[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4871 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4871
To modify and expand the annual report required under the Elie Wiesel
Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 and require additional
review of United States assistance provided to certain countries
identified as being at risk of atrocities by such report, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 25, 2023
Ms. Jacobs (for herself, Mr. Castro of Texas, and Ms. Lee of
California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To modify and expand the annual report required under the Elie Wiesel
Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 and require additional
review of United States assistance provided to certain countries
identified as being at risk of atrocities by such report, and for other
purposes.
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 ``Atrocity Prevention Act''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF ANNUAL REPORT REQUIREMENT.
Section 5(a) of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention
Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note) is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
``for the following six years''; and
(2) in paragraph (1)(E), by inserting ``(ranked as high-,
medium-, or low-risk)'' after ``countries and regions at risk
of atrocities''.
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO COUNTRIES.
The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (22
U.S.C. 2656 note) is amended by inserting after section 5 the
following:
``SEC. 5A. SECURITY ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION REVIEW.
``(a) Review Required.--Not later than 60 days after the submission
of each annual report required by section 5, the Secretary of State
(acting through the Department of State officials listed in subsection
(c)), in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report consisting of the
results of a review of the risks related to the provision of security
assistance and cooperation in countries identified in the most recent
annual report (including in the classified annex to such report)
pursuant to such section 5 as being at high- or medium-risk for
atrocities. Such report shall also include, for each such country, the
following:
``(1) With respect to a country newly identified as being
at such risk, an assessment of the risks associated with
providing security assistance and cooperation to the
governments of such countries, including the risks of whether
security assistance and cooperation--
``(A) may be used for perpetrating atrocities; or
``(B) may exacerbate identified relevant risk
factors for the commission of such atrocities.
``(2) With respect to a country identified as being at
high- or medium-risk for atrocities for which an assessment
described in paragraph (1) has previously been submitted
pursuant to this section, an assessment of whether such risk
factors, the current or planned security assistance and
cooperation provided by the United States, or other relevant
context have changed in the intervening period since the prior
submission.
``(3) A determination, including a justification, on
whether current or planned United States security assistance
and cooperation should be continued, terminated, paused, or
otherwise delayed in light of the risks assessed pursuant to
paragraph (1) or (2).
``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of the review required by
subsection (a)--
``(1) the term `appropriate congressional committees'
means--
``(A) the Committee on Appropriations, the
Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
``(B) the Committee on Appropriations, the
Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate;
``(2) the term `security assistance and cooperation'--
``(A) means--
``(i) assistance meeting the definition of
`security assistance' under section 502B of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2304(d)(2));
``(ii) programs and activities meeting the
definition of `security cooperation programs
and activities of the Department of Defense'
under section 301 of title 10, United States
Code; and
``(iii) activities authorized pursuant to--
``(I) 127(e) of title 10, United
States Code; or
``(II) section 1202 of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2018 (Public Law 115-91; 131 Stat.
1639); and
``(B) includes any use of amounts made available to
the Department of Defense--
``(i) to increase the capacity or
capability of a unit of a foreign security
force, a member of such a unit, or an irregular
force, group, or individual; or
``(ii) to support foreign security forces,
irregular forces, groups, or individuals to
operate with United States forces in coalition,
combined operations or other operations.
``(c) Department of State Officials.--The Department of State
officials listed in this subsection are the Assistant Secretary of the
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor working jointly with the
Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and in
consultation with the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Political-
Military Affairs Bureau.
``(d) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form and may include a classified annex.''.
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