A concurrent resolution promoting the establishment of a democracy caucus within the United Nations.

Mr. President, today I rise to support a United Nations Democracy Caucus to address questions that underlie a countless number of our foreign policy decisions, particularly in today's climate:

How can the United States be more effective in advancing our foreign policy priorities?

How can we be more active in collaborating with our allies on issues of common concern?

How can we be more productive in promoting the values upon which this nation was founded and getting our message across to those around the world who look to us for leadership?

Three years ago, in Warsaw, Poland, the United States took a step to address these questions when it became one of eight convening countries of the ``Community of Democracies,'' a network of representatives of over 100 nations that meets every 2 years to promote the advancement of global democracy and human rights.

Two years later, in Seoul, Korea, many of these countries reaffirmed their commitment to collaborating with one another and agreed to work together in existing international and regional organizations.

Hence, the idea of establishing a ``democracy caucus'' within the United Nations began to take form.

The idea is simply this: democratic nations share common values, and should work together at the United Nations to promote those values.

A simple notion that, in my view, makes extraordinary sense.

What has happened in the last several years is that support for the establishment of a democracy caucus in the United Nations has begun to take root among foreign policy experts in the United States.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has endorsed the idea, as has Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

In addition, it has been endorsed by a broad-based coalition of organizations and advocacy groups like Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the American Jewish Committee, the American Bar Association and the Council for Community of Democracies.

In recent months, even senior Bush administration officials have expressed interest in the establishment of a democracy caucus-- recognizing that the United States would be more effective if we were to work together and organize with other like-minded countries.

Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, Kim Holmes, recently deemed a U.N. democracy caucus as ``an idea whose time has arrived''.

Working together with like-minded nations is a logical and practical way to conduct foreign policy. We build coalitions in the Senate. We build coalitions in Congress. And it makes sense to build coalitions in the United Nations, not only for the sake of forging common positions on issues of mutual concern, but also to provide a counterbalance to other coalitions that are well organized in the United Nations, but do not necessarily share our goals.

The 115-member nonaligned movement (NAM) is an example. Last year, an Independent Task Force co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and Freedom House argued that ``the United States is frequently outmaneuvered and outmatched at the UN'' because the cooperative work of the NAM ``binds the organization's many democratic nations to the objectives and blocking tactics of its remaining tyrannies.''

A democracy caucus would give us a new and potentially effective tool within the United Nations to counter coalitions that act in a manner inimical to our interests.

So today I am submitting a resolution promoting the establishment of a democracy caucus within the United Nations.

The resolution is straightforward: it expresses the support of this Congress for a U.N. democracy caucus and outlines the vision that I, and others, have of what such a caucus would do, and how it would go about doing it.

The general idea is that a democracy caucus would convene at the U.N. General Assembly, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and other U.N. bodies on a regular basis.

Members of the democracy caucus would work together to forge common positions to bolster democracy and democratic principles, advance human rights, and fight terrorism.

Furthermore, this bill also talks about who will join a democracy caucus.

We need to establish a criteria for which countries would be considered democracies, and which would not. Fortunately, we are not starting from scratch.

The Community of Democracies forum has established such criteria by drawing on major principles of international law and international standards set forth in the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Drawing up this criteria was a collaborative process during the First Ministerial of the community of Democracies, and the guidelines have been effective in laying the foundation and advancing the goals of the forum.

Therefore, this legislation models the U.N. democracy caucus' eligibility criteria on that already established by and for the Community of Democracies.

I envision that the U.N. democracy caucus would advocate that states that are deemed to be gross violators of human rights, sponsors of terrorist activities, or subjects of United Nations sanctions, not be elected to leadership positions in the United Nations General Assembly or other United Nations bodies.

This issue has received, and deservedly so, much attention this year--particularly after Libya was elected to serve as chair of the Commission of Human Rights.

In my view, the credibility of U.N. institutions is undermined when the members of its bodies--and particularly those in leadership positions--fall into this camp of bad actors.

According to the Freedom House 2003 survey, of the world's 192 governments, 63 percent of them have an electoral democracy form of government.

Furthermore, in the 2002 meeting of the Community of Democracies in Seoul, 118 nations were invited to participate, based upon their commitment to shred democratic values.

These numbers tell us that a democracy caucus within the U.N. would have a strong base from which to begin its work; it could be robust from its inauguration.

At the First Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Warsaw, Poland, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said, ``When the United Nations can truly call itself a community of democracies, the charter's noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting `social progress in larger freedoms' will have been brought much closer.''

In that spirit, I submit a resolution in support of the establishment of a U.N. democracy caucus.

Madam President, I rise today to congratulate French President Jacques Chirac for having taken resolute steps to stop attacks on Jewish sites in France and, more broadly, to address some of the causes of anti-Semitism among Muslim youths in that country.

