II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 854 

To require human rights certifications for arms sales, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 25, 2019 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require human rights certifications for arms sales, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing Human 

5 Rights Protections in Arms Sales Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) the advancement of human rights is criti9 cally important to the security, stability, peace, and 

10 prosperity of United States allies and partners, and 


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1 the United States Government should promote the 

2 increased observance of internationally recognized 

3 human rights globally; 

4 (2) as the world’s oldest democracy and the 

5 largest arms exporter, the human rights standards 

6 that the United States sets on arms transfers has 

7 global ramifications, influencing standards set by 

8 other nations around the world; 

9 (3) global arms transfers continue to flow into 

10 conflict zones and countries rife with internal repres11 sion at an alarming rate; 

12 (4) the United States Government has the abil13 ity to determine whether United States arms trans14 fers are used to commit gross violations of human 

15 rights and other violations of United States law; 

16 (5) Congress took strong action to prohibit, in 

17 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (U.S.C. 2151 et 

18 seq.), sales of defense articles or services to any 

19 country whose government engages in a consistent 

20 pattern of gross violations of internationally recog21 nized human rights; and 

22 (6) Congress should take further action to en23 sure that arms transfers— 

24 (A) are not used to commit or facilitate 

25 violations of internationally recognized human 


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1 rights or violations of international humani2 tarian law in conflict zones; and 

3 (B) are provided only to countries that are 

4 demonstrably improving their efforts to protect 

5 the human rights and freedoms of their citizens 

6 and to promote participation and accountability 

7 in governance. 

8 SEC. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 

9 FOR ARMS SALES. 

10 (a) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—Section 36 of 

11 the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776) is amend12 ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(j)(1) Any certification relating to a proposed sale 

14 or export under this section of defense articles or defense 

15 services designated under Category III, IV, VII, or VIII 

16 on the United States Munitions List pursuant to section 

17 38(a)(1) to a foreign country shall include a certification 

18 by the Secretary of State that— 

19 ‘‘(A) during the fiscal year in which assistance 

20 is to be furnished or military equipment or tech21 nology is to be sold or transferred, the defense arti22 cles or defense services will not be used in hostilities 

23 in which the United States has credible information, 

24 including from credible nongovernmental investiga25 tions, that war crimes, crimes against humanity, 


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1 gross violations of internationally recognized human 

2 rights, or atrocities have been committed by the gov3 ernment of the recipient country; 

4 ‘‘(B) during the current fiscal year in which as5 sistance is to be furnished or military equipment or 

6 technology is to be sold or transferred, and during 

7 the preceding three fiscal years, the government of 

8 the foreign country— 

9 ‘‘(i) has not ordered or directed ethnic 

10 cleansing of civilians; 

11 ‘‘(ii) has not recruited and used child sol12 diers; 

13 ‘‘(iii) has not tortured, falsely imprisoned, 

14 or engaged in the targeted killing of political 

15 opponents, human rights defenders, or journal16 ists; 

17 ‘‘(iv) has not operated or had effective con18 trol or direction over secret detention facilities; 

19 ‘‘(v) has not engaged, through military, 

20 paramilitary, security, or police forces over 

21 which the government exercises effective con22 trol, in extrajudicial killings; 

23 ‘‘(vi) has not diverted, transferred, lost, or 

24 given United States weapons to third parties; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(vii) has made significant and demon2 strable efforts domestically to— 

3 ‘‘(I) ensure the protection of inter4 nationally recognized human rights and 

5 freedoms, including the rights of women, 

6 religious, ethnic, and other minorities, and 

7 freedoms of press, expression, and assem8 bly in the foreign country; 

9 ‘‘(II) denounce extremist ideologies 

10 and doctrines; 

11 ‘‘(III) prevent and ensure account12 ability for significant acts of corruption; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(IV) promote transparent and inclu15 sive governance; and 

16 ‘‘(C) in any conflict in which the recipient gov17 ernment of the foreign country engages, that govern18 ment will— 

19 ‘‘(i) facilitate unfettered civilian access to 

20 humanitarian relief and commercial goods; 

21 ‘‘(ii) support, in statements and actions, 

22 diplomatic and political resolution of the con23 flict; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) make significant and demonstrable 

25 efforts to— 


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1 ‘‘(I) ensure command and control of 

2 such weapons to prevent proliferation to 

3 non-state actors and proxies; and 

4 ‘‘(II) track, prevent, and publicly in5 vestigate civilian causalities. 

