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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 326

To prohibit United States military assistance and arms transfers to foreign

governments that are undemocratic, do not adequately protect human

rights, are engaged in acts of armed aggression, or are not fully participating in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 1 (legislative day, JANUARY 30), 1995

Mr. HATFIELD (for himself, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. BUMPERS, and

Mr. HARKIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To prohibit United States military assistance and arms

transfers to foreign governments that are undemocratic,

do not adequately protect human rights, are engaged

in acts of armed aggression, or are not fully participating

in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.

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 ‘‘Code of Conduct on

5 Arms Transfers Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Approximately 40,000,000 people, over 75

2 percent civilians, died as a result of civil and inter3 national wars fought with conventional weapons dur4 ing the 45 years of the Cold War, demonstrating

5 that conventional weapons can in fact be weapons of

6 mass destruction.

7 (2) Conflict has actually increased in the post8 Cold War era, with 34 major wars in progress dur9 ing 1993.

10 (3) War is both a human tragedy and an ongo11 ing economic disaster affecting the entire world, in12 cluding the United States and its economy, because

13 it decimates both local investment and potential ex14 port markets.

15 (4) International trade in conventional weapons

16 increases the risk and impact of war in an already

17 over-militarized world, creating far more costs than

18 benefits for the United States economy through in19 creased United States defense and foreign assistance

20 spending and reduced demand for United States ci21 vilian exports.

22 (5) The newly established United Nations Reg23 ister of Conventional Arms can be an effective first

24 step in support of limitations on the supply of con25 ventional weapons to developing countries, and com-
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1 pliance with its reporting requirements by a foreign

2 government can be an integral tool in determining

3 the worthiness of such government for the receipts

4 of United States military assistance and arms trans5 fers.

6 (6) It is in the national security and economic

7 interests of the United States to reduce dramatically

8 the $1,038,000,000,000 that all countries spend on

9 armed forces every year, $242,000,000,000 of which

10 is spent by developing countries, an amount equiva11 lent to 4 times the total bilateral and multilateral

12 foreign assistance such countries receive every year.

13 (7) According to the Congressional Research

14 Service of the Library of Congress, the United

15 States supplies more conventional weapons to devel16 oping countries than all other countries combined,

17 averaging $14,956,000,000 each year in agreements

18 to supply such weapons to developing countries since

19 the end of the Cold War, compared to

20 $7,300,000,000 each year in such agreements prior

21 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

22 (8) In recent years the vast majority of United

23 States arms transfers to developing countries are to

24 countries with an undemocratic form of government

25 whose citizens, according to the Department of State
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1 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices do not

2 have the ability to peaceably change their form of

3 government.

4 (9) Although a goal of United States foreign

5 policy should be to work with foreign governments

6 and international organizations to reduce militariza7 tion and dictatorship and therefore prevent conflicts

8 before they arise, during 4 recent deployments of

9 United States Armed Forces—to the Republic of

10 Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Haiti—the

11 Armed Forces faced conventional weapons that had

12 been provided or financed by the United States to

13 undemocratic governments.

14 (10) The proliferation of conventional arms and

15 conflicts around the globe is a multilateral problem,

16 and the fact that the United States has emerged as

17 the world’s primary seller of conventional weapons,

18 together with the world leadership role of the United

19 States, signifies that the United States is in a posi20 tion to seek multilateral restraints on the competi21 tion for and transfers of conventional weapons.

22 (11) The Congress has the constitutional re23 sponsibility to participate with the executive branch

24 of Government in decisions to provide military as25 sistance and arms transfers to a foreign government,
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1 and in the formulation of a policy designed to reduce

2 dramatically the level of international militarization.

3 (12) A decision to provide military assistance

4 and arms transfers to a government that is undemo5 cratic, does not adequately protect human rights, is

6 currently engaged in acts of armed aggression, or is

7 not fully participating in the United Nations Reg8 ister of Conventional Arms, should require a higher

9 level of scrutiny than does a decision to provide such

10 assistance and arms transfers to a government to

11 which these conditions do not apply.

