I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2269

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 17, 1999

Ms. MCKINNEY (for herself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. LEACH, Ms. RIVERS,

Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr.

GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. PORTER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. FRANK of

Massachusetts, Mr. WEINER, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii,

Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. DIXON, Mr. STARK, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. WYNN, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. NADLER, Mr.

TIERNEY, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr. LUTHER, Mr.

FARR of California, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. SMITH of New

Jersey, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. NORTON, Mr.

BLUMENAUER, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr.

MINGE, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. EVANS,

Mr. CLAY, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon,

Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CLYBURN, and Ms. LEE)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Armed

Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To prohibit United States military assistance and arms

transfers to foreign governments that are undemocratic,
2

•HR 2269 IH

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 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to provide clear policy

8 guidelines and congressional responsibility for determining

9 the eligibility of foreign governments to be considered for

10 United States military assistance and arms transfers.

11 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF UNITED STATES MILITARY

12 ASSISTANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS TO

13 CERTAIN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

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

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

16 transfers may not be provided to a foreign government for

17 any fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment

18 of this Act unless the President certifies to Congress for

19 that fiscal year that such government meets the following

20 requirements:

21 (1) PROMOTES DEMOCRACY.—Such

22 government—
3

•HR 2269 IH

1 (A) was chosen by and permits free and

2 fair elections;

3 (B) promotes civilian control of the mili4 tary and security forces and has civilian institu5 tions controlling the policy, operation, and

6 spending of all law enforcement and security in7 stitutions, as well as the armed forces;

8 (C) promotes the rule of law, equality be9 fore the law, and respect for individual and mi10 nority rights, including freedom to speak, pub11 lish, associate, and organize; and

12 (D) promotes the strengthening of polit13 ical, legislative, and civil institutions of democ14 racy, as well as autonomous institutions to

15 monitor the conduct of public officials and to

16 combat corruption.

17 (2) RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.—Such

18 government—

19 (A) does not engage in gross violations of

20 internationally recognized human rights,

21 including—

22 (i) extrajudicial or arbitrary

23 executions;

24 (ii) disappearances;

25 (iii) torture or severe mistreatment;
4

•HR 2269 IH

1 (iv) prolonged arbitrary imprisonment;

2 (v) systematic official discrimination

3 on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion,

4 gender, national origin, or political affili5 ation; and

6 (vi) grave breaches of international

7 laws of war or equivalent violations of the

8 laws of war in internal conflicts;

9 (B) vigorously investigates, disciplines, and

10 prosecutes those responsible for gross violations

11 of internationally recognized human rights;

12 (C) permits access on a regular basis to

13 political prisoners by international humani14 tarian organizations such as the International

15 Committee of the Red Cross;

16 (D) promotes the independence of the judi17 ciary and other official bodies that oversee the

18 protection of human rights;

19 (E) does not impede the free functioning of

20 domestic and international human rights orga21 nizations; and

22 (F) provides access on a regular basis to

23 humanitarian organizations in situations of con24 flict or famine.
5

•HR 2269 IH

1 (3) NOT ENGAGED IN CERTAIN ACTS OF ARMED

2 AGGRESSION.—Such government is not currently en3 gaged in acts of armed aggression in violation of

4 international law.

5 (4) FULL PARTICIPATION IN UNITED NATIONS

6 REGISTER OF CONVENTIONAL ARMS.—Such govern7 ment is fully participating in the United Nations

8 Register of Conventional Arms.

9 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR CONTINUING COMPLI10 ANCE.—Any certification with respect to a foreign govern11 ment for a fiscal year under subsection (a) shall cease to

12 be effective for that fiscal year if the President certifies

13 to Congress that such government has not continued to

14 comply with the requirements contained in paragraphs (1)

15 through (4) of such subsection.