6 ‘‘(2) For three years following the provision of the 

7 assistance, or sale or transfer of the military equipment 

8 or technology as described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 

9 of State shall provide to the Committee on Foreign Rela10 tions of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

11 of the House of Representatives notice of any violation de12 scribed in subparagraphs (A) though (C) of paragraph (1) 

13 within 60 days of receiving credible information about the 

14 violation. 

15 ‘‘(3) The certification requirement under paragraph 

16 (1) does not apply to ground-based missile defense sys17 tems. 

18 ‘‘(4)(A) The President may waive the certification re19 quirement under paragraph (1) not earlier than 30 legisla20 tive days after the Secretary of State, in coordination with 

21 the Secretary of Defense, submits to the Committee on 

22 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

23 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives an un24 classified certification, which may include a classified 

25 annex, stating that the waiver is in the national security 


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1 interest of the United States, including a report detail2 ing— 

3 ‘‘(i) the status of recipient government efforts 

4 relating to each required certification described in 

5 subparagraphs (A) through (C) of such paragraph 

6 for which a waiver is necessary; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) relevant information received by the De8 partment of State and the Department of Defense 

9 from credible human rights organizations and inter10 governmental human rights monitoring bodies relat11 ing to each such waived certification. 

12 ‘‘(B) The President may not waive the certification 

13 requirement under paragraph (1) if Congress, within the 

14 30-legislative-day period referred to in subparagraph (A), 

15 enacts a joint resolution prohibiting the proposed sale or 

16 export. Any such joint resolution shall be considered in 

17 accordance with the procedures set forth in section 

18 36(b)(2).’’. 

19 SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ENHANCING HUMAN RIGHTS CONSID20 ERATIONS IN UNITED STATES MILITARY AS21 SISTANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 

24 with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense, shall 

25 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 


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1 strategy to enhance United States efforts to ensure human 

2 rights protections for United States military assistance 

3 and arms transfers. The strategy shall include processes 

4 and procedures to— 

5 (1) determine when United States military as6 sistance and arms transfers are used to commit 

7 gross violations of internationally recognized human 

8 rights; 

9 (2) determine when United States military as10 sistance and arms transfers are used to undermine 

11 international peace and security or contribute to 

12 gross violations of internationally recognized human 

13 rights, including acts of gender-based violence and 

14 acts of violence against children, violations of inter15 national humanitarian law, terrorism, mass atroc16 ities, or transnational organized crime; 

17 (3) detect other violations of United States law 

18 concerning United States military or security assist19 ance, cooperation, and arms transfers, including the 

20 diversion of such assistance or the use of such as21 sistance by security force or police units credibly im22 plicated in gross violations of internationally recog23 nized human rights; 


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1 (4) train partner militaries, security, and police 

2 forces on methods for preventing civilian causalities; 

3 and 

4 (5) determine whether individuals or units that 

5 have received United States military, security, or po6 lice training or have participated or are scheduled to 

7 participate in joint exercises with United States 

8 forces have later been credibly implicated in gross 

9 violations of internationally recognized human 

10 rights. 

11 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

12 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con13 gressional committees’’ means the Committee on Foreign 

14 Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 

15 Affairs of the House of Representatives. 

16 SEC. 5. END USE MONITORING OF MISUSE OF ARMS IN 

17 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES. 

18 Section 40A(a)(2)(B) of the Arms Export Control 

19 Act (22 U.S.C. 2785(a)(2)(B)) is amended— 

20 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

21 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 

22 end and inserting ‘‘and;’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

24 clause: 


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1 ‘‘(iii) such articles and services are 

2 not being used by non-state actors and 

3 proxies for the commission of war crimes 

4 and other gross human rights abuses.’’. 

Æ 


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