[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT ACT; THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING
PREVENTION ACT; AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN, FOLLOWING A
SUCCESSFUL FIRST ROUND OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 5, 2014,
TO PURSUE A TRANSPARENT, CREDIBLE, AND INCLUSIVE RUN-OFF PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION ON JUNE 14, 2014, WHILE ENSURING THE SAFETY OF VOTERS,
CANDIDATES, POLL WORKERS, AND ELECTION OBSERVERS
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H.R. 1771, H.R. 4449 and H. Res. 600
__________
MAY 29, 2014
__________
Serial No. 113-168
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.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 ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania Massachusetts
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
TREY RADEL, Florida--resigned 1/27/ GRACE MENG, New York
14 deg. LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
TED S. YOHO, Florida
LUKE MESSER, Indiana--5/20/14
noon deg.
SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin--5/29/14
noon deg.
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
MARKUP OF
H.R. 1771, To improve the enforcement of sanctions against the
Government of North Korea, and for other purposes.............. 2
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1771 offered by
the Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress
from the State of California, and chairman, Committee on
Foreign Affairs.............................................. 67
Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute
offered by the Honorable Joaquin Castro, a Representative
in Congress from the State of Texas...................... 114
Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute
offered by the Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a
Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of
Virginia................................................. 116
H.R. 4449, To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel
related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes...... 117
H. Res. 600, Urging the Government of Afghanistan, following a
successful first round of the presidential election on April 5,
2014, to pursue a transparent, credible, and inclusive run-off
presidential election on June 14, 2014, while ensuring the
safety of voters, candidates, poll workers, and election
observers...................................................... 120
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 136
Markup minutes................................................... 137
Markup summary................................................... 139
The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly: Prepared statement............. 140
THE NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT ACT; THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING
PREVENTION ACT; AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN, FOLLOWING A
SUCCESSFUL FIRST ROUND OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 5, 2014,
TO PURSUE A TRANSPARENT, CREDIBLE, AND INCLUSIVE RUN-OFF PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION ON JUNE 14, 2014, WHILE ENSURING THE SAFETY OF VOTERS,
CANDIDATES, POLL WORKERS, AND ELECTION OBSERVERS
----------
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward Royce
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Chairman Royce. This committee will come to order. Pursuant
to notice we meet today to mark up three measures. As member
offices were notified yesterday, in view of the six concurrent
committee markups taking place right now and the broad support
for the items that we are considering here, the ranking member
and I intend to consider en bloc all three measures together
with the amendments that were provided to you previously.
And so without objection, the following items which all
members have before them are considered read and will be
considered en bloc: H.R. 1771, the North Korea Sanctions
Enforcement Act; Royce Amendment Number 29 in the Nature of a
Substitute to that H.R. 1771; the Castro Second Degree
Amendment Number 33 to H.R. 1771, expressing the sense of
Congress on enforcement of relevant U.N. Security Council
resolutions; the Connolly Second Degree Amendment Number 118 to
H.R. 1771, requiring progress on reunification of separated
Korean families including for Korean Americans; H.R. 4449, the
Human Trafficking Prevention Act; and House Resolution 600
regarding the upcoming presidential run-off election in
Afghanistan.
[The information referred to follows:]
Chairman Royce. So without objection all members may have 5
days to submit statements for the record and any extraneous
materials on today's items. And after opening remarks by myself
and by the ranking member, Eliot Engel, I will be glad to
recognize any member seeking recognition to speak on the en
bloc items.
So, beginning with our legislation on North Korea. That
country remains one of the greatest threats due to the fact
that they are developing weapons, and given the attitude of Kim
Jong-un, one of the greatest threats not to just the United
States but to our allies in Northeast Asia. The dictators of
North Korea have repeatedly defied the international
community's efforts to dismantle the nuclear program there.
For years, North Korea has repeatedly dangled the promise
of nuclear disarmament and dismantlement of their program in
order to get existing sanctions eased. It has been 6 years
since North Korea walked away from the negotiating table. The
only thing that has changed since 2008 is that North Korea is
closer to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead. Our North Korea
policy, frankly, has been a bipartisan failure. Last year when
we held a hearing on North Korea, it had just completed its
third nuclear test and it had successfully launched a three-
stage intercontinental ballistic missile. Today, reports show
that North Korea may soon conduct a fourth nuclear test. The
administration says that its North Korea policy remains one of
strategic patience.
