[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 854 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 854

 To require human rights certifications for arms sales, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 25, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require human rights certifications for arms sales, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Enhancing Human Rights Protections 
in Arms Sales Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the advancement of human rights is critically important 
        to the security, stability, peace, and prosperity of United 
        States allies and partners, and the United States Government 
        should promote the increased observance of internationally 
        recognized human rights globally;
            (2) as the world's oldest democracy and the largest arms 
        exporter, the human rights standards that the United States 
        sets on arms transfers has global ramifications, influencing 
        standards set by other nations around the world;
            (3) global arms transfers continue to flow into conflict 
        zones and countries rife with internal repression at an 
        alarming rate;
            (4) the United States Government has the ability to 
        determine whether United States arms transfers are used to 
        commit gross violations of human rights and other violations of 
        United States law;
            (5) Congress took strong action to prohibit, in the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961 (U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), sales of defense 
        articles or services to any country whose government engages in 
        a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally 
        recognized human rights; and
            (6) Congress should take further action to ensure that arms 
        transfers--
                    (A) are not used to commit or facilitate violations 
                of internationally recognized human rights or 
                violations of international humanitarian law in 
                conflict zones; and
                    (B) are provided only to countries that are 
                demonstrably improving their efforts to protect the 
                human rights and freedoms of their citizens and to 
                promote participation and accountability in governance.

SEC. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ARMS SALES.

    (a) Certification Requirement.--Section 36 of the Arms Export 
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(j)(1) Any certification relating to a proposed sale or export 
under this section of defense articles or defense services designated 
under Category III, IV, VII, or VIII on the United States Munitions 
List pursuant to section 38(a)(1) to a foreign country shall include a 
certification by the Secretary of State that--
            ``(A) during the fiscal year in which assistance is to be 
        furnished or military equipment or technology is to be sold or 
        transferred, the defense articles or defense services will not 
        be used in hostilities in which the United States has credible 
        information, including from credible nongovernmental 
        investigations, that war crimes, crimes against humanity, gross 
        violations of internationally recognized human rights, or 
        atrocities have been committed by the government of the 
        recipient country;
            ``(B) during the current fiscal year in which assistance is 
        to be furnished or military equipment or technology is to be 
        sold or transferred, and during the preceding three fiscal 
        years, the government of the foreign country--
                    ``(i) has not ordered or directed ethnic cleansing 
                of civilians;
                    ``(ii) has not recruited and used child soldiers;
                    ``(iii) has not tortured, falsely imprisoned, or 
                engaged in the targeted killing of political opponents, 
                human rights defenders, or journalists;
                    ``(iv) has not operated or had effective control or 
                direction over secret detention facilities;
                    ``(v) has not engaged, through military, 
                paramilitary, security, or police forces over which the 
                government exercises effective control, in 
                extrajudicial killings;
                    ``(vi) has not diverted, transferred, lost, or 
                given United States weapons to third parties; and
                    ``(vii) has made significant and demonstrable 
                efforts domestically to--
                            ``(I) ensure the protection of 
                        internationally recognized human rights and 
                        freedoms, including the rights of women, 
                        religious, ethnic, and other minorities, and 
                        freedoms of press, expression, and assembly in 
                        the foreign country;
                            ``(II) denounce extremist ideologies and 
                        doctrines;
                            ``(III) prevent and ensure accountability 
                        for significant acts of corruption; and
                            ``(IV) promote transparent and inclusive 
                        governance; and
            ``(C) in any conflict in which the recipient government of 
        the foreign country engages, that government will--
                    ``(i) facilitate unfettered civilian access to 
                humanitarian relief and commercial goods;
                    ``(ii) support, in statements and actions, 
                diplomatic and political resolution of the conflict; 
                and
                    ``(iii) make significant and demonstrable efforts 
                to--
                            ``(I) ensure command and control of such 
                        weapons to prevent proliferation to non-state 
                        actors and proxies; and
                            ``(II) track, prevent, and publicly 
                        investigate civilian causalities.
    ``(2) For three years following the provision of the assistance, or 
sale or transfer of the military equipment or technology as described 
in paragraph (1), the Secretary of State shall provide to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives notice of any violation described in 
subparagraphs (A) though (C) of paragraph (1) within 60 days of 
receiving credible information about the violation.
    ``(3) The certification requirement under paragraph (1) does not 
apply to ground-based missile defense systems.
    ``(4)(A) The President may waive the certification requirement 
under paragraph (1) not earlier than 30 legislative days after the 
Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, 
submits to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives an 
unclassified certification, which may include a classified annex, 
stating that the waiver is in the national security interest of the 
United States, including a report detailing--
            ``(i) the status of recipient government efforts relating 
        to each required certification described in subparagraphs (A) 
        through (C) of such paragraph for which a waiver is necessary; 
        and
            ``(ii) relevant information received by the Department of 
        State and the Department of Defense from credible human rights 
        organizations and intergovernmental human rights monitoring 
        bodies relating to each such waived certification.
    ``(B) The President may not waive the certification requirement 
under paragraph (1) if Congress, within the 30-legislative-day period 
referred to in subparagraph (A), enacts a joint resolution prohibiting 
the proposed sale or export. Any such joint resolution shall be 
considered in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 
36(b)(2).''.

SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ENHANCING HUMAN RIGHTS CONSIDERATIONS IN UNITED 
              STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND ARMS TRANSFERS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of 
the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a strategy to enhance United States efforts to ensure human 
rights protections for United States military assistance and arms 
transfers. The strategy shall include processes and procedures to--
            (1) determine when United States military assistance and 
        arms transfers are used to commit gross violations of 
        internationally recognized human rights;
            (2) determine when United States military assistance and 
        arms transfers are used to undermine international peace and 
        security or contribute to gross violations of internationally 
        recognized human rights, including acts of gender-based 
        violence and acts of violence against children, violations of 
        international humanitarian law, terrorism, mass atrocities, or 
        transnational organized crime;
            (3) detect other violations of United States law concerning 
        United States military or security assistance, cooperation, and 
        arms transfers, including the diversion of such assistance or 
        the use of such assistance by security force or police units 
        credibly implicated in gross violations of internationally 
        recognized human rights;
            (4) train partner militaries, security, and police forces 
        on methods for preventing civilian causalities; and
            (5) determine whether individuals or units that have 
        received United States military, security, or police training 
        or have participated or are scheduled to participate in joint 
        exercises with United States forces have later been credibly 
        implicated in gross violations of internationally recognized 
        human rights.
    (b) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee 
on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 5. END USE MONITORING OF MISUSE OF ARMS IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.

    Section 40A(a)(2)(B) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
2785(a)(2)(B)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``and;''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
                            ``(iii) such articles and services are not 
                        being used by non-state actors and proxies for 
                        the commission of war crimes and other gross 
                        human rights abuses.''.
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