I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4868 

To certify that United States assistance to the United Nations for humanitarian programs in the Syrian Arab Republic is not misdirected, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 28, 2019 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. GONZALEZ of 

Texas, and Mr. CHABOT) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To certify that United States assistance to the United Nations for humanitarian programs in the Syrian Arab 

Republic is not misdirected, 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 ‘‘Stop UN Support for 

5 Assad Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States, which has been the big9 gest donor to the United Nations (UN) HumaniVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Nov 01, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4868.IH H4868

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1 tarian Response in Syria, has provided more than 

2 $6,000,000,000 for UN Syria programming since 

3 2011, including over $435,000,000 in fiscal year 

4 2018 alone. 

5 (2) During the past eight years of conflict, the 

6 Assad regime has repeatedly weaponized access to 

7 United Nations aid in prolonged and unlawful sieges 

8 of civilians as part of a widespread ‘‘starve or sur9 render’’ campaign, with the United Nations esti10 mating 975,000 Syrians under siege at the peak of 

11 this strategy. 

12 (3) The United Nations Office for the Coordi13 nation of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has re14 ported repeated failures to deliver aid to the hardest15 hit areas due to such obstructions by the Assad re16 gime. 

17 (4) On February 12, 2018, former U.S. Ambas18 sador to Syria Robert Ford wrote of UN aid in 

19 Syria that ‘‘it is clear the aid is not neutral and is 

20 being used as a weapon by the Syrian government.’’. 

21 (5) The United Nations continues to procure 

22 goods and services from several entities that have 

23 close ties to the Assad regime, despite their role in 

24 supporting the Assad regime’s gross human rights 

25 violations and international crimes—including torVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Nov 01, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4868.IH H4868

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1 ture, sexual violence, the targeting of medical facili2 ties, weaponized mass starvation, enforced dis3 appearance, and forced displacement—for which the 

4 United Nations itself has found the Assad regime 

5 culpable. 

6 (6) A 2016 study of the UN Report of Procure7 ment showed that UN operations in Syria delivered 

8 $4 million to Syria’s state-owned fuel industry, $5 

9 million to blood banks operated by the Syrian Arab 

10 Army for the benefit of its troops, and $8.5 million 

11 to charities co-opted by members of the Assad fam12 ily. 

13 (7) International NGOs working with the 

14 United Nations are forced to select local partners, 

15 many of which are controlled by the Assad family 

16 and inner circle, from a government-approved list, 

17 therefore allowing these actors to profit from hu18 manitarian relief efforts and perpetuate the conflict, 

19 international crimes, and human rights violations. 

20 (8) The Assad regime compels the United Na21 tions to house its 150 international staff in the Four 

22 Seasons Hotel Damascus where, since 2016, the 

23 United Nations has spent more than $26,000 a 

24 night, equalling nearly $10 million a year. 


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1 (9) On June 11, 2019, the United States 

2 Treasury Department sanctioned the Four Seasons 

3 Hotel in Damascus for its role in fueling an illicit 

4 network benefitting the Assad regime, and also sanc5 tioned its owner Samer Foz a businessman who is 

6 ‘‘directly supporting the murderous Assad regime 

7 and building luxury developments on land stolen 

8 from those fleeing his brutality’’, according to U.S. 

9 Treasury Undersecretary Sigal Mandelker; the Euro10 pean Union likewise sanctioned Foz for funding the 

11 Military Security Shield Forces, a pro-government 

12 militia responsible for severe human rights abuses. 

13 (10) United Nation agencies and international 

14 NGOs are required to purchase mobile phones from 

15 Syriatel, a company owned by Rami Makhlouf, a 

16 cousin of Bashar al-Assad who is sanctioned for cor17 ruption and whose involvement in human rights 

18 abuses in Syria is well documented. 

19 (11) The Assad regime has regularly siphoned 

20 humanitarian funds for the war effort and bypassed 

21 international sanctions through exploiting humani22 tarian exemptions. 

23 (12) On July 15, 2019, United Nations High 

24 Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Middle East 

25 Director Amin Awad recognized in an interview with 


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1 The National that the United Nations has no proce2 dure for assessing ownership and partnerships of 

3 suppliers it uses for procurement in Syria: ‘‘I do not 

4 have a mechanism where we comb every single con5 tract to see do you have one, 10 or 90 percent con6 nection with the regime or not.’’. 