It is now time for Congress to lead by providing a clear
legislative framework for sanctions to deprive Kim Jong-un of
his ability to build nuclear weapons and to deprive him of his
ability to repress and abuse the North Korean people. The North
Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act seeks to apply the same type of
pressure that the Treasury Department successfully applied in
2005 when it targeted a small bank in Macau that was complicit
in Pyongyang's counterfeiting. This was the bank of Delta Asia.
This impact sent a ripple throughout the international
financial system. If you will recall, 10 other banks complied
once Banco Delta Asia was named, and as a consequence hard
currency was cut off from North Korea. It seriously crimped the
financing there. It stopped the ability for them to continue
their build-up on their missile program. It made it impossible
for the dictator there to pay his generals, which is never a
good position for a dictator to be in. So this was one of the
most effective steps we have taken against North Korea. It
lasted in place, as I recall, about 8 months until the State
Department brought significant pressure on Treasury, and this
was under the Bush administration. State was interested in
getting them lifted in the hopes that that would then get North
Korea to the table, of course those negotiations proved to be
fruitless. And we lost the ability at that time for the one
thing that had held in check, the ability of the regime to
continue on its program.
This legislation we have with us today enables our
Government to go after Kim Jong-un's illicit activities just
like we went after organized crime in our own country. And it
does so by interdicting shipments and disrupting the flow of
money. And these sanctions target North Korea's money
laundering. Just as in '05 it was a case of them counterfeiting
$100 bills that got us to the point where sanctions were put in
place, they are involved in money laundering, they are involved
in counterfeiting. Of course they are involved in illicit
smuggling and narcotics trafficking, for those who have watched
the way in which the regime gets the lion's share of its hard
currency. And there is a focus on North Korea's deplorable
human rights violations in this legislation by targeting those
officials responsible specifically for torture, for the gulags,
for the extrajudicial killings that are sadly a fact of life in
North Korea today. So this bipartisan piece of legislation has
over 135 co-sponsors. It has garnered the support of
humanitarian groups worldwide. And humanitarian aid is in no
way affected, I should note for the members here.
Second, we go to H.R. 4449, the Human Trafficking
Prevention Act, and this seeks to ensure that U.S. personnel
overseas are properly equipped to perceive and combat the
scourge of human trafficking. Though current law requires that
the State Department be trained to identify trafficking
victims, it does not prescribe minimum training requirements,
this bill does that.
It adds some of these specifics which I think are
important, a training course for Department personnel who deal
with trafficking issues; trafficking briefings of all the
ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission before they depart to
their posts so they know their responsibilities in this regard;
annual reminders to personnel regarding key trafficking issues
relating to their countries of focus. As you know we have made
significant changes in the law and we want to make sure that
they are enforcing it.
So let me see if we have some additional notes here.
Lastly, we have House Resolution 600, which urges the
Government of Afghanistan to pursue a transparent, credible,
and inclusive run-off Presidential election. I thank Mr.
Grayson of Florida for his work on this timely resolution. Less
than 2 months ago, Afghans overwhelmingly flocked to the polls
to vote in Presidential and provisional elections.
Now I think this is interesting. More than 7 million Afghan
citizens cast a ballot during the first round of voting. That
dwarfs the 4.5 million who voted in 2009. Although the April
elections were a significant improvement, there is still
progress to be made. Numerous electoral complaints led to the
invalidation of votes in certain precincts, and just last week,
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission fired poll
workers who were accused of voter fraud.
This resolution urges the Government of Afghanistan to
lessen the risk of fraud, to improve electoral transparency, to
enhance security efforts, and increase voter participation
during the upcoming run-off. Importantly, it also recognizes
the sacrifices of the members of our armed forces and
underscores that this election will contribute to the security
and stability interests of both Afghanistan and of the United
States. Afghans will finally select a successor to President
Karzai on June the 14th. This election offers the chance for a
fresh start with a new President and will allow Afghans to
create a new and better era.
We now go to Mr. Eliot Engel of New York for his opening
comments, the ranking member.
Mr. Engel. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding
this markup and for again the bipartisan collaboration on the
three measures before us today. I would like to begin by
commending you for your hard work on the North Korea Sanctions
Enforcement Act, and for your longstanding commitment to
address the grave threat posed by North Korea. I have been
there twice. It doesn't make me an expert, but once you step
foot in that country you realize something is terribly wrong.
