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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1677

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

NOVEMBER 18 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. HATFIELD 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 1993’’.

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 that

5 conventional weapons can in fact be weapons of

6 mass destruction.

7 (2) Conflict has actually increased in the post

8 cold war era, with 26 wars in progress during 1992.

9 (3) War is both a human tragedy and an ongo10 ing economic disaster affecting the entire world, in11 cluding the United States and its economy, because

12 it decimates both local investment and potential ex13 port markets.

14 (4) International trade in conventional weapons

15 increases the risk and impact of war in an already

16 over-militarized world, creating far more costs than

17 benefits for the United States economy through in18 creased United States defense and foreign assistance

19 spending and reduced demand for United States

20 civilian exports.

21 (5) The newly established United Nations Reg22 ister of Conventional Arms can be an effective first

23 step in support of limitations on the supply of con24 ventional weapons to developing countries and com25 pliance with its reporting requirements by a foreign
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1 government can be an integral tool in determining

2 the worthiness of such government for the receipt of

3 United States military assistance and arms

4 transfers.

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

6 interests of the United States to reduce dramatically

7 the $1,000,000,000,000 that all countries spend on

8 armed forces every year, $200,000,000,000 of which

9 is spent by developing countries, an amount equiva10 lent to 4 times the total bilateral and multilateral

11 foreign assistance such countries receive every year.

12 (7) According to the Congressional Research

13 Service, the United States supplies more conven14 tional weapons to developing countries than all other

15 countries combined, averaging $15,600,000,000 a

16 year in agreements to supply such weapons to devel17 oping countries since the end of the cold war, com18 pared to $7,000,000,000 a year in such agreements

19 prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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

21 States arms transfers to developing countries are to

22 countries with an undemocratic form of government

23 whose citizens, according to the Department of State

24 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices do not
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1 have the ability to peaceably change their form of

2 government.

3 (9) Although a goal of United States foreign

4 policy should be to work with foreign governments

5 and international organizations to reduce militariza6 tion and dictatorship and therefore prevent conflicts

7 before they arise, during 3 recent deployments of

8 United States Armed Forces—to the Republic of

9 Panama, the Persian Gulf, and Somalia—such

10 Armed Forces faced conventional weapons that had

11 been provided or financed by the United States to

12 undemocratic governments.

13 (10) The proliferation of conventional arms and

14 conflicts around the globe are multilateral problems,

15 and the fact that the United States has emerged as

16 the world’s primary seller of conventional weapons,

17 combined with the world leadership role of the

18 United States, signifies that the United States is in

19 a position to seek multilateral restraints on the com20 petition for and transfers of conventional weapons.

21 (11) Congress has the constitutional respon22 sibility to participate with the executive branch in

23 decisions to provide military assistance and arms

24 transfers to a foreign government, and in the formu-
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1 lation of a policy designed to reduce dramatically the

2 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 in free and fair elections

4 and permits free and fair elections to take

5 place;

6 (B) promotes civilian control of the mili7 tary and security forces, and has civilian insti8 tutions that determine national security policy

9 and control the operations and spending of the

10 armed forces, security forces, and police or

11 other law enforcement forces;

12 (C) promotes the rule of law, equality be13 fore the law, and respect for individual and mi14 nority rights, including freedom to speak, pub15 lish, associate, and organize;

16 (D) promotes the strengthening of the po17 litical and civil infrastructure of democracy, in18 cluding democratic legislatures and local gov19 ernment structures and institutions of civil soci20 ety that emphasize pluralism and autonomy

21 from the central government; and

22 (E) promotes strong internal and autono23 mous institutions and groups to monitor the

24 conduct of public officials and to combat cor25 ruption.
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1 (2) RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.—Such govern2 ment—

3 (A) does not engage in gross violations of

4 internationally recognized human rights, includ5 ing—

6 (i) extra judicial or arbitrary execu7 tions;

8 (ii) disappearances;

9 (iii) torture or severe mistreatment;

10 (iv) prolonged arbitrary imprisonment;

11 (v) systematic official discrimination

12 on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion,

13 gender, or national origin; and

14 (vi) grave breaches of international

15 laws of war or equivalent violations of the

16 laws of war in internal conflicts;

17 (B) vigorously investigates, disciplines, and

18 prosecutes those responsible for gross violations

19 of internationally recognized human rights;

20 (C) permits access on a regular basis to

21 political prisoners by international humani22 tarian organizations such as the International

23 Committee of the Red Cross;
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1 (D) promotes the independence of the judi2 ciary and other official bodies that oversee the

3 protection of human rights;

4 (E) does not impede the free functioning of

5 domestic and international human rights orga6 nizations; and

7 (F) provides access on a regular basis to

8 humanitarian organizations in situations of con9 flict or famine.

10 (3) NOT ENGAGED IN CERTAIN ACTS OF ARMED

11 AGGRESSION.—Such government is not currently en12 gaged in acts of armed aggression in violation of

13 international law.

14 (4) FULL PARTICIPATION IN U.N. REGISTER OF

15 CONVENTIONAL ARMS.—Such government is fully

16 participating in the United Nations Register of Con17 ventional Arms by annually reporting to such Reg18 ister—

19 (A) the number and type of conventional

20 weapons that such government possessed during

21 the preceding year; and

22 (B) the number and type of conventional

23 weapons transferred to and from the country of

24 such government during the preceding year.
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1 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR CONTINUING COMPLI2 ANCE.—Any certification with respect to a foreign govern3 ment for a fiscal year under subsection (a) shall cease to

4 be effective for that fiscal year if the President certifies

5 to the Congress that such government has not continued

6 to comply with the requirements contained in paragraphs

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

8 (c) EXEMPTION.—The prohibition contained in sub9 section (a) shall not apply with respect to a foreign govern10 ment for a fiscal year if—

11 (1) the President submits a request for an ex12 emption to the Congress containing a determination

13 that it is in the national security interest of the

14 United States to provide military assistance and

15 arms transfers to such government; and

16 (2) the Congress enacts a law approving such

17 exemption request.

18 (d) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The President

19 shall submit to the Congress initial certifications under

20 subsection (a) and requests for exemptions under sub21 section (c) in conjunction with the submission of the an22 nual request for enactment of authorizations and appro23 priations for foreign assistance programs for a fiscal year

24 and shall, where appropriate, submit additional or amend-
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1 ed certifications and requests for exemptions at any time

2 thereafter in the fiscal year.

3 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

4 It is the sense of the Congress that the Committee

5 on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and

6 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate should

7 hold hearings on controversial certifications submitted

8 under section 4(a) and all requests for exemptions submit9 ted under section 4(c).

10 SEC. 6. UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND ARMS

11 TRANSFERS DEFINED.

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

13 military assistance and arms transfers’’ and ‘‘military as14 sistance and arms transfers’’ mean—

15 (1) assistance under chapter 2 of part II of the

16 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to military

17 assistance), including the transfer of excess defense

18 articles under sections 516 through 519 of that Act;

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

20 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to inter21 national military education and training);

22 (3) assistance under the ‘‘Foreign Military Fi23 nancing Program’’ under section 23 of the Arms Ex24 port Control Act; or
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1 (4) the transfer of defense articles, defense

2 services, or design and construction services under

3 the Arms Export Control Act, including defense arti4 cles and defense services licensed or approved for ex5 port under section 38 of that Act.

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