[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM ACT OF 2017; SAM FARR
PEACE CORPS ENHANCEMENT ACT; ELIE WIESEL GENOCIDE AND ATROCITIES
PREVENTION ACT OF 2017; PROTECTING DIPLOMATS FROM SURVEILLANCE THROUGH
CONSUMER DEVICES ACT; INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION INFORMATION ACT OF 2018;
CAMBODIA DEMOCRACY ACT; AND BURMA ACT OF 2018
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H.R. 1911, H.R. 2259, H.R. 3030, H.R. 4989,
H.R. 5626, H.R. 5754, and H.R. 5819
__________
MAY 17, 2018
__________
Serial No. 115-130
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
______
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TED POE, Texas KAREN BASS, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island
MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California
PAUL COOK, California LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
RON DeSANTIS, Florida JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
TED S. YOHO, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois DINA TITUS, Nevada
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York NORMA J. TORRES, California
DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
Wisconsin ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
ANN WAGNER, Missouri TED LIEU, California
BRIAN J. MAST, Florida
FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia
JOHN R. CURTIS, Utah
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
MARKUP ON
H.R. 1911, To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of
1956 to monitor and combat anti-Semitism globally, and for
other purposes................................................. 2
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1911 offered by
the Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in
Congress from the State of New Jersey........................ 5
H.R. 2259, To amend the Peace Corps Act to expand services and
benefits for volunteers, and for other purposes................ 9
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2259 offered by
the Honorable Ted Poe, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Texas............................................... 26
H.R. 3030, To help prevent acts of genocide and other atrocity
crimes, which threaten national and international security, by
enhancing United States Government capacities to prevent,
mitigate, and respond to such crises........................... 51
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3030 offered by
the Honorable Ann Wagner, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Missouri........................................ 71
H.R. 4989, To require the Department of State to establish a
policy regarding the use of location-tracking consumer devices
by employees at diplomatic and consular facilities, and for
other purposes................................................. 80
H.R. 5626, To amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to
require the Secretary of State to report on intercountry
adoptions from countries which have significantly reduced
adoption rates involving immigration to the United States, and
for other purposes............................................. 83
Amendments to H.R. 5626 offered by:
The Honorable Adam Kinzinger, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Illinois............................... 86
The Honorable Bradley S. Schneider, a Representative in
Congress from the State of Illinois...................... 87
H.R. 5754, To promote free and fair elections, political
freedoms, and human rights in Cambodia, and for other purposes. 88
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 5754 offered by
the Honorable Ted S. Yoho, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Florida......................................... 97
Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to
H.R. 5754 offered by the Honorable Ted S. Yoho........... 105
H.R. 5819, To promote democracy and human rights in Burma, and
for other purposes............................................. 106
Amendments to H.R. 5819 offered by:
The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, a Representative in Congress
from the State of New York............................... 150
The Honorable Joe Wilson, a Representative in Congress from
the State of South Carolina.............................. 154
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 180
Markup minutes................................................... 181
Markup summary................................................... 183
The Honorable Ted Poe, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Texas: Prepared statement............................. 184
SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM ACT OF 2017; SAM FARR
PEACE CORPS ENHANCEMENT ACT; ELIE WIESEL GENOCIDE AND ATROCITIES
PREVENTION ACT OF 2017; PROTECTING DIPLOMATS FROM SURVEILLANCE THROUGH
CONSUMER DEVICES ACT; INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION INFORMATION ACT OF 2018;
CAMBODIA DEMOCRACY ACT; AND BURMA ACT OF 2018
----------
THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., in
room 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward Royce
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Chairman Royce. The committee will come to order.
And pursuant to notice, we meet today to markup seven
bipartisan measures. Without objection, all members may have 5
days to submit statements or extraneous materials on today's
business.
As members were notified yesterday, we intend to consider
today's measures en bloc, and so without objection the
following items previously provided to members, and also in
your packets, will be considered en bloc and are considered as
read.
They are H.R. 1911, the Special Envoy the Monitor and
Combat Anti-Semitism Act, Smith Amendment 96 in the nature of a
substitute; H.R. 2259, the Sam Farr Peace Corps Enhancement
Act, Poe Amendment 87 in the nature of a substitute; H.R. 3030,
the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act with
Wagner Amendment 33 in the nature of a substitute; H.R. 4989,
Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices
Act; and deg.H.R. 5626, the Intercountry Adoption
Information Act with the Kinzinger Amendment 28 and the
Schneider Amendment Number 84; H.R. 5754, the Cambodian
Democracy Act with Yoho Amendment 123 in the nature of a
substitute and Yoho Amendment 125; and lastly, H.R. 5819, the
Burma Act of 2018, Engel Amendment 98, and Wilson Amendment 60.
[The information referred to follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Royce. So I will now recognize myself to speak on
today's business. First, I'd just like to mention on the
Cambodian Democracy Act, I want to thank Chairman Yoho. I think
this is a very important bill to support the people of
Cambodia.
Hun Sen aspires to be a tyrant there and he is behaving
right now as a tyrant in terms of what he has done to the
political opposition and to his people, and I am very proud to
support this act, which will hold Hun Sen and hold his regime
accountable for systematic human rights abuses.
I also want to recognize in the audience today our
colleague, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, who's been a leader in
Congress on U.S.-Cambodia issues. So, Alan, thanks for being
with us.
Next, we have H.R. 5819, the BURMA Act. For over three
decades, Burma has systematically denied the Rohingya even the
most basic of human rights.
Last year, this ethnic cleansing reached new horrific
levels. The Burmese military drove 700,000 Rohingya from their
homes, burning villages, raping women, and killing thousands.
A Burmese commander told fleeing Rohingya, ``We will turn
your village into soil,'' and, tragically, that's what they
did.
So I thank the ranking member, Mr. Engel, for introducing
this important legislation aimed at stopping these horrific
acts.
I'd like to comment on the Intercountry Adoption
Information Act. International adoption is an issue that
impacts Americans across the country.
I've been honored to help bring many families together and
we played a role in going to the Congo in order to bring
families back home here who were stranded there and we thank
the members of this committee who participated in that.
This act requires the State Department to report annually
on countries that have enacted new laws or policies that would
impact inter-country adoptions and this information, obviously,
would have been very helpful, for example, when the Congo or
when Ethiopia both adopted sweeping new laws that put on hold
adoptions for American families and left the families stuck
there.
So I am glad to support this bill.
Next, we have H.R. 2259, the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace
Corps Reform Act. We have worked closely with Judge Ted Poe on
this issue.
This bill would ensure that Peace Corps volunteers have
some say in where they are placed, to make sure that those
volunteers are more aware of risks in the field, and that they
have better access to qualified medical personnel when they are
in the field.
It also extends and enhances expiring provisions in the
Kate Puzey Act to provide services to victims who have been
victims of sexual assault.
Our young men and women who volunteer with the Peace Corps
deserve to have the information and support that they need as
they represent our country overseas and this bill does that.
Next, we consider H.R. 3030, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and
Atrocities Prevention Act. The U.S. must be a world leader in
efforts to prevent genocide, in efforts to prevent crimes
against humanity, and this act improves interagency
coordination, it bolsters training for our diplomats in the
field, and it strengthens congressional oversight to make
programs aimed at preventing global atrocities far more
effective than they are today.
Next, we have Chairman Smith's H.R. 1911. As anti-Semitism
is on the rise around the world, this bill ensures that the
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism has direct
access to the Secretary of State. Elevating this office will
help keep our promise of ``never again.''