7 (13) On June 28, 2019, Human Rights Watch 

8 published a comprehensive report with the following 

9 conclusion: ‘‘While seemingly benign, the Syrian gov10 ernment’s aid and reconstruction policies are being 

11 used to punish perceived opponents and reward its 

12 supporters. . . . The Syrian government’s aid 

13 framework undermines human rights, and donors 

14 need to ensure they are not complicit . . . .’’. 

15 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

16 It is the policy of the United States that— 

17 (1) the delivery of assistance funded by the 

18 United States through the United Nations must 

19 meet reasonable expectations that aid reaches its in20 tended recipients; 

21 (2) programming provided through the United 

22 Nations based on United States funding should be 

23 determined according to greatest need, not only 

24 greatest access; 


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1 (3) United States assistance to Syria should not 

2 be manipulated for political or financial gain of any 

3 party to the conflict, especially those most respon4 sible for compounding the suffering of Syrian civil5 ians, including the Assad regime, the Russian Fed6 eration, the Islamic Republic of Iran, any entities 

7 owned or controlled thereof, or non-state actors in8 volved in international crimes and human rights 

9 abuses; 

10 (4) no United States assistance should be given 

11 directly or indirectly to the Assad regime in Syria, 

12 including through organs or subsidiaries of the 

13 United Nations; 

14 (5) the United States should support all efforts 

15 by the United Nations to establish an independent 

16 mechanism to vet procurement contracts in Syrian 

17 government-held areas, and such a mechanism 

18 must— 

19 (A) ensure no contracts are entered into 

20 with the Assad regime or its affiliates; 

21 (B) develop and implement enhanced 

22 human rights due diligence practices, including 

23 conducting quarterly human rights impact as24 sessments that review how United Nations aid 


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1 is disbursed and how such aid flows through its 

2 suppliers and local partners in Syria; and 

3 (C) make certain that the findings of the 

4 human rights impact assessments are inte5 grated into all levels of United Nations oper6 ations, monitor the effectiveness of such assess7 ments on such operations, and report how 

8 human rights impacts are being addressed and 

9 mitigated; 

10 (6) the United Nations procurement operations 

11 throughout Syria should abide by its own United 

12 Nations Supplier Code of Conduct, which states that 

13 suppliers to the United Nations must ‘‘ensure that 

14 they are not complicit in human rights abuses’’; and 

15 (7) the United States will continue providing 

16 humanitarian assistance to Syria while also con17 tinuing its efforts to facilitate a negotiated political 

18 transition from the Assad regime, in accordance 

19 with its commitment in United Nations Security 

20 Council Resolution 2254. 

21 SEC. 4. CERTIFICATION. 

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

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

24 shall certify to the appropriate congressional committees 

25 whether United Nations agency programming, including 


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1 any program or project, in Syria funded in whole or in 

2 part by the United States— 

3 (1) is delivered impartially, without hindrance, 

4 to the areas of greatest need; 

5 (2) does not directly materially support the Syr6 ian government or entities owned or controlled by 

7 the Syrian government, Syrian government officials, 

8 their immediate families, or entities under their di9 rection; 

10 (3) does not directly materially support associ11 ated forces of the Syrian government or entities 

12 under their direction; 

13 (4) adheres to the United Nations Supplier 

14 Code of Conduct, which states that the United Na15 tions must not support, directly or indirectly, other 

16 entities and individuals involved in human rights 

17 abuses, and which requires United Nations agencies 

18 to secure guarantees from suppliers that ‘‘they are 

19 not complicit in human rights abuses’’; and 

20 (5) is vetted by an independent mechanism that 

21 reviews contract procurement in Syrian government22 held areas, as described in section 3(5). 

23 (b) FUNDING LIMITATION AND REDIRECTION.—If 

24 the Secretary of State makes a certification described in 

25 subsection (a) in the negative— 


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1 (1) no Federal department or agency may pro2 vide any funding, directly or indirectly, to any 

3 United Nations agency programming, including any 

4 program or project, in Syria that fails to meet the 

5 criteria of the certification specified in subsection 

6 (a); and 

7 (2) amounts made available to the Secretary of 

8 State that are withheld from United Nations agency 

9 programming, including any program or project, in 

10 Syria in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be 

11 made available to the Administrator of the United 

12 States Agency for International Development’s Of13 fice of Foreign Disaster Assistance for providing as14 sistance to populations in Syria in need. 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT17 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com18 mittees’’ means— 

19 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

20 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

21 of Representatives; and 

22 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

23 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

24 Senate. 


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1 (2) ASSOCIATED FORCES.—The term ‘‘associ2 ated forces’’ includes forces of the Russian govern3 ment, the Iranian government, Iranian-backed proxy 

4 militias, and Hezbollah. 

Æ 


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