We may have a chance to change the face of US military assistance through the expanded version of the Leahy Amendment. The Leahy Amendment is a Congressional human rights restriction on US counternarcotics assistance to foreign militaries, first passed as part of last year's foreign aid spending bill, the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. In this year's bill, the Senate has approved a version which expands the criteria of the Leahy Amendment to cover all aid to all militaries.
The original Leahy Amendment prohibited some forms of counternarcotics aid to foreign military units if the Secretary of State determined there was credible evidence implicating that unit in human rights violations. Aid could be resumed if steps were taken to bring those responsible to justice. In theory, this means that all counternarcotics aid would not be shut off from a given country, only from those units credibly alleged to be implicated in rights violations. It exact wording is as follows:
Provided further, That none of the funds made available under this heading [Department of State, International Narcotics Control] may be provided to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible evidence to believe such unit has committed gross violations of human rights unless the Secretary determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the government of such country is taking steps to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.
The original Leahy Amendment applied only to counternarcotics aid controlled by the Department of State's counternarcotics programs. But there are other forms of counternarcotics aid and there are many other forms of military aid. Indeed, arms transfers are executed through many sources and accounts. The Leahy Amendment restricted only aid provided by the Department of State «source» under the International Narcotics Control 'account."
The Clinton Administration decided in early 1997 to apply the criteria of the Amendment - no aid for units implicated in human rights violations- to all 'sources" of counternarcotics aid. This met with resistance by Members of Congress like Dan Burton (R-IN), Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Bob Barr (R-GA), who wanted aid to flow faster to places like Colombia. These House Republicans, convinced that the Administration's interpretation of the Leahy Amendment had blocked aid from Colombia, decided to call on their leadership to delete it from the House version of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. The House of Representatives considered the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill shortly before it adjourned at the end of July.
While it still has not finished with the draft, the House has so far stripped the original version of the Leahy Amendment from the bill through a back-door legislative maneuver which does not involve a vote (a point of order against legislating on an appropriations bill). While some Members of the House led by Congressman Esteban Torres (D- CA) spoke out against removing the provision, no one spoke in favor of removing it, not the Member who actually executed the removal, Rep. Barr (R- GA), or the member believed to be directly responsible for engineering the maneuver, the Chairman of the International Relations Committee, Representative Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY).
As with all bills, there are two versions of the Fiscal Year 1998 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill: one version to be adopted by the House of Representatives and one already adopted by the Senate. This year the Senate's Foreign Operations Appropriations bill has an "expanded" version of the Leahy Amendment which extends the human rights restriction to all forms of military aid ‹ not just some forms of counternarcotics aid as in the original version.
The
'Expanded" Leahy Amendment:
Sec. 569. None of the funds made available by this Act [Foreign
Operations Appropriations bill] may be provided to any unit of the
security forces
of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible evidence to
believe such
unit has committed gross violations of human rights, unless the
Secretary
determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the
government
of such country is taking steps to bring the responsible members of
the security
forces units to justice.
The House and Senate versions have to be turned into one version by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, so it can be sent to President Clinton to be enacted as law. In all likelihood, the House version of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill will not contain the Leahy Amendment when it is adopted. This process of turning the two versions into one bill is called «conference.» In conference, the members of the subcommittees on Foreign Operations from House and Senate will get together and resolve the differences between the two versions. We want the conference to approve the Senate version of the Leahy Amendment. For this, we need to target Representatives.
Suggested Action
I. To take advantage of the August recess, try to schedule a meeting
with your
Representative at your nearest district office.
If your Representative is a member of the Foreign Operations
Subcommittee (listed below), please tell them that you would like
them to ensure
that the Senate version of the Leahy Amendment is the one they
support and
approve in conference. This version is in the Senate Foreign
Operations
Appropriations bill: Section 569, Limitation on Assistance to Security
Forces.
II. If you decide not to seek a meeting with your Representative but still want to get your point across, Call your Representative's office {via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224- 3121} Ask to speak with the person who handles foreign affairs for the Representative: Write down that staff person's name and title. Ask that person whether or not the Representative supports the expanded version of the Leahy Amendment. If the staff person says s/he does not know, ask him/her when you can call back to get an answer. (But then, follow through. Call back that specific person.) Let her/him know that you feel strongly that this is a key human rights issue and that you want the Representative to support the "expanded" version of the Leahy Amendment contained in the Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
Again, you want to get your Representative to support "expanded" Leahy and to contact Chairman Callahan to express this support. Follow through is key. Call back to find out how the contact with Callahan went.
III. In any event, please let Paul Paz y Min~o, AIUSA's Colombia coordinator, know the results of your efforts: ppaz@amnesty-usa.org. You could also call him at (510) 482-0944.
Talking Points on the "Expanded" Leahy Amendment
Accountability: this measure could ensure accountability of US tax
dollars sent
abroad by requiring US Embassies to know which military units are
slated to
receive aid, in order to evaluate the units' records. Shouldn't the
public know
exactly where their tax dollars are ending up?
Assurance: this measure can prevent US complicity with human rights violators. If there is credible evidence a unit has been implicated in gross violations of human rights, that unit is not eligible for aid unless steps are taken to bring the responsible to justice. The US has already been shown to have sent aid to human rights violators in Colombia - shouldn't this complicity with violators stop once and for all? Don't US taxpayers have the right to ensure, and to know, that their tax dollars aren't supporting human rights violators in other countries?
Integrity: this measure can encourage overseas allies to be themselves respectful of the rule of law, which includes human rights as well as drug-control, and are not alienating the local population by violating their rights. Why would the local population support its government if they are getting abused?
Targeted: this measure aims to isolate those specific individuals who engage in violations by holding their unit accountable. Abusers do not hand out business cards as they carry out their atrocities and sometimes we can identify the specific unit to which those individuals belonged.
Reasonable: this measure is not as drastic as a complete cut-off of aid, which is politically difficult to accomplish. Instead, it only calls for cutting off those units the US Government itself believes are carrying out atrocities. Shouldn't the US Government cut its support for human rights violators?
Members of the Committee on Appropriations' Foreign
Operations Subcommittee:
If your Representative is not a member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, please tell your Representative that you would like him/her to ask Chairman Callahan (R-AL) to support the Senate version of the Leahy Amendment. You can reach the office of your Representative by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224- 3121.
(Written by Carlos Salinas, the US Government Program Officer for Latin America for Amnesty International.)