And finally, we have H.R. 4989, the Protecting Diplomats
From Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act. This bill
rightly addresses the need for the State Department to develop
a clear modern policy regarding the use of devices that may
have GPS tracking capability--frequently do--and I thank
Representative Castro for this timely measure, which will
ensure that the department's policies keep pace with evolving
technology. Why? Because we need to keep our men and women safe
overseas.
And I now recognize the ranking member, Mr. Engel of New
York, for his remarks.
Mr. Engel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for calling
this markup, and let me thank our colleagues for all the hard
work on the measures we are considering this morning.
I'll start with the bill I introduced. I want to thank the
chairman again for bringing it forward today and I am glad we
are going to address the ongoing tragedy in Burma.
This crisis has been smoldering for years. The Rohingya in
the northern part of Burma's Rakhine State have endured hatred,
bigotry, and systematic discrimination. They've had their
citizenship revoked and have been pushed to the margins of
society.
Last August, the fire began to burn out of control with the
Burmese military's violent crackdown on the Rohingya, driving
nearly 700,000 people into Bangladesh, nearly 80 percent women
and children, many of whom are now victims of horrific gender-
based violence.
Humanitarian workers expect up to 40,000 births resulting
from rape in the refugee camps. That is just horrific, it is
gut wrenching, and shame on us. The United States has slammed
the door on refugees when Bangladesh, one of the most densely
populated countries in the world, has welcomed these people
with open arms.
The administration wants to slash resources for combating
gender-based violence. It has cut off funding for the U.N.
Population Fund, which works in refugees camps to provide
access to vital services--things so basic as making sure women
have a safe place to shower.
So no thanks to us, the U.N. has requested more than $1
billion to meet needs just this year, funding which would
provide round-the-clock lifesaving assistance.
But with the coming rainy season threatening to wipe out
the rickety infrastructure around these desperate people, there
is no end to this tragedy in sight.
So we need to do more to alleviate this crisis. We also
need to remember this crisis is manmade. It is ethnic cleansing
and many believe it is genocide. Nothing has been done to hold
perpetrators accountable.
The Burmese civilian government has become more closed, not
more open, since this tragedy, and meanwhile, our
administration seems reticent to hold perpetrators accountable
and publicly call for justice.
It's unacceptable. It's a betrayal of our values when we
see this sort of abuse. There must be consequences.
My bill would dole out these consequences in the form of
new sanctions against Burmese military and security forces
involved. It would limit American military engagement with
Burma's military, promote civil society, push a political
reform, and require a full accounting of what's taken place.
I am grateful for the bipartisan collaboration in advancing
this bill and I ask all members for their support and I thank
the chairman for helping to push this bill forward.
Next, I want to thank Chairman Yoho of the Asia and the
Pacific Subcommittee and Congressman Lowenthal for bringing
forward the Cambodia Democracy Act. I want to recognize Mr.
Lowenthal, who is the lead Democratic co-sponsor of H.R. 5754,
the Cambodia Democracy Act, who was here.
He was once a member of this committee and welcome back to
the Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you.
For far too often, we see authoritarian leaders following
China's lead, abandoning democracy in pursuit of short-term
political gain.
This bill makes existing sanctions permanent to hold
Cambodia's leaders accountable for their crackdowns on
democracy and stripping the Cambodian people of their rights.
I support this bill and I urge all members to do the same.
Next, I am a proud original co-sponsor of the Special Envoy
to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism Act. Every day, more and
more alarming anti-Semitic attacks shock the world and yet the
Special Envoy position is still vacant.
That's outrageous. We must have a senior official to push
back against the intolerance and hatred of anti-Semitism. This
bill would elevate the position and require the President to
put forward a nominee no more than 120 days after a vacancy.
American leadership is needed in the fight against anti-
Semitism. The measure has my strong support. History has shown
that failing to address anti-Semitism can lead to violence and
genocide as a foreign policy priority to prevent these
tragedies.
So I thank Representatives Wagner and Crowley for authoring
the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, which
would improve our ability to prevent and respond to genocide
and other horrific mass atrocities.
Let's work on harnessing American capabilities to stop
these tragedies before they start. I urge my colleagues to join
me in supporting this bill.
Next, let me thank Congressmen Poe and Kennedy for their
bill, the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Enhancement Act.
This bill works to improve the health, safety, and security of
Peace Corps volunteers.
The Peace Corps represents America's best values around the
world. Volunteers dedicate their time to promote people-to-
people diplomacy and community-based development in far corners
of the world.
This is one of our most cost-effective efforts and we
should do everything we can to take care of these committed
young public servants. I very much support this bill.
I am also glad to support the Intercountry Adoption
Information Act. Too often we hear heart wrenching stories of
American families whose adoption process was halted by a
foreign government's change in policy.
These families are often left in the dark when these
changes happen. This bill presents a straightforward fix,
requiring the State Department to provide this information that
affects prospective adoptive American families.
And lastly, I'd like to thank Mr. Castro for introducing
the Protecting Diplomats From Surveillance Through Consumer
Devices Act.
This bill would help the Department of State prevent our
adversaries from tracking American diplomats through their GPS-
enabled devices.
From FitBits and smart watches to phones in cars, most of
us have at least one tracking device with us at all times.
Obviously, that can be a security risk. This common sense
measure would make sure the department takes necessary steps to
tackle this problem.
These are all good measures in front of us today. I support
them all. I thank the chairman for his hard work and I urge all
members to support them as well.
I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Engel.
We go to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Chairman Royce and
Ranking Member Engel. I offer my support for all of the bills
under consideration and will speak briefly in support of three
of them.
I am proud to be a sponsor of my friend, Chris Smith's,
bill, H.R. 1911, the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-
Semitism Act of 2017.
This elevates the critical position to the rank of
Ambassador. This bill has broad bipartisan support including
from many members of our committee and from all the co-chairs
of our bipartisan task force for combating anti-Semitism.
As a fellow founding member and co-chair of the task force,
along with Ted Deutch, Chris, and Ranking Member Engel, this is
an issue that is of utmost importance, given the current
climate in Europe and elsewhere toward Jews.
This vital position has remained vacant since President
Trump took office and that is woefully inadequate. The United
States is a leader in fighting anti-Semitism and we condemn all
forms of this ancient bigotry.
But sometimes our message falls far short when other
countries see that our own administration does not view this
position as one that is important enough to fill.
We need our Special Envoy front and center working with
other governments to help them address and fight anti-Semitism.
At a time when we see vicious attacks against Jews in
France and other countries in Europe and when Jewish leaders
are issuing warnings to their communities to not show outward
signs of their religious identity, we need American leadership
and American pressure to help counter this hatred.
But we cannot do that when we have individuals working part
time, unable to devote the requisite amount of time to this
issue. That is why we need the Special Envoy and that is why we
need that position filled immediately.
Not only does it require full time attention but it is
vital that we have someone at the Ambassador level ranked in
that position so they have access to the highest level
officials in other countries.
We need to show other nations how serious we are in taking
this issue head on and, as such, we need to bestow upon that
individual who will take this role the appropriate rank and
title so they can cut through the bureaucratic red tape of
other nations and have the serious conversations that need to
be had.
I am also pleased that my language adding a deadline for
the appointment--90 days from the enactment of this act and 120
days from when this position becomes vacant--that has been
included.
And as we have seen not just with this administration but
previous administrations have allowed this statutorily mandated
position to remain open for an extended period of time.
