One year ago, people everywhere were moved by the photo of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi’s death on a Turkish beach.
The U.S. has since tried mightily to find a negotiated resolution that would end the crisis in Syria and stop abuses by the Bashar Assad regime and its Russian, Iranian and Hezbolah allies.
Meanwhile, we are confronted with shattering images like that of 5-year old Omran Daqneesh, his body covered in debris, having recently lost his entire family in government airstrikes in Aleppo.
{mosads}As the child of a Holocaust survivor who found a new home in America, I feel a responsibility not to turn my back on new generations of innocent victims like Aylan and Omran. That is why I support the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016, which is now pending a vote in Congress.
The bill is named to honor the Syrian defector and forensic photographer, known by the pseudonym “Caesar,” who risked his life to smuggle out 55,000 photos of prisoners who were tortured to death by the Syrian regime. After the international community failed to stop the genocide of more than 6 million Jews, the world said that “we didn’t know.”
In Syria, we do know. That is thanks to brave individuals like Caesar, who testified before Congress in 2014. He presented verified evidence of the ongoing war crimes committed against his people — people who were arrested, numbered, tortured and executed, as my family was during the Holocaust.
Today, as then, some wonder whether there is anything meaningful that we can do to respond to the horror.
Supporting the Caesar bill is one answer. Enacting this legislation is a vital step we can take now to help end the mass atrocities against the Syrian people. The bill was authored this summer by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), and is strongly supported by the Syrian exile community in the U.S.
It was, however, shelved last month to give negotiations a chance. With press reports now suggesting that the U.S. and its allies are reconsidering sanctions, the Caesar bill should be revived and fast-tracked.
Pulling economic and legal levers, this bill assists the Syrian people in five ways:
- It will block off access to international financial markets for the human rights abusers, who, incredibly, today enjoy such access.
- It calls for the Syrian military, security and intelligence services leaders who are most responsible for crimes against their own people to be individually named, sanctioned and investigated for war crimes prosecution.
- It encourages the U.S. to support prosecution of those human rights abusers and war criminals.
- The sanctions would target not just the Assad regime but also its allies, including its enabler-in-chief, Russia.
- Finally, the legislation sends an unambiguous message to the Syrian people that we stand with them in their struggle for freedom. To people left abandoned to unthinkable atrocities, the feeling that they are not alone can provide hope in a hopeless situation.
We must show Syrians that others support them — that when heroes, like Caesar, risk their lives to show the world what is happening in Syria, they will not be met with indifference.
In the case of Syria, international norms against dropping barrel bombs that collapse apartment buildings, deploying vaporized chlorine gas, or targeting schools and hospitals have become consequence-free, and thus meaningless.
It is in our power to change that.
Supporting the Caesar Syria Accountability Act is a critical step we can take to help the Syrian people — and to begin restoring our own basic humanity.
The history of the past century, and of my own family, calls out to us to act now.
It is already too late for Aylan and Omran. We should not let it get any later.
Eisen, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, was from 2011 to 2014 U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, and helped facilitate that nation’s service as the United States’ protecting power in Syria.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.