I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 772

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

FEBRUARY 1, 1995

Ms. MCKINNEY (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr.

BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. COLEMAN, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. CONYERS,

Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. EVANS, Mr.

FALEOMAVEAGA, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana, Mr.

FILNER, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. FORD, Ms. FURSE, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HEFNER, Mr.

HINCHEY, Mr. HILLIARD, Ms. JACKSON-LEE, Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida,

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Mr. LEACH, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia,

Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. MEEK of Florida,

Mr. MILLER of California, Mr. MINGE, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. OLVER, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. REED, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. RUSH,

Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SAWYER, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. SCOTT, Mr.

SERRANO, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. STARK, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. TORRES,

Mr. TUCKER, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. VENTO, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. WILLIAMS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr.

WYDEN, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To prohibit United States military assistance and arms

transfers to foreign governments that are undemocratic,
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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 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Approximately 40,000,000 people, over 75

9 percent civilians, died as a result of civil and inter10 national wars fought with conventional weapons dur11 ing the 45 years of the cold war, demonstrating that

12 conventional weapons can in fact be weapons of

13 mass destruction.

14 (2) Conflict has actually increased in the post

15 cold war era, with 34 major wars in progress during

16 1993.

17 (3) War is both a human tragedy and an ongo18 ing economic disaster affecting the entire world, in19 cluding the United States and its economy, because

20 it decimates both local investment and potential

21 export markets.

22 (4) International trade in conventional weapons

23 increases the risk and impact of war in an already
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1 over-militarized world, creating far more costs than

2 benefits for the United States economy through in3 creased United States defense and foreign assistance

4 spending and reduced demand for United States

5 civilian exports.

6 (5) The newly established United Nations Reg7 ister of Conventional Arms can be an effective first

8 step in support of limitations on the supply of con9 ventional weapons to developing countries and com10 pliance with its reporting requirements by a foreign

11 government can be an integral tool in determining

12 the worthiness of such government for the receipt of

13 United States military assistance and arms trans14 fers.

15 (6) It is in the national security and economic

16 interests of the United States to reduce dramatically

17 the $1,038,000,000,000 that all countries spend on

18 armed forces every year, $242,000,000,000 of which

19 is spent by developing countries, an amount equiva20 lent to 4 times the total bilateral and multilateral

21 foreign assistance such countries receive every year.

22 (7) According to the Congressional Research

23 Service, the United States supplies more conven24 tional weapons to developing countries than all other

25 countries combined, averaging $14,956,000,000 a
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1 year in agreements to supply such weapons to devel2 oping countries since the end of the cold war, com3 pared to $7,300,000,000 a year in such agreements

4 prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

5 (8) In recent years the vast majority of United

6 States arms transfers to developing countries are to

7 countries with an undemocratic form of government

8 whose citizens, according to the Department of State

9 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices do not

10 have the ability to peaceably change their form of

11 government.

12 (9) Although a goal of United States foreign

13 policy should be to work with foreign governments

14 and international organizations to reduce militariza15 tion and dictatorship and therefore prevent conflicts

16 before they arise, during 4 recent deployments of

17 United States Armed Forces—to the Republic of

18 Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Haiti—

19 such Armed Forces faced conventional weapons that

20 had been provided or financed by the United States

21 to undemocratic governments.

22 (10) The proliferation of conventional arms and

23 conflicts around the globe are multilateral problems,

24 and the fact that the United States has emerged as

25 the world’s primary seller of conventional weapons,
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1 combined with the world leadership role of the Unit2 ed States, signifies that the United States is in a po3 sition to seek multilateral restraints on the competi4 tion for and transfers of conventional weapons.

5 (11) The Congress has the constitutional re6 sponsibility to participate with the executive branch

7 in decisions to provide military assistance and arms

8 transfers to a foreign government, and in the formu9 lation of a policy designed to reduce dramatically the

10 level of international militarization.

11 (12) A decision to provide military assistance

12 and arms transfers to a government that is undemo13 cratic, does not adequately protect human rights, is

14 currently engaged in acts of armed aggression, or is

15 not fully participating in the United Nations Reg16 ister of Conventional Arms, should require a higher

17 level of scrutiny than does a decision to provide such

18 assistance and arms transfers to a government to

19 which these conditions do not apply.