That is why it's important that we put a deadline for this
appointment. I urge my colleagues to support Chris' bill. I
urge the administration to fill this position immediately.
I also want to offer my strong support to Ambassador
Wagner's bill, H.R. 3030, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and
Atrocities Prevention Act, of which I am proud to be a co-
sponsor.
Ambassador Wagner's bill takes necessary and overdue steps
to make preventing genocide and preventing atrocities a
priority in our foreign policy.
For too often and in too many places, these acts are met
with indifference or neutrality--the kind of neutrality that
the bill's namesake rightly said only encourages more torment
and abuses.
As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, whenever men
and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or
political views, that place must at that moment become the
center of the universe.
Whenever and wherever these acts are occurring we must work
together and ensure that the United States is at the forefront
with the full weight of our foreign policy to prevent them from
ever happening again.
It is a core national security interest, it is our moral
responsibility, and I commend always Ambassador Wagner for her
work on this issue.
And finally, some words to offer my strong support for
Ranking Member Engel and Steve Chabot's H.R. 5819, the BURMA
Act of 2018, of which I am also proud to be a co-sponsor.
As the former chairman of the Asia and Pacific
Subcommittee, Steve has been a tireless champion on human
rights in Burma. I want to commend him and the ranking member
for their work on this bill.
The Burmese military ethnic cleansing campaign is a crime
against humanity, exactly the type of atrocity that Ambassador
Wagner's bill is seeking to prevent.
Among other provisions, this bill would authorize
humanitarian assistance for victims of the Burmese military
campaign, limit security assistance with security forces, and
impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for these
serious human rights abuses.
We cannot allow this issue to go on unaddressed. I urge my
colleagues to support this bill and all the measures before us
today.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Ileana.
Mr. Brad Sherman of California.
Mr. Sherman. Mr. Chairman, thank you for bringing forth
outstanding bills. I am pleased to co-sponsor all of them.
As to the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
Act, I commend Mr. Smith and Schneider. This is an important
office. It ought to be upgraded to the rank of full Ambassador
and we need to make sure that the President fills the position.
I've seen this office do outstanding work, particularly
during the year and a half in which my wife served as the
Deputy Special Envoy.
The two bills to deal with Asia and to come through the
Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee--the Cambodia Democracy Act--
I want to commend not only Mr. Yoho but also Mr. Lowenthal. He
has been a constant voice for human rights in Cambodia, and I
agree with him that Hun Sen's attacks on democracy need to end
and reporters, among other politically imprisoned individuals,
need to be released.
As to the BURMA Act, I commend the ranking member and Mr.
Chabot, and we may have to go beyond this bill. As long as
Burma refuses to provide citizenship and protection for the
Rohingya, we have to wonder whether northern Rakhine State
should be part of Burma or whether its transfer to the
sovereignty of Bangladesh might be necessary in order to assure
that the people who have lived there for generations have
citizenship and protection. I say that knowing that we are
loathe to change international borders.
The Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Act is an
important bill as is the Sam Farr Peace Corps Enhancement Act.
First it's named for Sam Farr, our California colleague, who
served in the Peace Corps and then was such an effective
advocate for the Peace Corps.
And second, the bill focuses on the need for medical care
for those serving abroad. My wife served in Togo in the Peace
Corps and found it necessary to get medical care and it was
quite difficult and her service was interrupted.
So the idea of making sure that medical care is available
is an important addition to the Peace Corps' government
statutes.
With that, I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
We go to Chris Smith of New Jersey.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
for posting this important bill, H.R. 1911, to take the Special
Envoy to Combat and Monitoring Anti-Semitism and create a
position of Ambassador-at-Large.
I want to thank Brad Schneider for being the principal
Democrat co-sponsor. I deeply appreciate that and, of course,
as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, one of the other sponsors, pointed out,
Eliot Engel and Ted Deutch, all of us who were part of this
coalition trying to stop anti-Semitism--a bipartisan one--are
all co-sponsors of this bill.
And all 80 members, 25 members of this committee, and
leading Jewish organizations and other human rights groups are
all for it as well.
Mr. Chairman, my friend and great former Soviet refusenik--
and I actually went to the camp where he was, Perm Camp 35, in
the Ural Mountains in the 1980s--he testified at two of my
hearings, and I've had several.
He said that we need to expand our understanding as to what
anti-Semitism is. It continues to fester and worsen with
regards to hatred toward Jews--men, women, and children--simply
because they are Jewish.
But he also said much of the criticism directed at Israel
is also laden with anti-Semitism and said there are three D's--
a 3 D test that we need to apply--and that is the three D's of
modern anti-Semitism: Demonization of Israel, double standard,
and delegitimization--in other words, not right to exist.
I would point out to my colleagues that Rabbi Andy Baker,
the director for international Jewish affairs for the American
Jewish Committee and the personal representative for combating
anti-Semitism for the Organization for Security Cooperation in
Europe, which I am the co-chair of the U.S. delegation, he has
said, ``We continue to see physical and even lethal attacks on
Jews in Europe, efforts to restrict or ban elemental religious
practices, and emboldened extremist political parties with an
anti-Semitic agenda.''
Even as European governments have come to recognize the
dangers facing their Jewish communities, many still have failed
to devote the necessary resources to protect them or to be
clear-eyed in recognizing the sources of the problem.
According to B'nai B'rith International, unfortunately, we
continue to see a dramatic growth of anti-Semitism,
particularly in Europe and the Islamic world.
The scourge has reached its highest level since World War
II. B'nai B'rith International--and then they go on to talk
about what they are doing.
They also pointed out in Canada last year was a record-
breaking year for anti-Semitism in Canada, according to their
new audit.
There is a need for a comprehensive aggressive robust
effort by the United States. I would point out to my colleagues
in 2004 Congress passed and signed into law the Global Anti-
Semitism Review Act of 2004. I was the prime author of the
provisions that created both the Office to Monitor and Combat
Anti-Semitism in the State Department and the position of
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to lead it.
H.R. 1911, however, would elevate the Special Envoy to
Ambassador, and that gravitas makes a difference both within
the building and when he or she takes this message throughout
the world.
It would mandate that the Special Envoy serve as the
primary advisor to the United States Government, including the
Secretary of State, on monitoring and combating anti-Semitism
in foreign countries and coordinate efforts across the
government.
It also would prohibit the Special Envoy from being double
hatted, something that we faced early on after the 2004 act.
Give it to somebody else. Expand their portfolio. That dilution
of the mandate weakens the efforts.
I would also point out that we have language saying that
the envoy--and that would be an Ambassador--needs to be
nominated within 90 days of the enactment of this act because
we have had unbelievable delays no matter who is President.
And I would point out Bush took 583 days, Obama 307 days,
and then when there was a change 227 days after that when the
one that he originally had in the position left.
Long delays--nobody leading the ship or being at the helm.
I would point out, however, that when Special Envoys Greg
Rickman, Hannah Rosenthal, and Ira Foreman had the job, they
did a tremendous job and were the eyes and ears and the were
the voice of our Government in combating this scourge.
I want to thank everyone for doing this and backing it. We
do have a great deal of support for it, and the time has come.
There should be no further delay.
We do call on President Trump. We did--all of us asked
Secretary Tillerson to move in this direction. We are now
asking Secretary Pompeo to make this appointment and to do it
immediately, and then, God willing, this becomes law, we can
then work to elevate that Special Envoy to the Ambassador.