This bill would broaden U.S. sanctions against those
helping sustain the regime in Pyongyang whose crimes against
humanity the U.N. Human Rights Office says are, and I quote,
``without parallel in the modern world.'' The North Korean
regime is no stranger to sanctions, and it is clear why:
Development of nuclear weapons, arms smuggling, transnational
crime. To me, however, the brutal repression of the North
Korean people, above all, warrants the enactment of this
legislation.
With this bill, Congress labels North Korea supporters as
equally responsible for the horrors imposed by Kim Jong-un and
his cronies on the North Korean people. This measure provides
broader and tougher sanctions against North Korea's illicit
activities. It gives the President flexibility to use the
authorities in this act most effectively, and it carefully
avoids any interference with the relief organizations providing
food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid to the North Korean
people.
That is the irony. The United States has been the strongest
and the greatest provider of food and medicine and other
humanitarian aid to the North Korean people, while their brutal
regime kills their own people and vilifies the United States.
This bill is aimed at those few around the world who have
chosen to remain morally blind to the crimes of the North
Korean State. I urge all of our colleagues to support it.
I want to commend our colleague, Mr. Connolly, who has been
relentless in urging passage of this legislation. Indeed, he
has been relentless in terms of everything involving the
repression in North Korea. He was speaking to me about it,
urging us to pass it, working with us on it to help stop the
North Korean regime. And I want to publicly thank Mr. Connolly
for his strong support and his help with this legislation.
Mr. Chairman, I also support H.R. 4449, a bill introduced
by my colleague from New York, Representative Sean Patrick
Maloney. His legislation would expand training requirements for
Federal Governmental deg. personnel including
employees of the State Department in identifying and preventing
human trafficking.
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and its victims are
robbed of their freedom and dignity. This crime spans the
globe, driving profits of up to $32 billion a year. Best
estimates tell us that as many as 27 million people are victims
of human trafficking, many coerced into forced labor or
commercial sex with no means of escape.
One of the best ways to stop this crime is to make sure
people know it when they see it. This bill would provide
comprehensive mandatory training and special briefings on human
trafficking for embassy reporting offices, regional bureaus'
trafficking in persons coordinators and their superiors. It
would also keep our State Department and other Federal
Government personnel up to speed on the key problems, threats,
methods, and warning signs of human trafficking, specific to
their country or post.
Mr. Chairman, we need to remember that people, not
policies, are often the first line of defense against modern
slavery, and this legislation will better prepare our diplomats
and other public servants to spot this crime and take action as
they serve at their diplomatic posts abroad. So I urge my
colleagues to support this important legislation as well.
And finally, I support a resolution on the Presidential
election in Afghanistan that was introduced by our colleague,
Representative Grayson. On April 5th, the people of Afghanistan
went to the polls. We saw incredible courage that day from the
candidates, the poll workers, and all those who have braved
countless acts of violence and intimidation because they wanted
their voices to be heard.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission recently
announced that none of the candidates garnered more than 50
percent of the vote, so the Commission scheduled a run-off
election for June 14th. The Afghans should be proud of their
electoral system, civil society, media, and security forces for
carrying out a successful first round of voting. Let me also
congratulate the two leading vote recipients, Dr. Abdullah
Abdullah, and Dr. Ashraf Ghani.
This run-off represents another step forward for the people
of Afghanistan. The future of their country is in their hands.
And this resolution conveys, it is critical that this run-off
election be credible, inclusive and transparent. The long-term
stability, prosperity and security in Afghanistan depend on a
democratically-elected government that reflects the will of the
Afghan people. So I urge our colleagues to support this
resolution as well.
So Mr. Chairman, in closing I would like to again thank you
for holding this markup and look forward to working with you to
advance all three of these measures.
Chairman Royce. Well, thank you, Mr. Engel. I will just ask
if any of the members here seek recognition to speak on any of
the en bloc amendments.
Mr. Rohrabacher of California?
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and let
me thank you and the ranking member. Both you and the ranking
member have provided such great leadership on this, and the
bipartisan positive spirit that now, I think, dominates this
committee reflects the hard work and spirit that both of you
have given to your job. And you do work really hard at this
job, I know. So first to commend both of you on this, and of
course I am supportive of all three of the resolutions that
have been brought before us.
Just to take one note about North Korea. My father was a
Korean War veteran, and over the years I had many talks with
him about that particular conflict. I think what is interesting
is that battle was 50 years ago. I remember, and I have
mentioned that my father told me that he could not imagine that
at that time when he was a young man in Korea that we would
still have American military personnel stationed in Korea and
doing a job, a military job in Korea. None of those guys who
fought there felt that this was something that they were going
to do to establish an American garrison overseas that would be
there forever, and that their job forever would be, and
America's job would be, to be deterring action, hostile action
on that peninsula.
