H. Res. 195

In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

July 28, 1997.

Whereas during the 1970s and 1980s Cambodia was wracked

by political conflict, civil war, foreign invasion, protracted

violence, and a genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge

from 1975 to 1979;

Whereas the Paris Agreement on a Comprehensive Political

Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict led to the end of 2

decades of civil war and genocide in Cambodia, demonstrated the commitment of the Cambodian people to

democracy and stability, and established a national constitution guaranteeing fundamental human rights;

Whereas the 1991 Paris Peace Accords set the stage for a

process of political accommodation, national reconciliation, and the founding of a state based on democratic

principles;

Whereas the international donor community contributed more

than $3,000,000,000 in an effort to secure peace, democracy, and stability in Cambodia following the Paris Peace

Accords and currently provides over 40 percent of the

budget of the Cambodian Government;

Whereas the Cambodian people clearly demonstrated their

support for democracy when over 93 percent of eligible
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Cambodian voters participated in United Nations sponsored elections in 1993;

Whereas since the 1993 elections, Cambodia has made significant progress, as evidenced by the decision last month

of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to extend

membership to Cambodia;

Whereas notwithstanding the notable societal and economic

progress since the elections of 1993, concern has increasingly been raised regarding the fragile state of democracy

in Cambodia, in particular the quality of the judicial system, which has been described in a United Nations report

as thoroughly corrupt; unsolved attacks in 1995 on officials of the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party; and the

unsolved murders of journalists and political activists;

Whereas tensions within the Cambodian Government have

erupted into violence in recent months;

Whereas on March 30, 1997, 19 Cambodians were killed and

more than 100 were wounded in a grenade attack on a

peaceful political demonstration in Phnom Penh;

Whereas preliminary reports by eyewitnesses and reports in

Phnom Penh to the FBI of witness intimidation indicate

that forces loyal to Hun Sen were involved in the March

30, 1997, grenade attack;

Whereas in June 1997 fighting erupted in Phnom Penh between military and paramilitary forces loyal to First

Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Second

Prime Minister Hun Sen;

Whereas on July 5, 1997, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen

deposed the First Prime Minister in a violent military

coup d’etat;
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Whereas at least several dozen opposition politicians have

died in the custody of Hun Sen’s forces, some after being

tortured, and hundreds of others have been detained due

to their political affiliation;

Whereas democracy and stability in Cambodia are threatened

by the continued use of violence to resolve political differences;

Whereas internal Cambodian Government reports and investigations by United States drug enforcement agencies

have reported that Hun Sen and his forces have received

millions of dollars in financial and material support from

major international drug dealers; that Hun Sen has publicly threatened violence against any Cambodian official

who attempts to arrest alleged drug barons Teng Bumma

and Mong Rethy; and in a July 23, 1997, press conference in Cambodia Teng Bunma admitted to providing

$1,000,000 to Hun Sen to fund the ongoing coup and is

providing his personal fleet of helicopters flown by Russian pilots to ferry Hun Sen’s troops to suppress democratic forces in western Cambodia;

Whereas representatives of the United Nations and the Government of Thailand estimate at least 30,000 Cambodian

refugees (including wounded civilians and malnourished

children) displaced by the ongoing fighting are massed,

without assistance, in northwest Cambodia near the border of Thailand;

Whereas the administration has suspended assistance to

Cambodia for 1 month in response to the deteriorating

situation in Cambodia; and
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Whereas the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) has decided to delay indefinitely Cambodian

membership: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—

(1) the forcible assault upon the democratically

elected Government of Cambodia is illegal and unacceptable;

(2) the recent events in Cambodia constitute a military coup against the duly elected democratic Government of Cambodia;

(3) the authorities in Cambodia should take immediate steps to halt all extralegal violence and to restore

fully civil, political, and personal liberties to the Cambodian people, including freedom of the press, speech,

and assembly, as well as the right to a democratically

elected government;

(4) the United States should release the report by

the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning the

March 30, 1997, grenade attack in Phnom Penh;

(5) the United States should declassify and release

all reports by the United States Drug Enforcement

Agency related to Cambodia that were compiled between

1994 and the present;

(6) the United States should press the authorities

in Cambodia to investigate fully and impartially all
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abuses and extralegal actions that have occurred in

Cambodia since July 4, 1997, and to bring to justice all

those responsible for such abuses and extralegal actions;

(7) the administration should immediately invoke

section 508 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997

(Public Law 104–208), as it is required to do;

(8) the United States should urgently request an

emergency meeting of the United Nations Security

Council to consider all options to restore peace in Cambodia;

(9) the United States should encourage the Secretary General of the United Nations to expand the

monitoring operations of the United Nations Special

Representative on Human Rights in Cambodia;

(10) the United States and the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should coordinate efforts to restore democracy, stability, and the rule of law

in Cambodia;

(11) direct United States assistance to the Government of Cambodia should continue to be suspended until

violence ends, a democratically elected government is reconstituted, necessary steps have been taken to ensure

that the election scheduled for 1998 takes place in a free
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and fair manner, the military is depoliticized, and the judiciary is made independent;

(12) at least a substantial share of previously appropriated United States assistance to the Government

of Cambodia should be redirected to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons in

western Cambodia through nongovernmental agencies or

through Cambodian civilian, political, or military forces

that are opposing the coup; and

(13) the United States should call for an emergency

meeting of the Donors’ Consultative Group for Cambodia to encourage the suspension of assistance as part

of a multilateral effort to encourage respect for democratic processes, constitutionalism, and the rule of law.

Attest:

Clerk.