[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 198 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 198

         Condemning Brunei's dramatic human rights backsliding.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 9, 2019

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Young, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Van 
Hollen, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Booker, 
 Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Cruz, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Markey) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

                              July 9, 2019

   Reported by Mr. Risch, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                                preamble

                             July 16, 2019

      Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
         Condemning Brunei's dramatic human rights backsliding.

Whereas Brunei has been led since 1967 by one of the world's longest-reigning 
        monarchs, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah;
Whereas Brunei gained independence in 1984;
Whereas emergency powers in place in Brunei since 1962 allow the sultan to 
        govern with few limitations to his authority;
Whereas, according to the United States Department of State 2018 Human Rights 
        Report, human rights issues in Brunei included censorship, interferences 
        with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, crimes 
        involving violence or threats targeting homosexuality, and exploitation 
        of foreign workers, including through forced labor;
Whereas Brunei's media are neither free nor diverse, with broadcasting dominated 
        by the state and private media owned or controlled by the royal family;
Whereas homosexuality has been illegal in Brunei, carrying a punishment of up to 
        ten years in prison;
Whereas in 2013, the Government of Brunei announced it was imposing a revised 
        penal code that included harsher punishments of death by stoning for 
        adultery and homosexual relations;
Whereas international condemnation resulted in a delay in carrying out the 
        provisions;
Whereas, in March 2019, the Government of Brunei announced it was going forward 
        with the penal code to take effect April 3, 2019;
Whereas the penal code includes, among other things, death by stoning for male 
        same-sex relations, adultery, and blasphemy, amputation of limbs for 
        theft, whipping for female same-sex relations, and criminalization of 
        exposure of children to the beliefs and practices of differing 
        religions;
Whereas, on April 2, 2019, the Department of State said Brunei's new penal code 
        and associated penalties run ``counter to its international human rights 
        obligations including with respect to torture or other cruel, inhuman or 
        degrading treatment or punishment'';
Whereas, on April 18, 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution 
        strongly condemning Brunei for introducing ``retrograde'' laws, calling 
        for their immediate repeal, urging that Brunei uphold its international 
        obligations under ``international human rights instruments, including 
        with regard to sexual minorities, religious minorities and non-
        believers,'' and suggesting visa bans and asset freezes should the penal 
        code not be repealed;
Whereas the United Nations and international human rights organizations have 
        denounced the penal code, arguing it amounts to torture and a violation 
        of human rights;
Whereas United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet 
        urged Brunei to repeal the penal code, noting the punishments proscribed 
        as ``cruel, inhuman, and degrading'' and calling the code a ``serious 
        setback for human rights protections'';
Whereas Human Rights Watch stated, ``Brunei's new penal code is barbaric to the 
        core, imposing archaic punishments for acts that shouldn't even be 
        crimes. . . . Sultan Hassanal should immediately suspend amputations, 
        stoning, and all other rights-abusing provisions and punishments.'';
Whereas Amnesty International stated, ``Brunei's Penal Code is a deeply flawed 
        piece of legislation containing a range of provisions that violate human 
        rights. . . . As well as imposing cruel, inhuman and degrading 
        punishments, it blatantly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, 
        religion and belief, and codifies discrimination against women and 
        girls.''; and
Whereas the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director 
        Michel Sidibe stated that the implementation of this discriminatory 
        penal code will ``drive people underground and out of reach of life-
        saving HIV treatment and prevention services,'' and UNAIDS and the 
        United Nations Population Fund noted these kinds of laws ``increase 
        stigma, and give license to discrimination, violence, and harassment'': 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the Government of Brunei's further 
        criminalization and barbaric punishments regarding sexual 
        orientation, adultery, and relations between persons of the 
        same sex;
            (2) calls on the Government of Brunei to expeditiously 
        repeal the 2013 penal code; and
            (3) supports the withdrawal and denial of United States 
        visas for any Brunei official responsible for passage or 
        implementation of such penal code and related laws until they 
        are repealed.
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