Thank you.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
We go to Mr. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just I want to thank
you for putting all these bills on the agenda today. Glad to
sponsor as an original co-sponsor or as a co-sponsor of all of
them.
I particularly want to highlight four. The BURMA Act--
really important that we support the democratic transition
while also holding accountable those that have engaged in
unbelievable violence against part of the population. I think
this bill strikes that balance.
The Sam Farr Peace Corps Enhancement Act--I was privileged
to work with my friend and colleague, Judge Ted Poe, a number
of years ago in the previous administration in helping Peace
Corps work through a sexual assault policy.
This bill adds to that and honors our former colleague, a
very gentle and wonderful man, Sam Farr.
The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act--
Elie Wiesel was a towering figure of the last century and a
survivor of the Holocaust who, out of that incredible
experience, nonetheless understood how to fight persecution
while promoting atonement and trying reconciliation for warring
parties, and it's fitting that we should name this bill after
him.
And finally, the Cambodia Democracy Act--I was privileged a
number of years ago to work on a project with the National
Democratic Institute in Cambodia to help develop the first
policy guidelines and legislation government local elections.
It's very sad for me to see it sliding back by the Hun Sen
government in Cambodia and, hopefully, this legislation will be
the building block for a robust U.S. policy and allied policy
to stop that slide and to return to democratic tradition.
I thank the chair.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Connolly.
Mr. Steve Chabot of Ohio.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
holding this markup today, and I support H.R. 5819, the BURMA
Act.
It's a bill that we worked with Mr. Engel and the chair,
Mr. Royce, and other members. I think this is really an
important bill and it holds the perpetrators of the crimes
committed against the Rohingya Muslims accountable in a strong
and meaningful way.
The news from Rakhine State in Burma and in the Cox's Bazar
in Bangladesh regarding the humanitarian crisis has been
nothing short of abysmal.
As former chair of the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, I'd
point out that this ongoing crackdown is only the most recent
persecution of the Rohingya Muslims but it's certainly the
worst.
The Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh and nearly
700,000 new refugees are living on only a few thousand acres,
and although the Rohingya continue to display their grit and
resolve, their living conditions are horrendous--just
unspeakable.
I believe it's necessary to point out that we had sanctions
in place against Burma's military for years. Throughout Burma's
military rule, we imposed a number of increasingly severe
sanctions designed to specifically target the military and its
leaders and economically isolate them from the rest of the
world.
In large part, these sanctions worked, and the people of
Burma had free and fair elections that brought Aung San Suu Kyi
and the NLD to power.
Unfortunately, the previous administration quickly touted
Burma as a success story and then, regrettably, almost
immediately relaxed restrictions on their military.
A number of us warned--at the time--that this democratic
transformation was not complete and that the former President's
optimism was premature.
Unfortunately, this concern ultimately came true. There is
no question that the plight of the Rohingya was caused by the
Burmese military officials and their allies.
Women and children have been reported being raped. They
watch the murder of their sons and husbands. There are reports
that the Burmese military has committed truly unspeakable acts
against civilians including babies and children.
One thing is clear. This is textbook genocide. It appears
to be the worst ethnic cleansing of the 21st century. So that
is precisely why the BURMA Act of 2018 is so fundamentally
important.
Sanctions must be brought against the perpetrators of these
crimes. We must show the world that these actions will not go
unpunished. Many provisions in this bill are very important.
However, I'd like to highlight a particular section and
that's forfeiture of assets and property, and I want to thank
my staff and my colleagues on this committee and also on the
Judiciary Committee and we worked with them and their staff. We
want to thank them for their cooperation in insisting that this
language be included in the bill. It will be crystal clear to
the Burmese military officials that are responsible for this
senseless violence that one way or another they will pay for
their crimes.
Furthermore, it's my hope that proceeds earned through the
forfeiture of property provisions will eventually be used for
assistance and restitution for the very people the Burmese
military have victimized.
So I would urge my colleagues to support the BURMA Act, and
then I, with the short time I have left here, I'd like to
mention as co-chair of Congressional Caucus on Cambodia--and I
again want to, as others have already recognized, Mr. Lowenthal
for his hard work in that area.
We worked together in a bipartisan way to help the people
of Cambodia in a whole range of ways and so I want to mention
the Cambodia Democracy Act and commend Chairman Yoho for his
hard work and leadership on that and also Mr. Lowenthal and
everyone who contributed to this legislation for their hard
work.
The Cambodia Democracy Act demonstrates our continued
commitment to the Cambodian people by targeting sanctions on
Hun Sen and his cronies who have systematically worked to
eliminate Cambodia's democracy.
Further, with Cambodia's election now only a few months
away, at the end of July, this legislation is very timely and
sends a clear message that we will not tolerate such lawless
actions and I would urge my colleagues to support it.
I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
Mr. Ted Deutch of Florida.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, thanks for bringing
these bills forward. I am proud to support all of the measures
today and will speak briefly on just four of them.
First, I wanted to thank Chairman Yoho for the Cambodia
Democracy Act of 2018, and given the ongoing threats in
Cambodia to free and fair elections this summer, the challenges
to a free and independent press and the lack of respect for
NGOs, I am grateful to the leadership of our colleague,
Representative Lowenthal, who's here and has introduced this
bill with Chairman Yoho for taking on a vitally important issue
and showing the respect for human rights that the people of
Cambodia deserve.
I am also proud do co-sponsor the Elie Wiesel Genocide and
Atrocities Prevention Act and I would recognize Ambassador
Wagner for her work on this bill.
Out of the darkness of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel carried
the ``never again'' banner to prevent genocides or mass
atrocities in the future.
With his support, we created the United State Holocaust
Memorial Museum--a living memorial to those who perished in the
Holocaust and a research and education center to cover mass
atrocities that may be taking place right in front of our eyes.
Tragically, even in 2018 these atrocities continue and we
don't need to look any further than Burma. Civilians continue
to be targeted based on their religion, race, ethnicity, or
some other criteria that drives people to commit mass murder.
If we want to be able to say and mean, ``never again,''
then we need to strengthen our laws and empower the government
officials to carry it out.
This bill is a significant step in that direction. It
states unambiguously that genocide or mass atrocities occurring
in another part of the world pose a threat to our national
security.
The methodical and deliberate mass killing of civilians is
not only egregious and immoral, it is a crime under
international law and a threat to what we as Americans stand
for.
This bill will also train our Foreign Service officers,
often on the diplomatic front lines, to identify warning signs
and to direct the administration to report to Congress and the
American people what steps it has taken to prevent or stop mass
atrocities. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation
and improve our Government's response to mass atrocities around
the world.
Next, I'd like to express my support for the BURMA Act. The
plight of the Rohingya has been painful to watch and I am
especially discouraged that it is happening in a country that
once appeared to be on the track toward a peaceful civilian-led
democracy.
The Burmese military's treatment of the Rohingya people and
the resulting mass exodus into Bangladesh represents a travesty
on a shocking scale.
I am very proud to co-sponsor this legislation. I believe
it's important to codify the human rights abuses committed by
the Burmese military and security forces while outlining the
policy of the United States to support Burma's transition to
real democracy.
The bill's emphasis on the safe return of the Rohingya to
Burma and the promotion of freedom of the press are vital and
important steps.
Only until all of the people are included as full citizens
and are allowed to return, acts of ethnic cleansing are ended,
and freedom of religion and the press are ensured will Burma
again resemble a nation moving toward real democracy.
And finally, I'd like to voice my support for the Special
Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act, a bill of which
I am an original co-sponsor.
