‘Hezbollah terrorists Hezbollah’s unprovoked cross-border and Congresswoman ILEANA ROS- targeted Israeli civilians with daily rocket raid into Israel. This Hezbollah action LEHTINEN, introduced this bill. VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:35 Apr 26, 2007 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K25AP7.023 H25APPT1 mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with HOUSE April 25, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H4069 Among other things in the bill, it (2) urges such multi-party negotiations to knowledged firing thousands of American strongly condemns the use of innocent begin as soon as possible, including delega- cluster munitions into southern Lebanon but civilians as human shields, including tions from the governments of Israel, the denied violating agreements that prohibit Hezbollah’s use of this savage and ille- Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, their use in civilian areas, the officials said. Jordan, and Egypt; and The cluster munitions included artillery gal tactic during last summer’s war be- (3) supports an international peacekeeping shells, rockets and bombs dropped from air- tween Israel and Lebanon; calls on the mission to southern Lebanon to prevent craft, many of which had been sold to Israel international community to recognize cross-border skirmishes during such multi- years ago, one official said.
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