Burma Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2014 - Prohibits FY2014 or FY2015 funds from being made available for security assistance to the government of Burma unless the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that: (1) Burma has taken steps toward establishing civilian oversight of the armed forces, addressing human rights abuses by the military, and terminating military relations with North Korea; (2) Burma has taken steps to establish a fair and inclusive process to amend the Constitution of Burma, including the full participation of the political opposition and ethnic minority groups; (3) Burma has amended its constitution and laws to ensure civilian control of the military; (4) Burma is promoting peace agreements or political reconciliation and is addressing the resettlement and humanitarian situation of displaced persons; and (5) the Burmese military is improving its human rights record, taking steps to withdraw forces from conflict zones, and implementing a code of conduct.
States that nothing in this Act should be construed to prevent participation by Burmese authorities in training on civil-military relations and human rights, as carried out by the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, or to prevent U.S. disaster assistance in Burma.
Directs the Secretary of State to report annually to Congress on the status of military-to-military engagement between the U.S. Armed Forces and the Burmese military.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4377 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4377
To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 2, 2014
Mr. Chabot (for himself and Mr. Crowley) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To place conditions on assistance to the Government of Burma.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Human Rights and Democracy Act
of 2014''.
SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BURMA.
(a) Limitation.--
(1) In general.--No funds authorized to be appropriated or
otherwise made available for fiscal year 2014 or 2015 may be
made available for security assistance described in paragraph
(2) to the Government of Burma unless the Secretary of State
certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that--
(A) the Government of Burma has taken concrete
steps toward--
(i) establishing civilian oversight of the
armed forces;
(ii) addressing human rights abuses by the
Burmese military, including publicly
acknowledging that human rights abuses have
been and continue to be committed by the
Burmese military, and committing to a zero
tolerance policy against such human rights
abuses; and
(iii) terminating military relations with
North Korea;
(B) the Government of Burma has taken concrete
steps to establish a fair, transparent and inclusive
process to amend the Constitution of Burma, including
the full participation of the political opposition and
all ethnic minority groups, and the constitutional
reform process will provide the basis for free, fair,
and competitive elections in Burma;
(C) the Government of Burma has amended its
constitution and laws to ensure civilian control of the
military and implemented reforms to increase the
transparency and accountability of the military's
budget and operations, and the Burmese military has
taken substantial and meaningful steps to divest itself
from ownership of commercial businesses;
(D) the Government of Burma is showing meaningful
and well-documented efforts to promote peace agreements
or political reconciliation and equal and fair
treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict areas or
areas of unrest, and to actively address the
resettlement and humanitarian situation of displaced
persons; and
(E) the Burmese military is--
(i) improving its human rights record, as
measured by consistent decreases in reports of
forced labor, indefinite detention, torture, or
cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of
detainees, and use in armed conflict of
indiscriminate or disproportionate methods and
means of attack;
(ii) demonstrating a genuine interest in
reform by ceasing attacks against ethnic
minority groups in both ceasefire and non-
ceasefire areas;
(iii) taking steps to withdraw forces from
conflict zones, including by halting the use of
soldiers in economic development projects;
(iv) adhering to the conditions of
ceasefire agreements; and
(v) signing and implementing a code of
conduct.
(2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``security
assistance'' means--
(A) assistance under chapter 2 (military
assistance), chapter 5 (military education and
training), or chapter 6 (peacekeeping operations) of
part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961;
(B) assistance under chapter 8 of part II of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, chapter 9 of part II of
such Act, section 504 of the FREEDOM Support Act,
section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act, or the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for demining programs
and activities to be carried out by or in conjunction
with military units or personnel of a foreign country;
(C) sales of defense articles or defense services,
extensions of credits (including participations in
credits), and guaranties of loans under the Arms Export
Control Act; or
(D) any license in effect with respect to the
export of defense articles or defense services to or
for the armed forces, police, intelligence, or other
internal security forces of Burma under section 38 of
the Arms Export Control Act.
(3) Applicability to fy 2014 funds.--The limitation on the
availability of funds under this subsection for fiscal year
2014 shall apply with respect to funds that are unobligated as
of the date of the enactment of this Act.
(4) Sense of congress.--Nothing in this Act should be
construed either to prevent participation by Burmese
authorities in training on civil-military relations and human
rights, as carried out by the Defense Institute of
International Legal Studies, or to prevent United States
disaster assistance in Burma.
(b) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report on the strategy for, and
plans and status of, engagement between the United States and
the Burmese military.
(2) Elements.--The report required under paragraph (1)
shall include the following elements:
(A) A description and assessment of the Government
of Burma's strategy for security sector reform, an
identification and comprehensive analysis of those
reform elements that the United States Government
should support, and a multi-year cost estimate for
providing such support.
(B) The United States strategy for the relationship
between the United States and the Burmese military,
including a description of how and why such engagements
are necessary for United States national security.
(C) An assessment of the human rights record of the
Burmese military over the past decade, including--
(i) an account of violations of human
rights and laws of armed conflict by the
Burmese military and all paramilitary and
security forces under its command, including
against ethnic minority groups;
(ii) a description of efforts by the
Burmese military to implement human rights
reforms; and
(iii) a description of progress in the
relationship between the United States and the
Burmese military and such reforms.
(D) An assessment of any substantial and meaningful
steps taken by the Burmese military to implement
reforms to increase transparency and accountability of
the military's budget and operations and to divest
itself from ownership of commercial business.
(E) A list of ongoing activities conducted by the
United States Government and other international donors
with the Burmese military, including a description of
each such activity.
(F) An update on activities that were listed in
previous reporting.
(G) A list of activities that are planned to occur
over the upcoming year, with a written description of
each.
(H) A description of progress on the peaceful
settlement of armed conflicts between the Government of
Burma and ethnic minority groups, including the steps
taken by the Burmese military to demonstrate respect
for ceasefires, laws of armed conflict, and human
rights provisions prohibiting rape, torture, forced
labor, trafficking, and the use of child soldiers.
(I) A description of the concrete steps the
Government of Burma has taken--
(i) to establish a fair, transparent, and
inclusive process to amend the Constitution of
Burma;
(ii) to promote peace agreements or
political reconciliation and equal and fair
treatment of all ethnic groups in conflict
areas or areas of unrest; and
(iii) to actively address the resettlement
and humanitarian situation of displaced
persons.
(J) An assessment of the status of the Burmese
military's cooperation with civilian authorities to
investigate and resolve cases of human rights
violations.
(3) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified
annex as necessary.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Unanimous Consent .
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line