I would suggest the reason they are still there is because
we have not taken those steps that are necessary to bring about
a change of regime, if you would like to say, or a change in
the situation in North Korea. We in fact over the years have
subsidized North Korea. And many of the people in the committee
now don't remember those days, I do, in which we were spending
millions of dollars providing food and energy to North Korea.
That obviously has not worked.
We need to understand that North Korea is a vicious
dictatorship and we should be taking the steps that will permit
in some way a unification of Korea but under democratic
government. And that means that we should be supporting people
who will have an impact in North Korea rather than just
thinking we will keep our troops there for another 50 years.
Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen
Square. And celebrate, we commemorate, I should say,
commemorate Tiananmen Square. We didn't do the right thing
there either, and we still have a dictatorship. It was a
turning point 25 years ago that we could have sided with the
people. And there was no price or penalty that the Chinese
Communist regime has paid for this monstrous obliteration of
freedom at Tiananmen Square 25 years ago.
Let us note that behind Korea, behind the Government of
Korea is the Government of China, the Communist Chinese Party
of China. We as a country, we should do more than just think
that our policies need to focus on providing a garrison at a
point in the world that might be some kind of an area, a
volatile area like Korea.
But instead, we should be thinking about the power of
liberty and justice and democracy and the ideals that our
country was founded upon, and start finding people in those
other countries who will ally ourselves with those values and
start supporting them. That is the way we can bring about real
change and not have to have our troops garrisoning various
parts of the world.
We appreciate again your resolutions on Korea, and Mr.
Chairman, you have taken such a heartfelt position on this
human trafficking, and we know that, and then again
Afghanistan. Thank you for those three pieces of hard work on
your and Mr. Engel'sEliot's (sic) deg. part today.
Chairman Royce. Well, thank you. Like Mr. Engel, I have
been in North Korea, and our hearts go out to the people of
North Korea in terms of what they have suffered through for the
last three generations now of the dictatorship there. And our
hope is that that situation will evolve into one where they
have some modicum of human rights, some freedoms, some liberty.
And it is our hope that between this legislation and what
we passed a few weeks ago with respect to the revamping of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors that we might be able to better
broadcast into North Korea the types of messaging which might
lead to the pressures for a respect for human rights in that
country.
The result of how one treats one's own people is also
indicative of how a regime will treat its neighbors, and that
is one of the great problems for North Korea with respect to
the horror of the human rights condition there. For those of us
who have talked to those who have escaped out of the gulags, it
is a numbing experience to hear people recount to you the types
of stories we heard about concentration camps generations ago
during the time of the Second World War and predating the War,
to know that that happens today on a daily basis in North
Korea, I think, is a heavy weight for all of us in the
international community who feel some responsibility to try to
do something about it to push North Korea in the right
direction.
We now go to Mr. Albio Sires from New Jersey.
Mr. Sires. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I just want
to express how refreshing it is to have a chairman and a
ranking member that work so well together, and all the members.
This is truly an atmosphere of bi-partisanship especially
against such a leader in the world. And I want to commend the
members participating. And all the amendments, I support all
three amendments.
But I especially want to recognize my colleague,
Congressman Connolly. He has been an outspoken member of this
Congress against the North Koreans and their abuses, and his
amendment today shows a great deal of sensitivity toward the 2
million Korean families that are in those countries. So I thank
you, and I thank my colleague for all his work.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Sires. Any other members
seeking recognition?
Mr. Connolly?
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you and
Mr. Engel for scheduling this markup. We talked on the floor
and I really appreciate you scheduling it. I thank you for your
kind words, Mr. Engel, and yours as well, Mr. Sires.
This legislation, I think, is an important symbol by the
Congress that we are not going to stand idly by and allow the
depredations and the unspeakable brutality of a regime that
would make George Orwell pause in the systematic suppression of
free thought, of freedom of any kind, in creating this system,
state system, that has so degraded the human spirit.
And whether it is the development of a nuclear capability
or the tact as you said, Mr. Chairman, that their own internal
policies clearly reflect their external policies. And we have
seen that where they have engaged in provocative activity, they
have actually engaged in acts of terrorism and violence against
their neighbor in South Korea and others, and we must speak
out.
