[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 195 Engrossed in House (EH)]
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 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;
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
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 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 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.