[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 63 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 169--REQUESTING A STATEMENT UNDER SECTION 502B(C) OF 
THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961 WITH RESPECT TO VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN 
                RIGHTS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF SAUDI ARABIA

  Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
Van Hollen, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Kaine) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 169

       Whereas, on December 13, 2018, the Senate unanimously 
     agreed to Senate Joint Resolution 69, 115th Congress, stating 
     that the Senate ``believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 
     is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi'', a United 
     States resident and renowned journalist;
       Whereas the President has not met his obligation to 
     determine whether any foreign person, including the highest 
     ranking officials in the Government of Saudi Arabia, is 
     responsible for the gross violation of Mr. Khashoggi's 
     internationally recognized human rights;
       Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia has yet to publicly 
     identify the 11 individuals indicted in connection with the 
     killing of Mr. Khashoggi, 5 of whom will reportedly face the 
     death penalty if convicted;
       Whereas, on March 12, 2018, the Government of Saudi Arabia 
     formally charged 10 women's rights activists on charges of 
     supporting ``hostile elements'', after being detained since 
     May 2018 with no charges brought;
       Whereas reputable human rights nongovernmental 
     organizations allege that authorities of the Government of 
     Saudi Arabia have tortured at least 4 of the 10 women's 
     rights activists including the leader of the successful 
     movement to grant women the rights to drive in Saudi Arabia, 
     Aziza al-Yousef;
       Whereas Samar Badawi, who was awarded the International 
     Women of Courage Award by the Secretary of State in 2012 for 
     her efforts to reform the discriminatory male guardianship 
     system in Saudi Arabia, is also among the group of 10 women's 
     rights activists facing charges;
       Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia has detained not 
     fewer than 120 peaceful advocates, including blogger Raif 
     Badawi and human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, part of a 
     disturbing pattern of human rights violations by that 
     Government detailed in 59 pages of the 2018 Country Reports 
     on Human Rights Practices of the Department of State;
       Whereas the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
     highlight human rights violations by the Government of Saudi 
     Arabia, including--
       (1) executions for nonviolent offenses;
       (2) forced renditions;
       (3) forced disappearances;
       (4) torture of prisoners and detainees by government 
     agents;
       (5) arbitrary arrest and detention;
       (6) arrest and detention of political prisoners;
       (7) restrictions on the freedoms of peaceful assembly, 
     association, and movement;
       (8) severe restrictions of religious freedom;
       (9) citizens' lack of ability and legal means to choose 
     their government through free and fair elections;
       (10) trafficking in persons;
       (11) violence and official discrimination against women; 
     and
       (12) criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual 
     activity;
       Whereas the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
     also reference an August 2018 study, commissioned by the 
     United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which--
       (1) found that the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia 
     was responsible for the majority of the civilian casualties 
     in Yemen that the United Nations was able to verify from 
     March 2015 to June 2018; and
       (2) concluded that the coalition's repeated failures to 
     avoid civilian casualties and exercise the proportionate use 
     of military force violate international humanitarian law and 
     may amount to war crimes;
       Whereas that study also--
       (1) found that the military coalition restricted the flow 
     of food, medical supplies, and fuel through Yemen's critical 
     ports of Hudaydah and Mokha, and forced the closure of Sana'a 
     International Airport; and
       (2) stated, ``Given the severe humanitarian impact that the 
     de facto blockades have had on the civilian population and in 
     the absence of any verifiable military impact, they 
     constitute a violation of the proportionality rule of 
     international humanitarian law.'';
       Whereas section 620I(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
     1961 (22 U.S.C. 2378-1(a)), states that no assistance shall 
     be furnished under that Act or the Arms Export Control Act 
     (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) to any country ``when it is made 
     known to the President that the government of such country 
     prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the 
     transport or delivery of United States humanitarian 
     assistance'';
       Whereas subsection (a)(2) of section 502B of the Foreign 
     Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304) states that ``no 
     security assistance may be provided to any country the 
     government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross 
     violations of internationally recognized human rights''; and
       Whereas subsection (d)(1) of that section defines the term 
     ``gross violations of international recognized human rights'' 
     to include ``torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading 
     treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges 
     and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the 
     abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and 
     other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the 
     security of person'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (A) the President should fully comply with the Global 
     Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of 
     title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) by 
     issuing a determination, in response to the request submitted 
     to the President on October 10, 2018, under section 1263(d) 
     of that Act, with respect to the involvement of high-ranking 
     officials of the Government of Saudi Arabia, including Crown 
     Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the killing of Jamal 
     Khashoggi; and
       (B) the United States should call upon the Government of 
     Saudi Arabia--
       (i) to release all peaceful human rights activists, 
     journalists, and religious minorities held in detention by 
     that Government; and
       (ii) to take actions that reverse that Government's gross 
     violation of internationally recognized human rights; and
       (2) pursuant to section 502B(c)(1) of the Foreign 
     Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1)), the Senate 
     requests the Secretary of State to submit to Congress, in 
     unclassified form, but with a classified annex if necessary, 
     a statement with respect to Saudi Arabia setting forth--
       (A) the matters described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and 
     (C) of such section; and
       (B) pursuant to subparagraph (D) of such section--
       (i) information on the involvement of the highest-ranking 
     officials in the Government of Saudi Arabia, including Crown 
     Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi;
       (ii) information on the measures the Government of Saudi 
     Arabia is taking to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in 
     Yemen by increasing access for Yemenis to food, fuel, 
     medicine, and medical evacuation, including through the 
     appropriate use of Yemen's Red Sea ports, including the port 
     of Hudaydah, the airport in Sana'a, and external border 
     crossings with Saudi Arabia;
       (iii) information on actions the Government of Saudi Arabia 
     is taking to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and 
     civilian infrastructure resulting from military operations of 
     that Government in Yemen, including by--

       (I) complying with applicable agreements and laws 
     regulating defense articles purchased or transferred from the 
     United States; and
       (II) taking appropriate steps to avoid disproportionate 
     harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure; and

       (iv) information on each incident for which the Joint 
     Incidents Assessment Team in Yemen has reached a conclusion.

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