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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4377 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4377

     To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 2, 2014

Mr. Chabot (for himself and Mr. Crowley) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
     To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Human Rights and Democracy Act 
of 2014''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BURMA.

    (a) Limitation.--
            (1) In general.--No funds authorized to be appropriated or 
        otherwise made available for fiscal year 2014 or 2015 may be 
        made available for security assistance described in paragraph 
        (2) to the Government of Burma unless the Secretary of State 
        certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that--
                    (A) the Government of Burma has taken concrete 
                steps toward--
                            (i) establishing civilian oversight of the 
                        armed forces;
                            (ii) addressing human rights abuses by the 
                        Burmese military, including publicly 
                        acknowledging that human rights abuses have 
                        been and continue to be committed by the 
                        Burmese military, and committing to a zero 
                        tolerance policy against such human rights 
                        abuses; and
                            (iii) terminating military relations with 
                        North Korea;
                    (B) the Government of Burma has taken concrete 
                steps to establish a fair, transparent and inclusive 
                process to amend the Constitution of Burma, including 
                the full participation of the political opposition and 
                all ethnic minority groups, and the constitutional 
                reform process will provide the basis for free, fair, 
                and competitive elections in Burma;
                    (C) the Government of Burma has amended its 
                constitution and laws to ensure civilian control of the 
                military and implemented reforms to increase the 
                transparency and accountability of the military's 
                budget and operations, and the Burmese military has 
                taken substantial and meaningful steps to divest itself 
                from ownership of commercial businesses;
                    (D) the Government of Burma is showing meaningful 
                and well-documented efforts to promote peace agreements 
                or political reconciliation and equal and fair 
                treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict areas or 
                areas of unrest, and to actively address the 
                resettlement and humanitarian situation of displaced 
                persons; and
                    (E) the Burmese military is--
                            (i) improving its human rights record, as 
                        measured by consistent decreases in reports of 
                        forced labor, indefinite detention, torture, or 
                        cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of 
                        detainees, and use in armed conflict of 
                        indiscriminate or disproportionate methods and 
                        means of attack;
                            (ii) demonstrating a genuine interest in 
                        reform by ceasing attacks against ethnic 
                        minority groups in both ceasefire and non-
                        ceasefire areas;
                            (iii) taking steps to withdraw forces from 
                        conflict zones, including by halting the use of 
                        soldiers in economic development projects;
                            (iv) adhering to the conditions of 
                        ceasefire agreements; and
                            (v) signing and implementing a code of 
                        conduct.
            (2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``security 
        assistance'' means--
                    (A) assistance under chapter 2 (military 
                assistance), chapter 5 (military education and 
                training), or chapter 6 (peacekeeping operations) of 
                part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961;
                    (B) assistance under chapter 8 of part II of the 
                Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, chapter 9 of part II of 
                such Act, section 504 of the FREEDOM Support Act, 
                section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act, or the 
                Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for demining programs 
                and activities to be carried out by or in conjunction 
                with military units or personnel of a foreign country;
                    (C) sales of defense articles or defense services, 
                extensions of credits (including participations in 
                credits), and guaranties of loans under the Arms Export 
                Control Act; or
                    (D) any license in effect with respect to the 
                export of defense articles or defense services to or 
                for the armed forces, police, intelligence, or other 
                internal security forces of Burma under section 38 of 
                the Arms Export Control Act.
            (3) Applicability to fy 2014 funds.--The limitation on the 
        availability of funds under this subsection for fiscal year 
        2014 shall apply with respect to funds that are unobligated as 
        of the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (4) Sense of congress.--Nothing in this Act should be 
        construed either to prevent participation by Burmese 
        authorities in training on civil-military relations and human 
        rights, as carried out by the Defense Institute of 
        International Legal Studies, or to prevent United States 
        disaster assistance in Burma.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
        Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate 
        congressional committees a report on the strategy for, and 
        plans and status of, engagement between the United States and 
        the Burmese military.
            (2) Elements.--The report required under paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following elements:
                    (A) A description and assessment of the Government 
                of Burma's strategy for security sector reform, an 
                identification and comprehensive analysis of those 
                reform elements that the United States Government 
                should support, and a multi-year cost estimate for 
                providing such support.
                    (B) The United States strategy for the relationship 
                between the United States and the Burmese military, 
                including a description of how and why such engagements 
                are necessary for United States national security.
                    (C) An assessment of the human rights record of the 
                Burmese military over the past decade, including--
                            (i) an account of violations of human 
                        rights and laws of armed conflict by the 
                        Burmese military and all paramilitary and 
                        security forces under its command, including 
                        against ethnic minority groups;
                            (ii) a description of efforts by the 
                        Burmese military to implement human rights 
                        reforms; and
                            (iii) a description of progress in the 
                        relationship between the United States and the 
                        Burmese military and such reforms.
                    (D) An assessment of any substantial and meaningful 
                steps taken by the Burmese military to implement 
                reforms to increase transparency and accountability of 
                the military's budget and operations and to divest 
                itself from ownership of commercial business.
                    (E) A list of ongoing activities conducted by the 
                United States Government and other international donors 
                with the Burmese military, including a description of 
                each such activity.
                    (F) An update on activities that were listed in 
                previous reporting.
                    (G) A list of activities that are planned to occur 
                over the upcoming year, with a written description of 
                each.
                    (H) A description of progress on the peaceful 
                settlement of armed conflicts between the Government of 
                Burma and ethnic minority groups, including the steps 
                taken by the Burmese military to demonstrate respect 
                for ceasefires, laws of armed conflict, and human 
                rights provisions prohibiting rape, torture, forced 
                labor, trafficking, and the use of child soldiers.
                    (I) A description of the concrete steps the 
                Government of Burma has taken--
                            (i) to establish a fair, transparent, and 
                        inclusive process to amend the Constitution of 
                        Burma;
                            (ii) to promote peace agreements or 
                        political reconciliation and equal and fair 
                        treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict 
                        areas or areas of unrest; and
                            (iii) to actively address the resettlement 
                        and humanitarian situation of displaced 
                        persons.
                    (J) An assessment of the status of the Burmese 
                military's cooperation with civilian authorities to 
                investigate and resolve cases of human rights 
                violations.
            (3) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
        annex as necessary.
    (c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate.
                                 <all>
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