As you know, Madam President, France has a large Muslim minority population. In the past, I have been strongly critical of President Chirac, the French, and other Europeans for not having been sufficiently attentive to the cancer of anti-Semitism that still exists in Europe, and in the United States to some extent.

Some have ignored the insidious way criticism of some Israeli policies has been conflated into pure anti-Semitism. Others have shied away from meeting the problem head on because of fears of provoking more violence in Europe. Still others have refrained from speaking out for fear of alienating domestic electoral constituencies.

Whatever their motives, until recently, precious few European leaders have demonstrated very much leadership with regard to combatting anti- Semitism, which is on the rise.

Last Saturday, a Jewish school near Paris was destroyed by an arson attack. Two days later, President Chirac convened a meeting attended by Prime Minister Raffarin and other top officials to react to this latest outrage. The result of the meeting, as reported in the New York Times, was a package of measures including beefed-up policing and prosecution of anti-Semitic violence, and also an earmark of nearly $8 billion worth of investment in urban renewal to clean up neighborhoods that breed Islamic fundamentalism.

President Chirac was quoted as saying: ``Anti-Semitism is contrary to all the values of France,'' and that Jewish Frenchmen and Frenchwomen are at home in France just as are all other groups.

Last month, the Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on anti-Semitism in Europe, which revealed the shocking extent of the problem. Recent public opinion polls in Europe have confirmed our hearing's testimony.

One of the most important weapons in the fight against anti-Semitism is political leadership. Or as Justice Holmes said: The best disinfectant is the light of day. The best disinfectant is light, and shedding light on the anti-Semitism in Europe, and criticizing it, can only be done effectively by Europe's political leadership.

France's measures are, to be sure, only a beginning of a long struggle to eradicate this disease from the European body politic. I have been critical in the past when European leaders have not responded. Now President Chirac should be complimented for having had the courage to forcefully show the way. He deserves credit, and I hope it is the beginning of a process.

(The remarks of Mr. Biden pertaining to the submission of S. Con. Res. 82 and S. Con. Res. 83 are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

Madam President, I thank my friend from New Jersey. We use that phrase very loosely around

here, but he is my friend, and I thank him for his courtesy.

I yield the floor.

I thank the Senator.

(The remarks of Mr. Lautenberg pertaining to the introduction of S. 1882 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their support of S. Con. Res. 83, a resolution that I introduced in support of the establishment of a Democracy Caucus within the United Nations. In particular, I thank Senators Lugar, Hagel, Lieberman, and Coleman for their co-sponsorship of this resolution. I also want to thank Chairman Lugar for permitting the resolution to come to the floor today.

I am pleased that the Bush administration also supports the establishment of a U.N. Democracy Caucus, and that significant progress was made on this front in Geneva at this year's Commission on Human Rights. In particular, Peru, Romania, East Timor, Poland, Chile, South Korea, India and Italy have been very engaged in collaborative democracy-promotion initiatives. I am encouraged by such joint efforts. The broader the international support for a caucus, the more effective it will be.

The establishment of a U.N. Democracy Caucus is not merely a project supported by Congress and the State Department. It is also endorsed by a broad-based coalition of U.S.-based organizations and advocacy groups such as Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, the American Jewish Committee, the American Bar Association and the Council for Community of Democracies. I also thank them for their work and advocacy on this issue.

The idea of establishing a Democracy Caucus within the United Nations makes extraordinary good sense. The basic principal is this: democratic nations share common values, and should work together at the United Nations to promote those values. We will be more effective in doing so.

Working together with like-minded nations in the United Nations and other multilateral organizations is a logical and practical way to conduct foreign policy. We build coalitions in American politics, in legislatures across the land and here in the Congress. Similarly, we should build coalitions of like-minded states in the United Nations, particularly to bolster global democratic principles, advance human rights, and promote international security and stability.

The administration has recently re-discovered the virtues of working in cooperation with other nations at the United Nations. There we are just one nation, though a very powerful one. We only have one vote, whether in the General Assembly or the Security Council. Other democratic states should be natural allies on many

issues; a caucus of democracies will facilitate such cooperation. Forging a coalition of democracies is not merely a statement that nations have shared values; it is a hard-headed diplomatic approach. By joining forces to make common cause, the democracies can be more effective in the U.N. and other world bodies.

The unanimous passage of this resolution demonstrates the strong support of the Senate for the creation of a Democracy Caucus. I hope the Senate's action gives democracy-building efforts in the United Nations an important boost to this idea. I thank my colleagues within and outside the Senate for supporting this resolution.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I thank the Chair.

(The remarks of Mr. Specter pertaining to the introduction of S. 1888 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

(The remarks of Mr. Specter pertaining to the submission of S. Res. 267 located in today's Record under ``Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')

I thank the Chair. In the absence of any other Senator on the floor, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 83, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to, the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in the Record.