I want to recognize Congressman Chris Smith for leading
this bill with Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, my many
colleagues, including Ranking Member Engel, Congressman
Schneider, Congressman Lowey, Congressman Veasey, Roskam,
Weber, and Congressman Bilirakis.
It's been well over a year now and the administration has
failed to nominate a Special Envoy to combat anti-Semitism
around the world. It's unacceptable. The position was created
in 2004 with bipartisan support by provisions authored by
Congressman Smith.
This is a law that cannot be ignored. The Special Envoy and
its staff are tasked with monitoring worldwide anti-Semitism,
building coalitions by working with governments and NGOs, and
acting as our nation's leading global advocate for combating
anti-Semitism.
This, in a time when we are seeing more anti-Semitic
activity rise from the political left and right. We are hearing
appalling stories like the Holocaust survivor who was brutally
murdered in her apartment and our Government cannot be silent
in moments like these.
The United States has historically been a leader in calling
out anti-Semites and pushing governments to do more to protect
their Jewish citizens.
This is not a time to give up that leadership role. We have
to address it when this troubling--address this troubling trend
with action.
Jews are often the canary in the coal mine. Hatred of a
country's Jewish citizens confirms the presence of hatred in
that country and everyone in those countries share in its
interest in combating this and all hatred.
With this bill, Congress recognizes that this is a problem
worldwide, that it is our Government's obligation to combat
anti-Semitism, to defeat this bigotry and defend Jewish
communities.
Filling this position must be a top priority and I urge my
colleagues to vote for this bill, and I thank the chairman.
Chairman Royce. Mr. Joe Wilson of South Carolina.
Mr. Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am grateful to Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot
Engel for holding this markup on critical issues such as
protecting human rights, enhancing diplomat and Peace Corps
volunteers' security and safety, and improving international
adoption procedures, all of which I am grateful to co-sponsor.
I especially want to thank Congresswoman Ann Wagner for
introducing the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention
Act. Elie Wiesel, who passed away less than 2 years ago,
survived both Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi concentration camps
after having lost his family to the camps.
This legislation contributes to his memory by requiring the
U.S. Government to train Foreign Service officers to spot
warning signs of genocide and to provide poor nation
information sharing among the intelligence community in order
to prevent future crimes against humanity.
I also want to thank Congressman Chris Smith for his
providing the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
Act of 2017. While the Department of State should be routinely
setting the instruction and roles of numerous Special Envoys,
some Special Envoys such as the envoy to monitor and combat
anti-Semitism will operate best by having Ambassador status
with direct access to the Secretary of State.
Sadly, we see anti-Semitism today as there is criticism of
the U.S. Embassy being located in Jerusalem.
Lastly, I want to express my gratitude to Ranking Member
Eliot Engel for introducing the BURMA Act of 2018. This act
states for the record that the Burmese military is responsible
for the murder and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Burma
and provides for sanctions in response to such crimes until
Burma becomes more transparent.
Burma should also deliver on its nonproliferation
commitments by fully disclosing its past and present nuclear
activities to international inspectors, which was included by
an amendment I provided.
Today's markup legislation shows the world that the United
States cares deeply about the priorities we place on human
rights and I urge their passage.
I now yield the balance of my time to Judge Ted Poe.
Mr. Poe. I thank the gentleman from South Carolina.
I want to speak specifically on the Sam Farr/Nick Castle
Peace Corps Act. I want to thank Congressman Joe Kennedy for
his bipartisan leadership in this and the Kennedy family and
their long history of supporting the Peace Corps.
Mr. Chairman, unfortunately, over the last few years, bad
things have happened to our Peace Corps volunteers when they go
abroad and we solved some of those problems with the Kate Puzey
Act. This is a follow-up to that legislation.
I want to thank the Health and Justice for Peace Corps
volunteers and the National Peace Corps Association for their
input and information on what is happening to our Peace Corps
volunteers.
This legislation does several things. It requires that we
provide qualified medical doctors for our Peace Corps
volunteers. It increases the time for the Sexual Assault
Advisory Council to another 5 years.
It provides provisions in the protection of sexual assault
and harassment as revealed in the Office of Special Counsel
report detailing what has happened to our Peace Corps
volunteers abroad and when our Peace Corps volunteers return to
America, some with injuries and serious medical issues, make
sure they are taken care of and the bureaucratic red tape of
the Federal Government gets out of the way so they can be
treated.
And I also want to thank the chairman for his leadership in
this legislation. I ask unanimous consent to provide my entire
written statement on this bill and these other bills into the
record.
Chairman Royce. Mr. David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to
and Ranking Member Engel for bringing these bills before the
committee for markup. I am a proud co-sponsor of all the bills
and would like to specifically speak to four.
First, H.R. 1911, the Special Envoy to Monitor Anti-
Semitism Act of 2017, which raises the status of the Special
Envoy to Ambassador in recognition of the position's important
role and responsibility.
Earlier this year, I joined the ranking member and several
other of my colleagues in calling on the President to
prioritize the appointment of the Special Envoy to monitor and
combat anti-Semitism.
Unfortunately, we are still awaiting a nomination on this
position. Since the position of Special Envoy to monitor and
combat anti-Semitism was created in 2004, anti-Semitism and
anti-Semitic attacks throughout the world have become more
frequent, violent, and deadly. These developments are
completely unacceptable.
In the United States, the number of anti-Semitic incidents
rose 57 percent in 2017--the largest single-year increase on
record.
Internationally state-sponsored Holocaust distortion and
denial taking place in Europe, particularly in Poland and
Ukraine, has coincided with the increasing incidence of anti-
Semitic language and actions.
The United States must assume a leadership position by
firmly standing against anti-Semitism, upholding values that
are fair and just to all, and the Office of the Special Envoy
continues to be a crucial contributor to the development and
implementation of policies designed to combat anti-Semitism
around the world.
H.R. 3030, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities
Prevention Act, and H.R. 5819, the BURMA Act, are also
incredibly important.
Elie Wiesel was a Romanian Nobel Prize-winning writer,
teacher, and activist best known for his memoir ``Night'' in
which he hauntingly recounted his experiences surviving the
Holocaust.
In one passage, he described his thoughts about the murders
going on around him.
He wrote,
``Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget
the little faces of the children whose bodies I saw
turn into wreaths of smoke beneath the silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my
faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal
silence which deprived me for all eternity of the
desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments
which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams
to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I
am condemned to live long as God himself. Never.''
I wish I could say that the events Mr. Wiesel recounted
were singular and only a part of our past. Unfortunately,
genocides and mass atrocities continue to occur.
I was in Burma last November and visited Myanmar as well as
Bangladesh and saw firsthand the brutal efforts underway to
eradicate the Rohingya population and the most horrifying of
unspeakable brutality being caused by the Burmese military
against the Rohingya population and it is important that the
world hear the United States strongly condemn this and take
action to hold those accountable, and I am very proud to be a
cosponsor of both H.R. 3030 and H.R. 5819.
These bills not only reaffirm our nation's commitment to
prevent and mitigate acts of genocide and other human rights
atrocities but puts actions behind our words.
By strengthening our nation's ability to identify, address,
and respond to the drivers of these atrocities, we hope to
prevent further mass atrocities.
By empowering the President to sanction perpetrators of
genocide, we hope to bring accountability and an end to the
current situation in Burma and offer these governments the
possibility of joining the international community and holding
perpetrators of mass atrocities and genocides accountable,
because, like Mr. Wiesel, we should never forget.