They have actually engaged of course in the--we talk about
human trafficking today, legislation, and I also
enthusiastically support--but the North Korea regime has
actually degraded itself to the point of abducting individuals
as part of their policy. And this regime has to fall, and the
United States, as I said, must be a beacon of hope and freedom
for those who suffer under its oppression.
You mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the gulags in North Korea. It
is estimated that as many as 200,000 North Koreans are being
held against their will in such gulags. This is something we
thought was over with at the end of the Stalin period 60 years
ago, and yet here it is, persistent in the 21st century.
And so I think this legislation is important not only for
what it does in tightening sanctions against that regime, but
in sending the strongest message I hope in a unanimous
bipartisan basis by this Congress that we will stand shoulder
to shoulder with the people of North Korea in their aspirations
and hopes for a freer future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I also want to finally echo
the comments of my friend, Mr. Rohrabacher of California. It is
such a refreshing and hopeful experience to come to this
committee and see how work is conducted in a professional and
bipartisan manner. I think it is a model for other committees
in the Congress, and I commend you and your staff, Mr.
Chairman, a delight to work with. And you, Mr. Engel, and your
staff, similarly, a delight to work with. Thank you for your
bipartisan leadership.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. I think that when
we speak about the Orwellian system there, the late Christopher
Hitchens wrote a piece, ``Why Orwell Matters,'' but I think of
all that he has written about totalitarian regimes. His story
about his trip into North Korea is one of the most riveting you
can read, and the nightmarish conditions there that people
struggle under is a reminder that all of us in the
international sphere have some personal responsibility to make
certain that we do all that we can do to see that some modicum
of civilization comes to an area where people are beaten down
the way they are in North Korea.
I think Mr. Smith of New Jersey.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
for bringing to the committee the North Korea Sanctions
Enforcement Act of 2014. I think there is a very dangerous
propensity both in Congress and at the State Department to
think that North Korea is so bad, its violations of human
rights so egregious, and its isolation makes it so that people
are tempted to do very little or nothing to engage it and to
seek to bring light and scrutiny to these horrific abuses that
go on each and every day in the past.
Mr. Chairman, I have chaired four hearings on North Korean
human rights, and we have actually heard from women who escaped
from North Korea into China, only to be trafficked once they
got to China. And then when they were forcibly repatriated,
they were put into the gulag system, which you called for an
important study on, the 200,000-plus people who are tortured in
those terrible gulags and many of them have died. When you try
to escape North Korea it is considered treasonous, and as a
direct result those individuals are often tortured to death.
I also want to thank you for again requiring that there be
a comprehensive study about the gulag system. Again, we need to
do more. We need to expose more. No tyrannical regime need be
forever, and that goes for North Korea as well.
Finally, I want to again thank Dr. King for the good work
he has done. He is a former staff director here who has served
very admirably and very effectively, but very much in
isolation, the Ambassador to North Korea on behalf of human
rights with regards to that country. His job has to be as
frustrating as it gets. He is not allowed to visit Pyongyang,
but he does do a wonderful job trying to keep the issue front
and center. And again, he sat right over here on the other side
of the aisle as the democratic staff director for a whole lot
of years, and let me express my deep respect for his work.
And also we have got to keep obviously Kenneth Bae and his
plight, the American who continues to be held in North Korea,
and hopefully this kind of legislation will become an
additional prod to effectuate his release. So again, thank you
Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Smith.
We go now to Mr. Grayson of Florida.
Mr. Grayson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This measure
regarding the Afghan election, the second round, is an
important one. On May 11, 2013, in Kabul, the U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State William Burns said that ``a successful
political transition is an essential prerequisite for
sustainable security. It is vitally important that the election
held next April be transparent, credible, and inclusive.''
On July 9, 2013, the United States Senate unanimously
agreed to a resolution stating that the Government of
Afghanistan is urged ``to ensure transparent and credible
Presidential and provincial elections in April 2014 by adhering
to internationally accepted democratic standards, establishing
a transparent electoral process, and ensuring security for
voters and candidates.''
In the first round of these elections, voter participation
increased from approximately 35 percent in the 2009
Presidential election to almost 60 percent in the election held
in April, with the percentage of newly-registered female voters
slightly increasing.
The 2009 Afghan Presidential election experienced low
female votes due to the insufficient number of female poll
workers, and the U.N. Development Programme's Law and Order
Trust Fund for Afghanistan approved the Ministry of Interior
request to fund the hiring of 13,000 female election security
officers in order to bolster female voter turnout for the
recent Presidential election. Yet, 40 out of Afghanistan's 407
districts still did not have female election staff due to
security concerns.
