II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1067

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

JULY 24, 1997

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. LEAHY, Ms.

MOSELEY-BRAUN, Mr. WELLSTONE, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KENNEDY, 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 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to provide clear policy

3 guidelines and congressional responsibility for determining

4 the eligibility of foreign governments to be considered for

5 United States military assistance and arms transfers.

6 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF UNITED STATES MILITARY

7 ASSISTANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS TO

8 CERTAIN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

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

10 (b) and (c), beginning on and after October 1, 1998, Unit11 ed States military assistance and arms transfers may not

12 be provided to a foreign government for a fiscal year un13 less the President certifies to Congress for that fiscal year

14 that such government meets the following requirements:

15 (1) PROMOTES DEMOCRACY.—Such govern16 ment—

17 (A) was chosen by and permits free and

18 fair elections;

19 (B) promotes civilian control of the mili20 tary and security forces and has civilian institu21 tions controlling the policy, operation, and

22 spending of all law enforcement and security in23 stitutions, as well as the armed forces;

24 (C) promotes the rule of law, equality be25 fore the law, and respect for individual and mi-
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1 nority rights, including freedom to speak, pub2 lish, associate, and organize; and

3 (D) promotes the strengthening of politi4 cal, legislative, and civil institutions of democ5 racy, as well as autonomous institutions to

6 monitor the conduct of public officials and to

7 combat corruption.

8 (2) RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.—Such

9 government—

10 (A) does not engage in gross violations of

11 internationally recognized human rights,

12 including—

13 (i) extrajudicial or arbitrary

14 executions;

15 (ii) disappearances;

16 (iii) torture or severe mistreatment;

17 (iv) prolonged arbitrary imprisonment;

18 (v) systematic official discrimination

19 on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion,

20 gender, national origin, or political affili21 ation; and

22 (vi) grave breaches of international

23 laws of war or equivalent violations of the

24 laws of war in internal conflicts;
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1 (B) vigorously investigates, disciplines, and

2 prosecutes those responsible for gross violations

3 of internationally recognized human rights;

4 (C) permits access on a regular basis to

5 political prisoners by international humani6 tarian organizations such as the International

7 Committee of the Red Cross;

8 (D) promotes the independence of the judi9 ciary and other official bodies that oversee the

10 protection of human rights;

11 (E) does not impede the free functioning of

12 domestic and international human rights orga13 nizations; and

14 (F) provides access on a regular basis to

15 humanitarian organizations in situations of con16 flict or famine.

17 (3) NOT ENGAGED IN CERTAIN ACTS OF ARMED

18 AGGRESSION.—Such government is not currently en19 gaged in acts of armed aggression in violation of

20 international law.

21 (4) FULL PARTICIPATION IN UNITED NATIONS

22 REGISTER OF CONVENTIONAL ARMS.—Such govern23 ment is fully participating in the United Nations

24 Register of Conventional Arms.
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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 Congress that such government has not continued to

6 comply with the requirements contained in paragraphs (1)

7 through (4) of such subsection.

8 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The prohibition contained in

10 subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a for11 eign government for a fiscal year if—

12 (A) subject to paragraph (2), the President

13 submits a request for an exemption to Congress

14 containing a determination that it is in the na15 tional security interest of the United States to

16 provide military assistance and arms transfers

17 to such government; or

18 (B) the President determines that an

19 emergency exists under which it is vital to the

20 interest of the United States to provide military

21 assistance and arms transfers to such govern22 ment.

23 (2) DISAPPROVAL.—A request for an exemption

24 to provide military assistance and arms transfers to

25 a foreign government shall not take effect, or shall
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1 cease to be effective, if a law is enacted disapproving

2 such request.

3 (d) NOTIFICATIONS TO CONGRESS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall submit

5 to Congress initial certifications under subsection (a)

6 and requests for exemptions under subsection

7 (c)(1)(A) in conjunction with the submission of the

8 annual congressional presentation documents for for9 eign assistance programs for a fiscal year and shall,

10 where appropriate, submit additional or amended

11 certifications and requests for exemptions at any

12 time thereafter in the fiscal year.

13 (2) DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO EMER14 GENCY SITUATIONS.—Whenever the President deter15 mines that it would not be contrary to the national

16 interest to do so, he shall submit to Congress at the

17 earliest possible date reports containing determina18 tions with respect to emergencies under subsection

19 (c)(1)(B). Each such report shall contain a descrip20 tion of—

21 (A) the nature of the emergency;

22 (B) the type of military assistance and

23 arms transfers provided to the foreign govern24 ment; and
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1 (C) the cost to the United States of such

2 assistance and arms transfers.

3 SEC. 4. PROMOTING AN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS

4 REGIME.

5 (a) INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.—Prior to the be6 ginning of each fiscal year, the President shall compile a

7 list of countries that do not meet the requirements in sec8 tion 3(a) and for which the President has not requested

9 an exemption under section 3(c). The President shall—

10 (1) notify the governments participating in the

11 Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for

12 Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Tech13 nologies, done at Vienna, July 11 and 12, 1996 (in

14 this section referred to as the ‘‘Wassenaar Arrange15 ment’’), and such other foreign governments as the

16 President deems appropriate, that the countries so

17 listed are ineligible to receive United States arms

18 sales and military assistance under this Act; and

19 (2) request that the countries so notified also

20 declare the listed countries as ineligible for arms

21 sales and military assistance.

22 (b) MULTILATERAL EFFORTS.—The President shall

23 continue and expand efforts through the United Nations

24 and other international fora, such as the Wassenaar Ar25 rangement, to limit arms transfers worldwide, particularly
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1 transfers to countries that do not meet the criteria estab2 lished in section 3, for the purpose of establishing a per3 manent multilateral regime to govern the transfer of con4 ventional arms.

5 (c) REPORT.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning one year after the

7 date of enactment of this Act, and annually there8 after, the President shall submit a report to Con9 gress—

10 (A) describing efforts he has undertaken

11 during the preceding year to gain international

12 acceptance of the principles contained in section

13 3; and

14 (B) evaluating the progress made toward

15 establishing a multilateral regime to control the

16 transfer of conventional arms.

17 (2) SUBMISSION OF THE REPORT.—This report

18 shall be submitted in conjunction with the submis19 sion of the annual congressional presentation docu20 ments for foreign assistance programs for a fiscal

21 year.
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1 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND ARMS

2 TRANSFERS DEFINED.

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

4 military assistance and arms transfers’’ and ‘‘military as5 sistance and arms transfers’’ mean—

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

7 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to military

8 assistance), including the transfer of excess defense

9 articles under section 516 of that Act;

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

11 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to inter12 national military education and training); or

13 (3) the transfer of defense articles, defense

14 services, or design and construction services under

15 the Arms Export Control Act (excluding any trans16 fer or other assistance under section 23 of such

17 Act), including defense articles and defense services

18 licensed or approved for export under section 38 of

19 that Act.

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