Title: A resolution recognizing the anniversary of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, and expressing solidarity with the Lebanese people.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses solidarity with the Lebanese people following the explosions at the Port of Beirut and supports their demands for governance and anti-corruption reforms.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 337 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 337

 Recognizing the anniversary of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on 
  August 4, 2020, and expressing solidarity with the Lebanese people.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 4, 2021

   Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the anniversary of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on 
  August 4, 2020, and expressing solidarity with the Lebanese people.

Whereas, on August 4, 2020, an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate 
        detonated at the Port of Beirut, killing more than 200 people, injuring 
        more than 7,500, displacing an estimated 300,000, and causing an 
        estimated $4,600,000,000 in property damage;
Whereas reports suggest that the ammonium nitrate that detonated in the blast 
        had been confiscated from the MV Rhosus, an abandoned cargo ship, in 
        2014 and had been unsafely stored at the Port of Beirut despite warnings 
        of the risks posed by the stockpile from multiple customs and security 
        officials in successive governments;
Whereas, in addition to the 300,000 estimated to be displaced by the blast, 
        Lebanon also hosts 1,500,000 refugees from conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and 
        the Palestinian Territories;
Whereas, the United Nations estimates that 3,200,000 Lebanese nationals and 
        refugees are in need in Lebanon, including 3,000,000 people in need of 
        health assistance and 2,300,000 people in need of food and agricultural 
        assistance;
Whereas the people of Lebanon face what the World Bank has described as a 
        ``deliberate depression'' and an economic crisis compounded by the 
        explosion at the Port of Beirut and impasse of governance;
Whereas the World Bank projects that more than half of the population of Lebanon 
        lives in poverty in 2021 and 25 percent lives in extreme poverty;
Whereas the World Bank estimates that inflation increased from 10 percent in 
        January 2020 to 120 percent in August 2020 while, according to the 
        Central Administration of Statistics for Lebanon, food prices rose 402 
        percent between December 2019 and December 2020;
Whereas, 3 days after the explosion on August 4, 2020, the United States Agency 
        for International Development activated a Disaster Assistance Response 
        Team (``DART'') and stood up a Response Management Team (``RMT'') to 
        coordinate the response of the United States Government, which 
        included--

    (1) $15,100,000 to support emergency food and health response 
activities;

    (2) $10,500,000 to the World Food Program (``WFP'') in order to reach 
300,000 people affected by the explosions;

    (3) coordination at an international donors conference, raising an 
additional $298,000,000 in assistance;

    (4) an airlift of emergency health kits containing critical medical 
commodities sufficient to support up to 60,000 people for 3 months; and

    (5) supporting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(``UNHCR'') to provide primary and secondary health care services to 
vulnerable individuals, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic;

Whereas, 1 year after the explosion, domestic Lebanese investigations into the 
        blast have been stalled and no answers have been provided to the 
        Lebanese public;
Whereas, on August 10, 2020, the Lebanese government referred the Beirut 
        explosion to the Judicial Council for investigation and, on August 13, 
        2020, Judge Fadi Sawan was appointed to head the investigation and 
        possible prosecution;
Whereas Judge Sawan charged several government officials with criminal 
        negligence for ignoring warnings regarding unsafe conditions created by 
        the storage of chemicals at the Port of Beirut;
Whereas those officials accused of negligence in the Port blast have claimed 
        immunity from prosecution and filed legal efforts to remove Judge Sawan 
        from the probe;
Whereas, on February 18, 2021, Judge Sawan was removed from the investigation, 
        further delaying justice for the victims of the blast and the people of 
        Lebanon;
Whereas Hezbollah, designated by the Department of State as a foreign terrorist 
        organization, benefits from governmental corruption at the Port of 
        Beirut that allows for the illicit import and export of goods;
Whereas, on July 30, 2021, the European Union, with the support of the 
        Department of State and the Department of the Treasury, adopted a 
        sanctions regime targeting corrupt actors within the government of 
        Lebanon; and
Whereas the people of Lebanon across the political and sectoral spectrum have 
        demanded accountability for the tragic events of August 4, 2020, and 
        have requested that their governing and economic institutions implement 
        meaningful reform, accountability, and transparency; Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) stands with the people of Lebanon 1 year on from the 
        horrific tragedy of the Port of Beirut explosion and 
        acknowledges the burdens that the Lebanese people have 
        shouldered;
            (2) supports the demands of the people of Lebanon for 
        transparency, accountability, and an end to systemic and 
        endemic corruption in the Government of Lebanon;
            (3) further supports continued efforts by the United States 
        Government to provide humanitarian relief in concert with other 
        governments and international partners in a manner that 
        directly benefits the Lebanese people and is through properly-
        vetted channels, organizations, and individuals;
            (4) commends the European Union for developing, with the 
        support of the United States, the framework of sanctions regime 
        to prompt accountability and good governance in Lebanon;
            (5) calls on all Lebanese officials to respect and abide by 
        an independent and transparent judiciary investigation into the 
        cause of, and responsibility for, the port explosion; and
            (6) further calls on Lebanese political leaders to form and 
        approve a stable, democratic, and legitimate government and to 
        immediately implement the reforms necessary to ensure good 
        governance and economic stability.
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