II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1885 

To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 20, 2013 

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

A BILL 

To place conditions on assistance to the Government of 

Burma. 

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 ‘‘Burma Human Rights 

5 and Democracy Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BURMA. 

7 (a) LIMITATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para9 graph (2), no funds authorized to be appropriated or 

10 otherwise made available for fiscal year 2014 for the 


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1 Department of Defense may be made available for 

2 assistance to the Government of Burma unless the 

3 Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate con4 gressional committees that— 

5 (A) the Government of Burma has taken 

6 concrete steps toward— 

7 (i) establishing civilian oversight of 

8 the armed forces; 

9 (ii) addressing human rights abuses 

10 by the Burmese military, including publicly 

11 acknowledging that human rights abuses 

12 have been and continue to be committed by 

13 the Burmese military, and committing to a 

14 zero tolerance policy against such human 

15 rights abuses; and 

16 (iii) terminating military relations 

17 with North Korea; 

18 (B) the Government of Burma has taken 

19 concrete steps to establish a fair, transparent 

20 and inclusive process to amend the Constitution 

21 of Burma, including the full participation of the 

22 political opposition and all ethnic minority 

23 groups, and the constitutional reform process 

24 will provide the basis for free, fair, and com25 petitive elections in Burma; 


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1 (C) the Government of Burma has amend2 ed its constitution and laws to ensure civilian 

3 control of the military and implemented reforms 

4 to increase the transparency and accountability 

5 of the military’s budget and operations, and the 

6 Burmese military has taken substantial and 

7 meaningful steps to divest itself from ownership 

8 of commercial businesses; 

9 (D) the Government of Burma is showing 

10 meaningful and well-documented efforts to pro11 mote peace agreements or political reconcili12 ation and equal and fair treatment of all ethnic 

13 groups in conflict areas or areas of unrest, and 

14 to actively address the resettlement and human15 itarian situation of displaced persons; and 

16 (E) the Burmese military is— 

17 (i) improving its human rights record, 

18 as measured by consistent decreases in re19 ports of forced labor, indefinite detention, 

20 torture, or cruel, inhumane, and degrading 

21 treatment of detainees, and use in armed 

22 conflict of indiscriminate or dispropor23 tionate methods and means of attack; 

24 (ii) demonstrating a genuine interest 

25 in reform by ceasing attacks against ethnic 


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1 minority groups in both ceasefire and non2 ceasefire areas; 

3 (iii) taking steps to withdraw forces 

4 from conflict zones, including by halting 

5 the use of soldiers in economic develop6 ment projects; 

7 (iv) adhering to the conditions of 

8 ceasefire agreements; and 

9 (v) signing and implementing a code 

10 of conduct. 

11 (2) EXCEPTION.—The restriction in paragraph 

12 (1) does not apply to consultation and basic training 

13 on human rights and disaster response for the Bur14 mese military, including training for the Burmese 

15 military and civilian leadership on international law, 

16 civilian control of the military, and justice and ac17 countability mechanisms both through the chain of 

18 command and civilian authority, except that such 

19 consultation and training shall occur in conjunction 

20 with engagement with ethnic armed groups and con21 ducted in a manner that will not enhance the Bur22 mese military’s capabilities against ethnic minorities. 

23 (b) REPORT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and anVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:38 Dec 27, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1885.IS S1885

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1 nually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense, in con2 currence with the Secretary of State, shall submit to 

3 the appropriate congressional committees a report 

4 on the strategy for, and plans and status of, mili5 tary-to-military engagement between the United 

6 States Armed Forces and the Burmese military. 

7 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

8 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

9 (A) A description and assessment of the 

10 Government of Burma’s strategy for security 

11 sector reform, an identification and comprehen12 sive analysis of those reform elements that the 

13 United States Government should support, and 

14 a multi-year cost estimate for providing such 

15 support. 

16 (B) The United States strategy for the 

17 military-to-military relationship between the 

18 United States and Burma, including a descrip19 tion of how and why such engagements are nec20 essary for United States national security. 

21 (C) An assessment of the human rights 

22 record of the Burmese military over the past 

23 decade, including— 

24 (i) an account of violations of human 

25 rights and laws of armed conflict by the 


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1 Burmese military and all paramilitary and 

2 security forces under its command, includ3 ing against ethnic minority groups; 

4 (ii) a description of efforts by the 

5 Burmese military to implement human 

6 rights reforms; and 

7 (iii) a description of the relationship 

8 between progress in the United States9 Burma military-to-military relationship 

10 and such reforms. 

11 (D) An assessment of— 

12 (i) any substantial and meaningful 

13 steps taken by the Burmese military to im14 plement reforms to increase transparency 

15 and accountability of the military’s budget 

16 and operations and to divest itself from 

17 ownership of commercial business; and 

18 (ii) the relationship between progress 

19 in the United States-Burma military-to20 military relationship and such reforms. 

21 (E) A list of ongoing military-to-military 

22 activities conducted by the United States Gov23 ernment and other international donors, includ24 ing a description of each such activity. 


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1 (F) An update on activities that were listed 

2 in previous reporting. 

3 (G) A list of activities that are planned to 

4 occur over the upcoming year, with a written 

5 description of each. 

6 (H) A description of progress on the peace7 ful settlement of armed conflicts between the 

8 Government of Burma and ethnic minority 

9 groups, including the steps taken by the Bur10 mese military to demonstrate respect for 

11 ceasefires, laws of armed conflict, and human 

12 rights provisions prohibiting rape, torture, 

13 forced labor, trafficking, and the use of child 

14 soldiers. 

15 (I) A description of the concrete steps the 

16 Government of Burma has taken— 

17 (i) to establish a fair, transparent, 

18 and inclusive process to amend the Con19 stitution of Burma; 

20 (ii) to promote peace agreements or 

21 political reconciliation and equal and fair 

22 treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict 

23 areas or areas of unrest; and 


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1 (iii) to actively address the resettle2 ment and humanitarian situation of dis3 placed persons. 

4 (J) An assessment of the status of the 

5 Burmese military’s cooperation with civilian au6 thorities to investigate and resolve cases of 

7 human rights violations. 

8 (3) FORM.—The report required under para9 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

10 but may contain a classified annex as necessary. 

11 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE12 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres13 sional committees’’ means the congressional defense com14 mittees and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 

15 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Com16 mittee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appro17 priations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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