And finally, the Cambodian Democracy Act--I am proud to be
a co-sponsor of this legislation, which also authorizes
sanctions against individuals found to have undermined
democracy in Cambodia or to have committed serious human rights
violations associated with undermining democracy.
I want to acknowledge the leadership of Chairman Yoho and
Congressman Lowenthal, who's with us today, who has been a
champion not only of this legislation but of respect for human
rights here in the United States and around the world, and we
thank him for his leadership.
With these bills we affirm U.S. leadership in countering
atrocities, supporting democratic development, and supporting
human rights. I am pleased to support each of these bills being
considered today and urge their passage, and thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
And I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, David.
We go now to Mike McCaul of Texas.
Mr. McCaul. I thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member,
for holding today's markup on these bipartisan measures.
I'd also like to thank Congressman Castro and his staff for
their hard work on the Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance
Through Consumer Devices Act and I am proud to be the lead co-
sponsor of this bill.
It's a simple yet a necessary response to the revelations
in January. GPS-enabled electronic devices such as FitBits and
Jawbones exposed diplomatic and military personnel to security
vulnerabilities abroad.
The data from these devices are publicly available,
revealing the locations of key U.S. Government facilities
across the globe and the movements of our personnel.
As such the bill requires the Secretary of State to
establish a policy concerning the use of location-tracking
consumer devices including GPS at U.S. diplomatic and consular
facilities.
So I'd like to thank the State Department also for taking
this matter seriously. I think it's a vulnerability that we
need to close the gap on to protect our diplomats and our
security abroad and I look forward to congressional action in
protecting them as they serve our nation.
So, Mr. Chairman, with that, thank you for moving these
bills through the committee and I'll yield back the balance of
my time.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. McCaul.
We now go to Lois Frankel of Florida.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you and the
ranking member and all my colleagues for that leadership and I
welcome back Mr. Lowenthal to our committee and sitting here.
Thank you for your work on the Cambodia Democracy Act.
I want to--I support all these bills here today. I just
want to make a comment on two of them.
The first one, the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Anti-Semitism Act of 2017, and I think we all know that global
anti-Semitism is, unfortunately, on the rise.
Jewish communities face bigotry and violence at levels not
seen in decades. I want to give an example--Mireille Knoll, an
85-year-old Holocaust survivor living in Paris, loved by
friends and neighbors, known for welcoming everyone in her
home, in March an attacker broke into her apartment, stabbing
her 11 times and burning her alive.
The French Government described it as anti-Semitic--yes,
you would say that. She had escaped the Holocaust only to be
brutally murdered in her own home just because she was Jewish.
According to a study, Europe's largest Jewish communities
are experiencing a normalization and main streaming of anti-
Semitism not seen since World War II and yet--and this is--I do
not understand this--nearly a year and a half into this
administration, a Special Envoy to monitor and combat anti-
Semitism position be responsible for--responsible for
developing and implementing policies to combat anti-Semitism
worldwide, this position remains vacant.
And I just want to say that I think it's dangerous and it's
shameful and--because combating anti-Semitism must be a foreign
policy priority. So this important legislation, it elevates the
role of our anti-Semitism envoy to that of Ambassador and
requires him or her to report directly to the Secretary of
State.
I'd also like to draw attention to the BURMA Act of 2018.
Last fall, we had a hearing in this committee about the
Rohingya crisis and last week the Democratic Working Women's
Group heard from U.N. Refugee Agency's goodwill ambassador,
Kristin Davis, an actress and humanitarian, and I think we have
heard this from my other colleagues--about more than 700,000
Rohingya refugees have been forced to flee Burma by security
forces--villages burned, unarmed civilians shot, women and
girls assaulted.
The United States Government has called these actions
ethnic cleansing and many in the international community
believe it's genocide, and that's why this bill is so
important.
It imposes sanctions on those who have committed acts of
violence and limits security assistance to Burma until it's
certified that human rights abuses have ended, like the horror
of a mother who was forced to stand in a river at gunpoint,
holding her child in her arms as she squeezed her baby tight.
Soldiers clubbed her in the face, tore her child out of her
arms, hurled them into a fire, and then dragged her into a
house where she was gang raped. It's hard to even say this.
And just, unbelievably, she's one of hundreds of thousands
of Rohingya refugees who are either women or children in
refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Fortunately--I want to underline this--the U.N. Population
Fund is on the ground with midwives and mobile health camps to
care for survivors of rape and conduct information sessions to
stop human trafficking.
And since we all care about this tragedy, I want to point
out that this administration has cruelly cut off funding to the
U.N. Population Fund for the second year in a row, leaving it
to the rest of the international communities to fill in the
gap.
With monsoon season approaching, floodings and disease
outbreaks expected, many of the lives of these refugees who
have suffered so much are already going to get harder.
So, again, I strongly support the adoption of this bill and
I urge my colleagues to look beyond and recognize that our
response to a humanitarian crisis will not be sufficient unless
we restore the funding to the U.N. FPA. I thank my colleagues
and I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
We go to Congresswoman Ann Wagner from Missouri.
Mrs. Wagner. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am speaking today in support of the Elie Wiesel Genocide
and Atrocities Prevention Act, a bill I introduced to improve
U.S. efforts to prevent mass atrocity crimes.
The legislation honors the legacy of Nobel Laureate Elie
Wiesel and his life work to fight evil around the world. Mr.
Wiesel was just 15 years old when the Nazis deported him and
his family to Auschwitz.
He was the only member of his family to survive, and having
witnessed the near total destruction of his people, he spent
his life defending the persecuted.
As Mr. Wiesel understood so well, the true horror of
genocide is that it is preventable. We are haunted by repeated
failures and missed opportunities to end these tragedies before
they begin and I know everyone in this room agrees that there
is more the United States can and must do to help vulnerable
communities and persecuted people around the world.
The reality is that good intentions and platitudes like
``never again'' have not prevented the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of civilians at the hands of the Assad regime nor the
ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma.
It is past time to take a clear-eyed look at our policy and
programmatic mechanisms for atrocity prevention and ask
ourselves what can we do better.
The U.S. Government has the capacity to effect real change
and the Elie Wiesel Act expresses Congress' strong support for
better utilization of existing resources, particularly the
United States Atrocities Prevention Board, which is dedicated
to coordinating U.S. atrocity prevention and response, and the
Complex Crisis Fund, which supports agile efficient responses
to unforeseen crises overseas.
The bill also expresses the Congress' belief that the
Atrocities Prevention Board should conduct outreach with civil
society groups and NGOs to receive assistance for its efforts
and provide greater public understanding of the work of the
board.
Additionally, we require the administration to evaluate
existing prevention efforts, report on countries at risk of
genocide and mass atrocity crimes, and recommend concrete
improvements to our early warning and response systems.
The bill also mandates that U.S. Foreign Service officers
are trained in atrocities recognition and response. Should this
bill become law, America's diplomats will be better equipped to
respond to conflict and act before violence spirals out of
control.
The Elie Wiesel Act establishes that the official policy of
the United States is to regard atrocity prevention as a core
national security interest and to address root causes of
conflict through our humanitarian, development, and strategic
endeavors.
Let me be clear. Genocide is preventable and the United
States is a global leader in genocide and atrocities response.
But we must ensure that our efforts are better targeted toward
prevention so that no one ever becomes a victim of violence in
the first place.
H.R. 3030 is an important first step and I thank the
committee and the many civil society organizations that have
come alongside us for their strong support of this legislation.
