[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 28 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. J. RES. 28

 Limiting the issuance of a letter of offer with respect to a certain 
 proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the Kingdom 
                              of Bahrain.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 6, 2011

  Mr. Wyden introduced the following joint resolution; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
 Limiting the issuance of a letter of offer with respect to a certain 
 proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the Kingdom 
                              of Bahrain.

Whereas the Kingdom of Bahrain is a party to several international human rights 
        instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
        Rights, adopted December 16, 1966, and entered into force March 23, 
        1976, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 
        Degrading Treatment or Punishment, done at New York December 10, 1984;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain had made several notable human rights reforms 
        during the 2000s;
Whereas, despite those reforms, significant human rights concerns remained in 
        early 2011, including the alleged mistreatment of detained persons and 
        the discrimination against certain Bahraini citizens in the political, 
        economic, and professional spheres of Bahrain;
Whereas this discrimination has included the banning of particular religious 
        groups from holding specific government positions, including the 
        military and security services, without reasonable justification;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of protesters in the Kingdom of Bahrain have 
        significantly intensified their calls for government reform and respect 
        for human rights starting in February 2011;
Whereas independent observers, including the Department of State, Human Rights 
        Watch, Human Rights First, Amnesty International, and Freedom House, 
        found that the majority of protesters have been peaceful in their 
        demands, and that acts of violence by protesters have been rare;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has systematically suppressed the protests 
        through a wide range of acts constituting serious and grave violations 
        of human rights;
Whereas, according to the Project of Middle East Democracy, at least 32 people 
        have been killed by the Government of Bahrain's security forces since 
        February 2011;
Whereas at least three deaths occurred while the individuals were in detention, 
        according to the Ministry of Interior of the Government of Bahrain;
Whereas there have been credible reports from Human Rights Watch, Human Rights 
        First, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Bahrain Center for Human 
        Rights of severe mistreatment of detainees, including acts rising to the 
        level of torture;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has investigated and prosecuted individuals 
        who were only peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of 
        expression, political opinion, and assembly;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has continued to prosecute civilians, 
        including medical professionals, in military-security courts;
Whereas cases continued to be tried in the military-security courts despite 
        promises by the Government of Bahrain to transfer those cases to 
        civilian venues;
Whereas the military-security courts' procedures and actions severely limited 
        due process rights or complied with due process formally rather than 
        substantively;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain's recent promises to have civilian courts hear 
        the appeals from military-security courts are insufficient to rectify 
        the due process violations that occurred at the trial stage;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has moved quickly to prosecute and sentence 
        political opponents to lengthy prison terms, while at the same time 
        slowly investigating, or failing to investigate at all, government and 
        security officials who appear to have committed or assisted in human 
        rights violations against political opponents;
Whereas Physicians for Human Rights has documented that the Government of 
        Bahrain's security forces have targeted medical personnel by abducting 
        medical workers, abusing patients, intimidating wounded protesters from 
        accessing medical treatment, and sentencing medical professionals to 
        lengthy prison terms in the military-security courts for protesting the 
        government's interference in treating injured protesters;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has destroyed more than 40 Shi'a mosques and 
        religious sites throughout Bahrain since February 2011;
Whereas Bahrain's legislative lower house, the Council of Representatives 
        (Majlis an-nuwab) is constituted of disproportionately drawn districts 
        that violates the principle of equal suffrage for Bahraini citizens, 
        particularly the Shi'a community;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain employed tactics of retribution against 
        perceived political opponents, dismissing more than 2,500 workers, 
        academics, medics, and other professionals from their places of 
        employment;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has violated international labor standards 
        through the dismissals of the aforementioned citizens;
Whereas the Department of Labor has received an official complaint regarding the 
        failure of the Government of Bahrain to live up to its commitments with 
        respect to workers' rights under its Free Trade Agreement with the 
        United States;
Whereas the state-run media of Bahrain have gone beyond legitimate criticism of 
        political opponents towards explicitly and implicitly threatening the 
        physical safety and integrity of those opponents specifically and the 
        Shi'a community generally, creating greater animosity amongst the entire 
        population and making reconciliation of all Bahraini citizens more 
        difficult;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has expelled international journalists and 
        stopped issuing visas to journalists on grounds that do not appear to be 
        justified by legitimate safety or security concerns;
Whereas the Department of State included Bahrain among a list of countries 
        necessitating additional human rights scrutiny in a June 15, 2011, 
        submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council;
Whereas the Government of Bahrain has taken limited positive measures in recent 
        months, including agreeing to allow the establishment of the Bahrain 
        Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) composed of well-renowned 
        international human rights experts who are authorized to investigate 
        human rights violations and recommend measures for accountability;
Whereas the BICI human rights report is due to be submitted to the Government of 
        Bahrain on October 30, 2011;
Whereas the Department of Defense notified Congress on September 14, 2011, of a 
        proposed military arms sale to Bahrain worth approximately $53,000,000;
Whereas the Department of State notified Congress on September 13, 2011, of a 
        proposed obligation of Foreign Military Funds in the amount of 
        $15,461,000 for the upgrading and maintenance of certain military 
        equipment;
Whereas other military allies of the United States, including the United 
        Kingdom, France, Spain, and Belgium, have suspended or limited certain 
        licenses and arms sales to Bahrain since February 2011;
Whereas evidence gathered from protesters by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights 
        indicated that tear gas canisters used against peaceful protesters 
        contained markings which showed they were manufactured in the United 
        States; and
Whereas providing military equipment and provisions for upgrades to a government 
        that commits human rights violations and that has undertaken 
        insufficient measures to seek reform and accountability is at odds with 
        United States foreign policy goals of promoting democracy, human rights, 
        accountability, and stability: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. LIMITATION ON CERTAIN PROPOSED SALES OF DEFENSE ARTICLES AND 
              DEFENSE SERVICES TO THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN.