16 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—

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

18 subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a for19 eign government for a fiscal year if—

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

21 submits a request for an exemption to Congress

22 containing a determination that it is in the na23 tional security interest of the United States to

24 provide military assistance and arms transfers

25 to such government; or
6

•HR 2269 IH

1 (B) the President determines that an

2 emergency exists under which it is vital to the

3 interest of the United States to provide military

4 assistance and arms transfers to such govern5 ment.

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

7 to provide military assistance and arms transfers to

8 a foreign government shall not take effect, or shall

9 cease to be effective, if a law is enacted disapproving

10 such request.

11 (d) NOTIFICATIONS TO CONGRESS.—

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

13 to Congress initial certifications under subsection (a)

14 and requests for exemptions under subsection

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

16 annual congressional presentation documents for for17 eign assistance programs for a fiscal year and shall,

18 where appropriate, submit additional or amended

19 certifications and requests for exemptions at any

20 time thereafter in the fiscal year.

21 (2) DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO EMER22 GENCY SITUATIONS.—Whenever the President deter23 mines that it would not be contrary to the national

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

25 earliest possible date reports containing determina-
7

•HR 2269 IH

1 tions with respect to emergencies under subsection

2 (c)(1)(B). Each such report shall contain a descrip3 tion of—

4 (A) the nature of the emergency;

5 (B) the type of military assistance and

6 arms transfers provided to the foreign govern7 ment; and

8 (C) the cost to the United States of such

9 assistance and arms transfers.

10 SEC. 4. PROMOTING AN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS

11 REGIME.

12 (a) INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.—Prior to the be13 ginning of each fiscal year, the President shall compile a

14 list of countries that do not meet the requirements in sec15 tion 3(a) and for which the President has not requested

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

17 (1) notify the governments participating in the

18 Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for

19 Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Tech20 nologies, done at Vienna, July 11 and 12, 1996 (in

21 this section referred to as the ‘‘Wassenaar Arrange22 ment’’), and such other foreign governments as the

23 President deems appropriate, that the countries so

24 listed are ineligible to receive United States arms

25 sales and military assistance under this Act; and
8

•HR 2269 IH

1 (2) request that the countries so notified also

2 declare the listed countries as ineligible for arms

3 sales and military assistance.

4 (b) MULTILATERAL EFFORTS.—The President shall

5 continue and expand efforts through the United Nations

6 and other international fora, such as the Wassenaar Ar7 rangement, to limit arms transfers worldwide, particularly

8 transfers to countries that do not meet the criteria estab9 lished in section 3, for the purpose of establishing a per10 manent multilateral regime to govern the transfer of con11 ventional arms.

12 (c) REPORT.—

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

14 date of enactment of this Act, and annually there15 after, the President shall submit a report to

16 Congress—

17 (A) describing efforts he has undertaken

18 during the preceding year to gain international

19 acceptance of the principles contained in section

20 3; and

21 (B) evaluating the progress made toward

22 establishing a multilateral regime to control the

23 transfer of conventional arms.

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

25 shall be submitted in conjunction with the submis-
9

•HR 2269 IH

1 sion of the annual congressional presentation docu2 ments for foreign assistance programs for a fiscal

3 year.

4 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND ARMS

5 TRANSFERS DEFINED.

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

7 military assistance and arms transfers’’ and ‘‘military as8 sistance and arms transfers’’ mean—

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

10 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to military

11 assistance), including the transfer of excess defense

12 articles under section 516 of that Act;

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

14 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to inter15 national military education and training);

16 (3) the transfer of defense articles, defense

17 services, or design and construction services under

18 the Arms Export Control Act (excluding any trans19 fer or other assistance under section 23 of such Act

20 to countries that are specifically identified and ap21 proved for such assistance in law), including defense

22 articles and defense services licensed or approved for

23 export under section 38 of that Act; or

24 (4) assistance under sections 2010 and 2011 of

25 title 10, United States Code, and assistance under
10

•HR 2269 IH

1 section 1004 of the National Defense Authorization

2 Act for Fiscal Year 1991.

Æ