I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3889 

To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2014 

Mr. CROWLEY (for himself and Mr. CHABOT) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition 

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 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 2014’’. 

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 


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1 otherwise made available for fiscal year 2014 for the 

2 Department of Defense may be made available for 

3 assistance to the Government of Burma unless the 

4 Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate con5 gressional committees that— 

6 (A) the Government of Burma has taken 

7 concrete steps toward— 

8 (i) establishing civilian oversight of 

9 the armed forces; 

10 (ii) addressing human rights abuses 

11 by the Burmese military, including publicly 

12 acknowledging that human rights abuses 

13 have been and continue to be committed by 

14 the Burmese military, and committing to a 

15 zero tolerance policy against such human 

16 rights abuses; and 

17 (iii) terminating military relations 

18 with North Korea; 

19 (B) the Government of Burma has taken 

20 concrete steps to establish a fair, transparent 

21 and inclusive process to amend the Constitution 

22 of Burma, including the full participation of the 

23 political opposition and all ethnic minority 

24 groups, and the constitutional reform process 


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1 will provide the basis for free, fair, and com2 petitive elections in Burma; 

3 (C) the Government of Burma has amend4 ed its constitution and laws to ensure civilian 

5 control of the military and implemented reforms 

6 to increase the transparency and accountability 

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

8 Burmese military has taken substantial and 

9 meaningful steps to divest itself from ownership 

10 of commercial businesses; 

11 (D) the Government of Burma is showing 

12 meaningful and well-documented efforts to pro13 mote peace agreements or political reconcili14 ation and equal and fair treatment of all ethnic 

15 groups in conflict areas or areas of unrest, and 

16 to actively address the resettlement and human17 itarian situation of displaced persons; and 

18 (E) the Burmese military is— 

19 (i) improving its human rights record, 

20 as measured by consistent decreases in re21 ports of forced labor, indefinite detention, 

22 torture, or cruel, inhumane, and degrading 

23 treatment of detainees, and use in armed 

24 conflict of indiscriminate or dispropor25 tionate methods and means of attack; 


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1 (ii) demonstrating a genuine interest 

2 in reform by ceasing attacks against ethnic 

3 minority groups in both ceasefire and non4 ceasefire areas; 

5 (iii) taking steps to withdraw forces 

6 from conflict zones, including by halting 

7 the use of soldiers in economic develop8 ment projects; 

9 (iv) adhering to the conditions of 

10 ceasefire agreements; and 

11 (v) signing and implementing a code 

12 of conduct. 

13 (2) EXCEPTION.—The restriction in paragraph 

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

15 on human rights and disaster response for the Bur16 mese military, including training for the Burmese 

17 military and civilian leadership on international law, 

18 civilian control of the military, and justice and ac19 countability mechanisms both through the chain of 

20 command and civilian authority, except that such 

21 consultation and training shall occur in conjunction 

22 with engagement with ethnic armed groups and con23 ducted in a manner that will not enhance the Bur24 mese military’s capabilities against ethnic minorities. 

25 (b) REPORT.— 


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

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an3 nually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense, in con4 currence with the Secretary of State, shall submit to 

5 the appropriate congressional committees a report 

6 on the strategy for, and plans and status of, mili7 tary-to-military engagement between the United 

8 States Armed Forces and the Burmese military. 

9 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

10 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

11 (A) A description and assessment of the 

12 Government of Burma’s strategy for security 

13 sector reform, an identification and comprehen14 sive analysis of those reform elements that the 

15 United States Government should support, and 

16 a multi-year cost estimate for providing such 

17 support. 

18 (B) The United States strategy for the 

19 military-to-military relationship between the 

20 United States and Burma, including a descrip21 tion of how and why such engagements are nec22 essary for United States national security. 

23 (C) An assessment of the human rights 

24 record of the Burmese military over the past 

25 decade, including— 


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1 (i) an account of violations of human 

2 rights and laws of armed conflict by the 

3 Burmese military and all paramilitary and 

4 security forces under its command, includ5 ing against ethnic minority groups; 

6 (ii) a description of efforts by the 

7 Burmese military to implement human 

8 rights reforms; and 

9 (iii) a description of the relationship 

10 between progress in the United States11 Burma military-to-military relationship 

12 and such reforms. 

13 (D) An assessment of— 

14 (i) any substantial and meaningful 

15 steps taken by the Burmese military to im16 plement reforms to increase transparency 

17 and accountability of the military’s budget 

18 and operations and to divest itself from 

19 ownership of commercial business; and 

20 (ii) the relationship between progress 

21 in the United States-Burma military-to22 military relationship and such reforms. 

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

24 activities conducted by the United States GovVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:25 Jan 16, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3889.IH H3889

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1 ernment and other international donors, includ2 ing a description of each such activity. 

3 (F) An update on activities that were listed 

4 in previous reporting. 

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

6 occur over the upcoming year, with a written 

7 description of each. 

8 (H) A description of progress on the peace9 ful settlement of armed conflicts between the 

10 Government of Burma and ethnic minority 

11 groups, including the steps taken by the Bur12 mese military to demonstrate respect for 

13 ceasefires, laws of armed conflict, and human 

14 rights provisions prohibiting rape, torture, 

15 forced labor, trafficking, and the use of child 

16 soldiers. 

17 (I) A description of the concrete steps the 

18 Government of Burma has taken— 

19 (i) to establish a fair, transparent, 

20 and inclusive process to amend the Con21 stitution of Burma; 

22 (ii) to promote peace agreements or 

23 political reconciliation and equal and fair 

24 treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict 

25 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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