    (a) Limitation.--The issuance of a letter of offer with respect to 
each proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the 
Kingdom of Bahrain referred to in subsection (b) is hereby prohibited 
unless the Secretary of State certifies to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives that--
            (1) the Government of Bahrain is conducting good faith 
        investigations and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators 
        responsible for the killing, torture, arbitrary detention, and 
        other human rights violations committed since February 2011;
            (2) the prosecutions of alleged perpetrators in paragraph 
        (1) is being carried out in transparent judicial proceedings 
        conducted in full accordance with Bahrain's international legal 
        obligations;
            (3) the Government of Bahrain has ceased all acts of 
        torture and other inhumane treatment in its detention 
        facilities;
            (4) the Government of Bahrain has released and withdrawn 
        criminal charges against all individuals who were peacefully 
        exercising their right to freedom of expression, political 
        opinion, and assembly;
            (5) the Government of Bahrain is permitting 
        nondiscriminatory medical treatment of the sick and injured, 
        and is ensuring unhindered access to medical care and treatment 
        for all patients;
            (6) the Government of Bahrain is protecting all Shi'a 
        mosques and religious sites and is rebuilding all Shi'a mosques 
        and religious sites destroyed since February 2011;
            (7) the Government of Bahrain has redrawn the districts of 
        the Council of Representatives (Majlis an-nuwab) in a 
        proportional manner that allots the same number of residents, 
        or reasonably nearly the same number of residents with minimal 
        variation, for each district;
            (8) the Government of Bahrain has lifted restrictions on 
        government employment, including in the military and security 
        forces, based on discriminatory grounds such as religion and 
        political opinion;
            (9) the Government of Bahrain has reinstated all public and 
        government-invested enterprises' employees who were dismissed 
        from their workplace for peacefully exercising their right to 
        freedom of expression, political opinion, and assembly;
            (10) the Government of Bahrain has set standards for 
        private sector compliance covering the reinstatement of its 
        employees who were dismissed from their workplace for 
        peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, 
        political opinion, and assembly;
            (11) the Government of Bahrain is protecting the right of 
        all individuals, including political opponents of the 
        Government, to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of 
        expression, political opinion, and assembly without fear of 
        retribution;
            (12) the Government of Bahrain has ceased using the media 
        under its control to threaten the physical safety and integrity 
        of political opponents and other Bahraini citizens, 
        particularly those in the Shi'a community;
            (13) the Government of Bahrain is permitting the entry of 
        international journalists to Bahrain except in extremely 
        exceptional cases where the Government clearly shows with 
        evidence and in good faith that the entry of an international 
        journalist is a legitimate safety or security concern;
            (14) the Bahrain Commission of Inquiry (BICI) has submitted 
        its final report to the Government of Bahrain;
            (15) the BICI's final report's factual findings and 
        conclusions are consistent with information known to the 
        Secretary of State about the human rights violations occurring 
        in Bahrain since February 2011;
            (16) the Government of Bahrain is undertaking good faith 
        implementation of all recommendations from the BICI's final 
        report that address alleged human rights violations by the 
        Government of Bahrain since February 2011; and
            (17) the Government of Bahrain has undertaken a good faith 
        dialogue among all key stakeholders in Bahrain which is 
        producing substantive recommendations for genuine reforms that 
        meet the reasonable democratic aspirations of Bahrain's 
        citizens and comply with universal human rights standards.
    (b) Proposed Sales of Defense Articles and Defense Services.--The 
proposed sales of defense articles and defense services to the 
Government of Bahrain referred to in this subsection are those 
specified in the certifications transmitted to the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives and the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate pursuant to section 36(b) of the Arms Export 
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(b)) on September 14, 2011 (Transmittal 
Number 10-71).
                                 <all>