I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5065 

To ensure accountability for United States taxpayers’ humanitarian assistance 

for Palestinian refugees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 20, 2010 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. KIRK, Mrs. 

BACHMANN, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To ensure accountability for United States taxpayers’ 

humanitarian assistance for Palestinian refugees. 

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 ‘‘UNRWA Humani5 tarian Accountability Act.’’ 

6 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA. 

7 Section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

8 is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

9 following new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(c)(1) WITHHOLDING.—Contributions by the 

2 United States to the United Nations Relief and Works 

3 Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 

4 (UNRWA), to any successor or related entity, or to the 

5 regular budget of the United Nations for the support of 

6 UNRWA or a successor entity (through staff positions 

7 provided by the United Nations Secretariat, or otherwise), 

8 may be provided only during a period for which a certifi9 cation described in paragraph (2) is in effect. 

10 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification described in 

11 this paragraph is a written determination by the Secretary 

12 of State, based on all information available after diligent 

13 inquiry, and transmitted to the appropriate congressional 

14 committees along with a detailed description of the factual 

15 basis therefor, that— 

16 ‘‘(A) no official, employee, consultant, con17 tractor, subcontractor, representative, or affiliate of 

18 UNRWA— 

19 ‘‘(i) is a member of a Foreign Terrorist 

20 Organization; 

21 ‘‘(ii) has propagated, disseminated, or in22 cited anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic 

23 rhetoric or propaganda; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) has used any UNRWA resources, in25 cluding publications or Web sites, to propagate 


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1 or disseminate political materials, including po2 litical rhetoric regarding the Israeli-Palestinian 

3 conflict; 

4 ‘‘(B) no UNRWA school, hospital, clinic, other 

5 facility, or other infrastructure or resource is being 

6 used by a Foreign Terrorist Organization for oper7 ations, planning, training, recruitment, fundraising, 

8 indoctrination, communications, sanctuary, storage 

9 of weapons or other materials, or any other pur10 poses; 

11 ‘‘(C) UNRWA is subject to comprehensive fi12 nancial audits by an internationally recognized third 

13 party independent auditing firm and has imple14 mented an effective system of vetting and oversight 

15 to prevent the use, receipt, or diversion of any 

16 UNRWA resources by any foreign terrorist organiza17 tion or members thereof; 

18 ‘‘(D) no UNRWA-funded school or educational 

19 institution uses textbooks or other educational mate20 rials that propagate or disseminate anti-American, 

21 anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric, propaganda or 

22 incitement; 

23 ‘‘(E) no recipient of UNRWA funds or loans is 

24 a member of a Foreign Terrorist Organization; and 


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1 ‘‘(F) UNRWA holds no accounts or other affili2 ations with financial institutions that the United 

3 States deems or believes to be complicit in money 

4 laundering and terror financing. 

5 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(A) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.— 

7 The term ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ means an 

8 organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Or9 ganization by the Secretary of State in accordance 

10 with section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nation11 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 

12 ‘‘(B) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com14 mittees’ means— 

15 ‘‘(i) the Committees on Foreign Affairs, 

16 Appropriations, and Oversight and Government 

17 Reform of the House; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the Committees on Foreign Relations, 

19 Appropriations, and Homeland Security and 

20 Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

21 ‘‘(4) EFFECTIVE DURATION OF CERTIFICATION.— 

22 The certification described in paragraph (2) shall be effec23 tive for a period of 180 days from the date of transmission 

24 to the appropriate congressional committees, or until the 

25 Secretary receives information rendering that certification 


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1 factually inaccurate, whichever is earliest. In the event 

2 that a certification becomes ineffective, the Secretary shall 

3 promptly transmit to the appropriate congressional com4 mittees a description of any information that precludes the 

5 renewal or continuation of the certification. 

6 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—During a period for which a cer7 tification described in paragraph (2) is in effect, the 

8 United States may not contribute to the United Nations 

9 Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the 

10 Near East (UNRWA) or a successor entity an annual 

11 amount— 

12 ‘‘(A) greater than the highest annual contribu13 tion to UNRWA made by a member country of the 

14 League of Arab States; 

15 ‘‘(B) that, as a proportion of the total UNRWA 

16 budget, exceeds the proportion of the total budget 

17 for the United Nations High Commissioner for Ref18 ugees (UNHCR) paid by the United States; or 

19 ‘‘(C) that exceeds 22 percent of the total budget 

20 of UNRWA.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

22 It is the sense of Congress that— 

23 (1) the President and the Secretary of State 

24 should lead a high-level diplomatic effort to encour25 age other responsible nations to withhold contribuVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:24 Apr 21, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5065.IH H5065

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1 tions to UNRWA, to any successor or related entity, 

2 or to the regular budget of the United Nations for 

3 the support of UNRWA or a successor entity 

4 (through staff positions provided by the United Na5 tions Secretariat, or otherwise) until UNRWA has 

6 met the conditions listed in subparagraphs (A) 

7 through (F) of section 301(c)(2) of the Foreign As8 sistance Act of 1961 (as added by section 2 of this 

9 Act); 

10 (2) citizens of recognized states should be re11 moved from UNRWA’s jurisdiction; 

12 (3) UNRWA’s definition of a ‘‘Palestine ref13 ugee’’ should be changed to that used for a refugee 

14 by the Office of the United Nations High Commis15 sioner for Refugees; and 

16 (4) in order to alleviate the suffering of Pales17 tinian refugees, responsibility for those refugees 

18 should be fully transferred to the Office of the 

19 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Æ 


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