I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Congresswoman Dina Titus from Nevada.
Ms. Titus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you and
Ranking Member Engel for holding this markup on these important
bills.
I am a co-sponsor of several of them and I support all the
legislation being considered. I also want to extend my thanks
to the many people aforementioned who worked so hard to bring
this legislation before us.
I am proud to co-sponsor H.R. 1911, the Special Envoy to
Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act. This elevates and empower
the position of the Special Envoy so that the United States can
continue to lead in combating anti-Semitism globally.
We see a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, threats, and
rhetoric around the world these days, and hateful groups and
individuals are now empowered by being able to connect and
coordinate online.
We must show other countries that the United States takes
combating anti-Semitism seriously and this starts with high-
profile leaders in the administration.
But it's not just this Special Envoy position that remains
vacant at the State Department. Others include the Special
Envoy for Human Rights of LGBTI Persons and the Special Advisor
for International Disability Rights.
By leaving these important roles vacant, we are
relinquishing U.S. leadership in fighting violence, hatred, and
discrimination among other targeted populations.
So I hope that Secretary Pompeo will make appointing
qualified people to these important positions a priority early
in his tenure.
I am also a co-sponsor of H.R. 3989, the Protecting
Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act, and I
thank Congressman Castro and McCaul for their quick response to
the public release of GPS tracking data of U.S. personnel and
activities abroad.
Our policies and security must keep up with advances in
technology to protect our diplomats, service members, and other
personnel serving overseas.
So I look forward to supporting these bipartisan bills and
seeing their swift passage on the House floor.
And I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
We go to Chairman Ted Yoho.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I'd like to
congratulate you and the ranking member for another bipartisan
markup. I think it's just a credit to you and what you've done.
And I'd also like to thank you for including the
legislation our team authored with the help of this committee--
the Cambodian Democracy Act of 2018 in this markup today.
I want to thank you, Ranking Member Engel, Mr. Sherman, Mr.
Chabot, and Mr. Lowenthal for their support as well. This ANS
includes language from Mr. Lowenthal's House Resolution 661. So
I want to once again thank him for working with us in a
bipartisan manner. I appreciate it, Alan.
As you well know, Cambodia is set to hold general elections
in just 2 months. So the inclusion of this legislation is very
timely.
Following regional elections last year and the 2013 general
elections, opposition parties saw unprecedented gains, helping
to consolidate the opposition movement.
Many observers believe that in July's national election the
CNRP would have won an unprecedented parliamentary majority.
Unfortunately, Cambodia's authoritarian leader, Hun Sen, had
other plans.
Over the last few years, Hun Sen's brutal consolidation of
power played out on numerous fronts. Hun Sen has chilled
support for the opposition by threatening to deploy the
military if elections don't go his way and has used his control
of the government to dismantle threats to his grip on power.
Illustrations of such, 2 years ago, the CNRP lawmakers were
savagely dragged from their cars and beaten by Hun Sen's
bodyguards while the perpetrators served token sentences. They
were then promoted to colonel barely 2 weeks after being
released from prison. Such is the reward for crushing the
opposition.
Last September, authorities arrested Kem Sokha, the leader
of the CNRP, and charged him with treason, allegedly for
participating in an American plot to undermine Hun Sen's
regime.
Cambodia's Supreme Court followed up on this act by
dissolving the CNRP, again citing the party's involvement in an
alleged U.S.-backed plot.
The regime has also shut down the Office of National
Democratic Institute, a preeminent NGO that is active in
promoting democracies around the world, and forced the closures
of independent media outlets that challenged its control over
information.
Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America, and other
publications and radio stations have been shuttered. To shine a
light on these abuses, late last year we held a hearing
entitled ``Cambodia's Descent'' in which we heard from experts
including Mona Kem, the daughter of imprisoned opposition
leader, Kem Sokha, on Cambodia's crackdown on political
opposition and civil societies.
As Mona Kem testified, we must place targeted financial
sanctions on Cambodian Government officials identified as
undermining democracy. This bill does precisely that and is a
product of many of the recommendations made at that hearing.
We must send a signal to Hun Sen and his CPP cronies that
they cannot deny the freedoms that the Cambodian people yearn
and desire.
Although Cambodia often does not get the attention it
deserves, the human rights and democracy in Cambodia have broad
implications for the region and the world.
Cambodia is a member of ASEAN, the premier international
forum in Southeast Asia, with nine other nations and accounts
for 633 million people and $2.5 trillion in trade.
Every one of its 10 members must agree in order for the
bloc to act. So any nation operating outside the bounds of
humanity and decency will have an outsized effect on the entire
group.
This is such an important issue not just for the Cambodian
people but for that whole region and, really, for the rest of
the world.
Again, I thank the chairman and ranking member for
considering this measure today and I want to thank my
colleagues for their support as well.
I yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Yoho. We go now to Mr. Brad
Schneider of Illinois.
Mr. Schneider. Thank you, Chairman Royce.
I want to thank the chairman and ranking member for holding
today's markup and, in particular, for your leadership in
bringing this legislation before our committee this morning.
In particular, I am proud to join Congressman Chris Smith
and Ranking Member Engel in introducing H.R. 1911, the Special
Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2017.
This important bill would elevate the Special Envoy to the
rank of Ambassador and today's amendment in the nature of a
substitute would require the President to nominate someone for
this position no later than 90 days after the bill's enactment
and no more than 120 days after the position is vacated.
I am extremely concerned and frustrated that after many
pleas to do so this adminsration has yet to fill the position
of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism,
especially given the rise in anti-Semitism across the globe.
We need to do all we can to support our allies and combat
anti-Semitism wherever it manifests itself, and I hope the
administration sees the value in this position and will fill it
soon.
I am also pleased so support H.R. 3030, the Elie Wiesel
Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, of which I am a co-
sponsor. I appreciate the work of my colleagues, Congresswoman
Wagner and Congressman Crowley, in sponsoring this bill and the
support from many stakeholders including the Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Friends Committee on National Legislation, to name just
a few.
Elie Wiesel taught us that we must never forget the
atrocities committed during the Holocaust and that we must do
everything in our power to ensure this type of war never
happens again.
Unfortunately, hatred, persecution, and genocide continue
to unfold in many parts of the globe and therefore legislation
such as the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act
is still necessary.
This bill affirms the importance of continuing to
strengthen our Government's efforts to prevent and respond to
atrocities and states that it is in our national security
interests to prevent genocide and other atrocities.
The bill also takes important steps to require training for
Foreign Service officers who are often at the front lines so
they can better detect the early warnings signs of potential
violence and atrocities.
I also thank the chairman for including my amendment to
H.R. 5626, the Intercountry Adoption Information Act of 2018 to
ensure we know the date upon which a country implements a
policy to prevent or prohibit adoptions involving immigration
to the United States.
Adopting a child can be a long, but nevertheless life-
transforming, process. So we owe it prospective parents to
ensure they have useful and up-to-date information about
foreign country adoption policies.
Finally, I am pleased to see inclusion of the BURMA Act in
today's markup. The violence of human rights abuses committed
by the Burmese military and security forces against the ethnic
Rohingya in Burma's Rakhine State since August 2017 are truly
horrific.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled and are living
in Bangladesh. I hope this bill draws the attention of the
Burmese Government and security establishment and that they
will stop this violence and allow Rohingya refugees to safely
return home.
I, again, thank the chairman and the ranking member for
convening today's markup and with that, I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
We go now to Mr. Tom Garrett of Virginia.
Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to begin briefly on 5626, Intercountry Adoption
Information Act. I think, Mr. Chairman, that this is an
extraordinary piece of legislation and that's highlighted by my
personal experience as a member in this body wherein I've come
to know a constituent who spent 7 years working to adopt a 6-
year-old child--that is, she started before the child was
born--from a foreign nation only to have been wrung through the
process such that she's traveled back and forth to the African
continent 14 times and spent countless tens of thousands,
probably more, dollars by virtue of the fact that we did not
receive information or she did not receive information with
regard to the change of the nation from which she chose to
adopt this child as it related to their status as a member of
the Hague Convention on Adoption.
So that we could change this one life story of which I know
and so many others by virtue of this legislation is testimony
significant and sufficient in my regard--in my estimation to
justify this fine piece of bipartisan legislation.
Moving on, the Sam Farr Peace Corps Enhancement Act really
recognizes the ability of the Peace Corps to do in a very cost
effective way what America tends to not do so well for itself.
That is to say, in a world where we dominate mass and
global media, if images of American seen by foreign nationals
are of violent car chases, drug dealers, and philandering
perhaps an opinion of the United States might be poor.
But when your first image of America is of a volunteer who
seeks to bring clean water to your village, perhaps then your
image of America will be positive.
And that, Mr. Chairman, is a step toward creating a world
with peace and opportunity expanded regardless of race,
ethnicity, religion, or geographic location and therefore, too,
also a worthwhile bill.
From there I'd move to H.R. 1911 and the promotion of the
envoy to an Ambassador status as it relates to monitoring and
pursuing anti-Semitism.
It strikes me that the worst elements of the BDS movement
as it relates to Israel and the actions of Israel and the
Jewish-based nation state that it is rises to that level.
So many accounts have been put forth by my colleagues on
both sides of the aisle today of the experiences of Jewish
people living not only in Israel and across the world but even
in nations where one would think the lessons of anti-Semitism
would be learned like Germany, like France, torn from
contemporary news sources.
And so it is time to recognize that indeed in the words of
my colleague, Mr. Sherman, and the Jewish community oftentimes
is a canary in a coal mine, and promotion to Ambassador status
of this position is one that will help us, hopefully, avoid
repeating the mistakes of the past.
Moving to H.R. 3030 and tangentially to H.R. 5819 and 5754,
and I say tangentially because both of these nations have
experienced things that one reasonable observer might well call
genocide within the last two generations, I think it's
noteworthy not only to take a leading role in combating
genocide but also to acknowledge the prevalence of this
horrific practice in the world today.
All too many people are all too well aware, and some are
not, of the horrific outcomes of the genocide perpetrated by
the Germans during the Second World War.
But also might I point out that in the last 30 years there
was a genocide in Bosnia with 2.2 million people displaced and
up to 200,000 killed, up to 50,000 rapes.
In Rwanda, where 1 million people, it is estimated, died in
100 days. That's 10,000 human lives per day for 100 days, and 2
million were displaced.
The genocide and mass displacement in Iraq and Syria where
up to 6 million displaced individuals seek simply a place to
live and sleep and raise families safely, where the Christian
population of the nation of Iraq estimated at 1.5 million in
2004 is today perhaps one-sixth of that, where Yazidis and
Assyrians and Mandeans have been rooted out and entire
communities and cultures destroyed by ISIS and their ilk, the
Rohingya genocide again brought up in the BURMA Act, the
Cambodian genocide where a Communist utopia resulted in one-
quarter of the entire population of the country being
massacred, the Armenian genocide where 1.5 million Christians
were killed by the Ottoman Turks because they were a religious
minority, and the Kurdish genocides--with an S--that have taken
place repeatedly throughout history and which we may be on the
verge of now--if the United States cannot adopt a leading role
in advocating against this sort of violence, who will?
If this body will not speak, who will? And so, Mr. Chairman
and Ranking Member, it is with pride that I have the
opportunity to support these measures and be a participant in
this process because the names of the peoples whose lives we
save will never be known.
But, tragically, the result of inaction would be that the
names of the people who died might never be known as well.
With that, I'd yield back.
Chairman Royce. Mr. Espaillat of New York.
Mr. Espaillat. Yes, you got it right.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and of course, I want to thank
Ranking Member Engel. Thank you so much for continuing this
important bipartisan work of this committee.
Several of the bills today take a common thread, which to
prevent genocides and mass atrocities and to combat patterns
that may lead to such horrible events.
We, as leaders in the world community of nations, have a
responsibility to do our part in ensuring that these heinous
crimes never, never happen again.
That is why I am a proud co-sponsor of the Elie Wiesel
Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. Elie Wiesel was not
just defined by his experience surviving the Holocaust.
Rather, he used that experience to drive humanitarian work
that he devoted his whole life to. This bill would require
training of Foreign Service officers on recognizing early
warnings signs of mass atrocities and will further require an
annual report to Congress on potential threats of mass
atrocities.
I hope that this bill will be a stronger starting point for
improving our Government's responsiveness to man's atrocities
and will ensure that we are equipped to mitigate a response to
emerging crises around the world.
As we saw in the Anti-Defamation League report, anti-
Semitic incidents were up 60 percent in 2017. The Special Envoy
to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act is as important as
ever.
This act will bring forward the position of Special Envoy
appointed by the President and the Senate, elevating it to the
rank of Ambassador and directly reporting to the President.
Obviously, it will ensure that our Government has a
stronger coordinated effort to monitor and combat anti-
Semitism.
We all know the horrible history of anti-Semitism and it is
incumbent upon all of us to opposed it whenever and wherever we
see it.
This rises not only to the level of genocide prevention but
also to violent attacks we have seen across the world and
through just everyday language that is used to demean and
attack the Jewish people.
We know that small acts of anti-Semitism can lead to
further intolerance, and I am proud to support a bill that
recognizes the important work we must undertake to combat
intolerance of any kind.
We have seen far too many times occurrences of mass
atrocities in recent years. The Rohingya people have endured
terrible unthinkable violence at the hands of the Burmese
military.
As this bill I just spoke about entails, we must stand up
to these horrific human rights violations wherever they occur.
The BURMA Act will sanction and hold accountable the
Burmese military and security forces responsible for the ethnic
cleansing of the Rohingya people and further serve to encourage
a full democratic transition in this country.
We must be consistent in our values and our commitment to
combat genocide and we must work with the people of Burma to
support national reconciliation and constitutional reforms that
ensure that violence of this kind never, never happens again.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the remaining
part of my time.
Chairman Royce. Mr. Dan Donovan of New York.
Mr. Donovan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I support all the bills here today but
especially the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention
Act of 2017 and the BURMA Act of 2018, both of which I have co-
sponsored.
It saddens me that we still need bills to combat genocide.
We must do whatever we can to save lives and end destabilizing
conflicts across the globe.
This committee will continue to work in a bipartisan
fashion as always to combat these atrocities and with that, Mr.
Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Royce. Thank you.
Any other members seeking recognition?
Hearing no further requests, the question occurs on the
items considered en bloc.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the
measures considered en bloc are agreed to.
Without objection, each measure in the en bloc is ordered
favorably reported as amended as a single amendment in the
nature of a substitute and staff is directed to make any
technical and conforming changes and the chair is authorized to
seek House consideration under suspension of the rules.
So that will conclude our business for today and I want to
thank Ranking Member Engel and all of the committee members for
their contributions and assistance with this markup today.
We stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:57 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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