12 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

13 The purpose of this Act is to provide clear policy

14 guidelines and congressional responsibility for determining

15 the eligibility of foreign governments to be considered for

16 United States military assistance and arms transfers.

17 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSIST18 ANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS TO CERTAIN

19 FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

20 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsections

21 (b) and (c), United States military assistance and arms

22 transfers may not be provided to a foreign government for

23 a fiscal year unless the President certifies to the Congress

24 for that fiscal year that such government meets the follow25 ing requirements:
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1 (1) PROMOTES DEMOCRACY.—Such govern2 ment—

3 (A) was chosen by and permits free and

4 fair elections;

5 (B) promotes civilian control of the mili6 tary and security forces and has civilian institu7 tions controlling the policy, operation, and

8 spending of all law enforcement and security in9 stitutions, as well as the armed forces;

10 (C) promotes the rule of law, equality be11 fore the law, and respect for individual and mi12 nority rights, including freedom to speak, pub13 lish, associate, and organize; and

14 (D) promotes the strengthening of politi15 cal, legislative, and civil institutions of democ16 racy, as well as autonomous institutions to

17 monitor the conduct of public officials and to

18 combat corruption.

19 (2) RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.—Such govern20 ment—

21 (A) does not engage in gross violations of

22 internationally recognized human rights, includ23 ing—

24 (i) extrajudicial or arbitrary execu25 tions;
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1 (ii) disappearances;

2 (iii) torture or severe mistreatment;

3 (iv) prolonged arbitrary imprisonment;

4 (v) systematic official discrimination

5 on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion,

6 gender, national origin, or political affili7 ation; and

8 (vi) grave breaches of international

9 laws of war or equivalent violations of the

10 laws of war in internal conflicts;

11 (B) vigorously investigates, disciplines, and

12 prosecutes those responsible for gross violations

13 of internationally recognized human rights;

14 (C) permits access on a regular basis to

15 political prisoners by international humani16 tarian organizations such as the International

17 Committee of the Red Cross;

18 (D) promotes the independence of the judi19 ciary and other official bodies that oversee the

20 protection of human rights;

21 (E) does not impede the free functioning of

22 domestic and international human rights orga23 nizations; and
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1 (F) provides access on a regular basis to

2 humanitarian organizations in situations of con3 flict or famine.

4 (3) NOT ENGAGED IN CERTAIN ACTS OF ARMED

5 AGGRESSION.—Such government is not currently en6 gaged in acts of armed aggression in violation of

7 international law.

8 (4) FULL PARTICIPATION IN UNITED NATIONS

9 REGISTER OF CONVENTIONAL ARMS.—Such govern10 ment is fully participating in the United Nations

11 Register of Conventional Arms.

12 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR CONTINUING COMPLI13 ANCE.—Any certification with respect to a foreign govern14 ment for a fiscal year under subsection (a) shall cease to

15 be effective for that fiscal year if the President certifies

16 to the Congress that such government has not continued

17 to comply with the requirements contained in paragraphs

18 (1) through (4) of such subsection.

19 (c) EXEMPTION.—The prohibition contained in sub20 section (a) shall not apply with respect to a foreign govern21 ment for a fiscal year if—

22 (1) the President submits a request for an ex23 emption to the Congress containing a determination

24 that it is in the national security interest of the
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1 United States to provide military assistance and

2 arms transfers to such government; and

3 (2) the Congress enacts a law approving such

4 exemption request.

5 (d) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The President

6 shall submit to the Congress initial certifications under

7 subsection (a) and requests for exemptions under sub8 section (c) in conjunction with the submission of the an9 nual request for enactment of authorizations and appro10 priations for foreign assistance programs for a fiscal year

11 and shall, where appropriate, submit additional or amend12 ed certifications and requests for exemptions at any time

13 thereafter in the fiscal year.

14 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

15 It is the sense of the Congress that the Committee

16 on International Relations of the House of Representa17 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen18 ate should hold hearings on controversial certifications

19 submitted under section 4(a) and all requests for exemp20 tions submitted under section 4(c).

21 SEC. 6. UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND ARMS

22 TRANSFERS DEFINED.

23 For purposes of this Act, the terms ‘‘United States

24 military assistance and arms transfers’’ and ‘‘military as25 sistance and arms transfers’’ means—
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1 (1) assistance under chapter 2 of part II of the

2 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to military

3 assistance), including the transfer of excess defense

4 articles under sections 516 through 519 of that Act;

5 (2) assistance under chapter 5 of part II of the

6 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to inter7 national military education and training);

8 (3) assistance under the ‘‘Foreign Military Fi9 nancing Program’’ under section 23 of the Arms Ex10 port Control Act; or

11 (4) the transfer of defense articles, defense

12 services, or design and construction services under

13 the Arms Export Control Act, including defense arti14 cles and defense services licensed or approved for ex15 port under section 38 of that Act.

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