[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1885 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1885

     To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 20, 2013

   Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Corker) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Human Rights and Democracy Act 
of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BURMA.

    (a) Limitation.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), no 
        funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available 
        for fiscal year 2014 for the Department of Defense may be made 
        available for assistance to the Government of Burma unless the 
        Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional 
        committees that--
                    (A) the Government of Burma has taken concrete 
                steps toward--
                            (i) establishing civilian oversight of the 
                        armed forces;
                            (ii) addressing human rights abuses by the 
                        Burmese military, including publicly 
                        acknowledging that human rights abuses have 
                        been and continue to be committed by the 
                        Burmese military, and committing to a zero 
                        tolerance policy against such human rights 
                        abuses; and
                            (iii) terminating military relations with 
                        North Korea;
                    (B) the Government of Burma has taken concrete 
                steps to establish a fair, transparent and inclusive 
                process to amend the Constitution of Burma, including 
                the full participation of the political opposition and 
                all ethnic minority groups, and the constitutional 
                reform process will provide the basis for free, fair, 
                and competitive elections in Burma;
                    (C) the Government of Burma has amended its 
                constitution and laws to ensure civilian control of the 
                military and implemented reforms to increase the 
                transparency and accountability of the military's 
                budget and operations, and the Burmese military has 
                taken substantial and meaningful steps to divest itself 
                from ownership of commercial businesses;
                    (D) the Government of Burma is showing meaningful 
                and well-documented efforts to promote peace agreements 
                or political reconciliation and equal and fair 
                treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict areas or 
                areas of unrest, and to actively address the 
                resettlement and humanitarian situation of displaced 
                persons; and
                    (E) the Burmese military is--
                            (i) improving its human rights record, as 
                        measured by consistent decreases in reports of 
                        forced labor, indefinite detention, torture, or 
                        cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of 
                        detainees, and use in armed conflict of 
                        indiscriminate or disproportionate methods and 
                        means of attack;
                            (ii) demonstrating a genuine interest in 
                        reform by ceasing attacks against ethnic 
                        minority groups in both ceasefire and non-
                        ceasefire areas;
                            (iii) taking steps to withdraw forces from 
                        conflict zones, including by halting the use of 
                        soldiers in economic development projects;
                            (iv) adhering to the conditions of 
                        ceasefire agreements; and
                            (v) signing and implementing a code of 
                        conduct.
            (2) Exception.--The restriction in paragraph (1) does not 
        apply to consultation and basic training on human rights and 
        disaster response for the Burmese military, including training 
        for the Burmese military and civilian leadership on 
        international law, civilian control of the military, and 
        justice and accountability mechanisms both through the chain of 
        command and civilian authority, except that such consultation 
        and training shall occur in conjunction with engagement with 
        ethnic armed groups and conducted in a manner that will not 
        enhance the Burmese military's capabilities against ethnic 
        minorities.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
        Secretary of Defense, in concurrence with the Secretary of 
        State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
        a report on the strategy for, and plans and status of, 
        military-to-military engagement between the United States Armed 
        Forces and the Burmese military.
            (2) Elements.--The report required under paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following elements:
                    (A) A description and assessment of the Government 
                of Burma's strategy for security sector reform, an 
                identification and comprehensive analysis of those 
                reform elements that the United States Government 
                should support, and a multi-year cost estimate for 
                providing such support.
                    (B) The United States strategy for the military-to-
                military relationship between the United States and 
                Burma, including a description of how and why such 
                engagements are necessary for United States national 
                security.
                    (C) An assessment of the human rights record of the 
                Burmese military over the past decade, including--
                            (i) an account of violations of human 
                        rights and laws of armed conflict by the 
                        Burmese military and all paramilitary and 
                        security forces under its command, including 
                        against ethnic minority groups;
                            (ii) a description of efforts by the 
                        Burmese military to implement human rights 
                        reforms; and
                            (iii) a description of the relationship 
                        between progress in the United States-Burma 
                        military-to-military relationship and such 
                        reforms.
                    (D) An assessment of--
                            (i) any substantial and meaningful steps 
                        taken by the Burmese military to implement 
                        reforms to increase transparency and 
                        accountability of the military's budget and 
                        operations and to divest itself from ownership 
                        of commercial business; and
                            (ii) the relationship between progress in 
                        the United States-Burma military-to-military 
                        relationship and such reforms.
                    (E) A list of ongoing military-to-military 
                activities conducted by the United States Government 
                and other international donors, including a description 
                of each such activity.
                    (F) An update on activities that were listed in 
                previous reporting.
                    (G) A list of activities that are planned to occur 
                over the upcoming year, with a written description of 
                each.
                    (H) A description of progress on the peaceful 
                settlement of armed conflicts between the Government of 
                Burma and ethnic minority groups, including the steps 
                taken by the Burmese military to demonstrate respect 
                for ceasefires, laws of armed conflict, and human 
                rights provisions prohibiting rape, torture, forced 
                labor, trafficking, and the use of child soldiers.
                    (I) A description of the concrete steps the 
                Government of Burma has taken--
                            (i) to establish a fair, transparent, and 
                        inclusive process to amend the Constitution of 
                        Burma;
                            (ii) to promote peace agreements or 
                        political reconciliation and equal and fair 
                        treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict 
                        areas or areas of unrest; and
                            (iii) to actively address the resettlement 
                        and humanitarian situation of displaced 
                        persons.
                    (J) An assessment of the status of the Burmese 
                military's cooperation with civilian authorities to 
                investigate and resolve cases of human rights 
                violations.
            (3) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
        annex as necessary.
    (c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the 
congressional defense committees and the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives.
                                 <all>