20 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

21 The purpose of this Act is to provide clear policy

22 guidelines and congressional responsibility for determining

23 the eligibility of foreign governments to be considered for

24 United States military assistance and arms transfers.
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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSIST2 ANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS TO CERTAIN

3 FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

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

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

6 transfers may not be provided to a foreign government for

7 a fiscal year unless the President certifies to the Congress

8 for that fiscal year that such government meets the follow9 ing requirements:

10 (1) PROMOTES DEMOCRACY.—Such govern11 ment—

12 (A) was chosen by and permits free and

13 fair elections;

14 (B) promotes civilian control of the mili15 tary and security forces and has civilian institu16 tions controlling the policy, operation, and

17 spending of all law enforcement and security in18 stitutions, as well as the armed forces;

19 (C) promotes the rule of law, equality be20 fore the law, and respect for individual and mi21 nority rights, including freedom to speak, pub22 lish, associate, and organize; and

23 (D) promotes the strengthening of politi24 cal, legislative, and civil institutions of democ25 racy, as well as autonomous institutions to
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1 monitor the conduct of public officials and to

2 combat corruption.

3 (2) RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.—Such govern4 ment—

5 (A) does not engage in gross violations of

6 internationally recognized human rights, includ7 ing—

8 (i) extra judicial or arbitrary execu9 tions;

10 (ii) disappearances;

11 (iii) torture or severe mistreatment;

12 (iv) prolonged arbitrary imprisonment;

13 (v) systematic official discrimination

14 on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion,

15 gender, national origin, or political affili16 ation; and

17 (vi) grave breaches of international

18 laws of war or equivalent violations of the

19 laws of war in internal conflicts;

20 (B) vigorously investigates, disciplines, and

21 prosecutes those responsible for gross violations

22 of internationally recognized human rights;

23 (C) permits access on a regular basis to

24 political prisoners by international humani-
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1 tarian organizations such as the International

2 Committee of the Red Cross;

3 (D) promotes the independence of the judi4 ciary and other official bodies that oversee the

5 protection of human rights;

6 (E) does not impede the free functioning of

7 domestic and international human rights orga8 nizations; and

9 (F) provides access on a regular basis to

10 humanitarian organizations in situations of con11 flict or famine.

12 (3) NOT ENGAGED IN CERTAIN ACTS OF ARMED

13 AGGRESSION.—Such government is not currently en14 gaged in acts of armed aggression in violation of

15 international law.

16 (4) FULL PARTICIPATION IN U.N. REGISTER OF

17 CONVENTIONAL ARMS.—Such government is fully

18 participating in the United Nations Register of Con19 ventional Arms.

20 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR CONTINUING COMPLI21 ANCE.—Any certification with respect to a foreign govern22 ment for a fiscal year under subsection (a) shall cease to

23 be effective for that fiscal year if the President certifies

24 to the Congress that such government has not continued
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1 to comply with the requirements contained in paragraphs

2 (1) through (4) of such subsection.

3 (c) EXEMPTION.—The prohibition contained in sub4 section (a) shall not apply with respect to a foreign govern5 ment for a fiscal year if—

6 (1) the President submits a request for an ex7 emption to the Congress containing a determination

8 that it is in the national security interest of the

9 United States to provide military assistance and

10 arms transfers to such government; and

11 (2) the Congress enacts a law approving such

12 exemption request.

13 (d) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The President

14 shall submit to the Congress initial certifications under

15 subsection (a) and requests for exemptions under sub16 section (c) in conjunction with the submission of the an17 nual request for enactment of authorizations and appro18 priations for foreign assistance programs for a fiscal year

19 and shall, where appropriate, submit additional or amend20 ed certifications and requests for exemptions at any time

21 thereafter in the fiscal year.

22 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

23 It is the sense of the Congress that the Committee

24 on International Relations of the House of Representa25 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-
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1 ate should hold hearings on controversial certifications

2 submitted under section 4(a) and all requests for exemp3 tions submitted under section 4(c).

4 SEC. 6. 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 sections 516 through 519 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) assistance under the ‘‘Foreign Military Fi17 nancing Program’’ under section 23 of the Arms Ex18 port Control Act; or

19 (4) the transfer of defense articles, defense

20 services, or design and construction services under

21 the Arms Export Control Act, including defense arti22 cles and defense services licensed or approved for ex23 port under section 38 of that Act.

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