Twenty seven Afghans were killed on election day in 2009,
and 17 members of the Afghan National Security Forces were
killed over the course of nearly 300 insurgent attacks carried
out during the election held a few weeks ago. After the 2009
Presidential election, the Independent Electoral Commission
ordered results from 210 polling places be invalidated, and
later, after investigating 570 more polling stations
quarantined by the IEC, found that all but 18 should be
invalidated as well.
In the recent election, 809,349 votes cast for the first
Presidential candidate, 165,339 cast for the second
Presidential candidate, and 39,555 cast for the third
Presidential candidate during the June 2014 election have been
invalidated for fraud.
The Independent Electoral Commission has performed behind
closed doors instead of in front of international monitors, and
information from that Commission was leaked to some candidates
and not others. In addition to that, on the evening prior to
the 2014 Presidential election until 5 o'clock p.m. on election
day, the Government of Afghanistan eliminated text messaging
capabilities and this greatly inhibited monitoring efforts by
international organizations. The members of the National
Democratic Institute were killed in an attack on the Serena
Hotel in Kabul on March 20, 2014, causing NDI to remove
significant numbers of staff from Afghanistan and spreading
fear among other monitors.
It is very important to understand that while some
candidates and some campaign staff have proclaimed that, should
their opponents prevail, Afghanistan will be a less secure
nation in which more civilians die, therefore creating a
climate which is not conducive to democratic transition, our
resolution seeks to address these problems and to solve these
problems in meaningful ways.
In advance of the Presidential election now to be held off
the schedule for June 14th, we commend the Afghan people for
completing the first round of a Presidential election while at
the same time urging them toward a credible, inclusive, and
transparent second round. Great lengths were taken in drafting
this measure to ensure that it focused solely on the pending
election, an event on which the House of Representatives has
yet to comment.
This measure does not delve into such issues as the
appropriate number of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Instead,
what it does simply is commend the Afghan people simply for
completing the first round of elections, albeit in a somewhat
flawed fashion, and supporting that the Commission is
responsible for ensuring transparent and fair voting.
We encourage the Government of Afghanistan to pursue
measures that will increase female voter participation. We urge
the Government of Afghanistan to take all necessary steps to
combat fraud during the election, including preserving the text
messaging capabilities that the visitors and observers find so
essential to be able perform their functions properly. And we
recognize the important role that Afghan National Security
Forces, NATO forces, and currently, American forces have had
and will have ensuring safety on voting day.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Grayson. We go now to Ms.
Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
Ms. Gabbard. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am in
support of all three of the items that we are marking up today,
but want to speak very briefly with connection to H.R. 1771,
the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act. And like my
colleagues, thank you and our ranking member for your
leadership on this, and especially your remarks that opened up
this conversation today.
Much has been said very eloquently about the human rights
violations that are occurring in North Korea, but specifically,
the fact that strategic patience, the time for that has come
and gone. We can talk about the threat that North Korea has to
the region that it is one of the primary causes of instability
within the Asia Pacific region.
I was there in Japan, South Korea, and China last month,
and heard in each of those three places, both from our military
as well as folks on the ground there that the threat that North
Korea continues to provide is one of the most destabilizing
factors, inhibiting economic growth and opportunity in the
region. But this is also something that hits very close to
home.
You mentioned the intercontinental ballistic missile tests,
the continued growing capabilities of North Korea, and how
every time we go through this cycle of threats and then some
kind of talk of negotiations and finding a peaceful path
through this, which ideally is what we all would like, North
Korea's capabilities continue to grow.
It is a great disservice to our country when North Korea
makes threats that we have people here at home saying they are
not close enough or their threats are not serious or they are
not actually threatening the United States. They are actually
threatening us very directly. States like mine in Hawaii do
fall within the range of the ICBMs that they are developing.
So when we talk about the need for stronger sanctions, the
need to look back to the hard currency sanctions that have
worked in the past, this is something that is very real. And it
is very real to American citizens, it is very real to the
military assets that we have in our own country, and is
critical for our own national security and the safety of our
people that we take this seriously and understand that this is
a threat that is urgent today, not something that we can
continue to wait and be patient on to deal with in the future.
So I appreciate your leadership and your hard and
thoughtful work on this, and on behalf of the people of my
State of Hawaii, extend my gratitude. Thank you very much.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Ms. Gabbard. We are going to go
now to Mr. Ted Poe, Judge Ted Poe of Texas.
Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for bringing
all of these bills before the committee today. I would like to
speak specifically on H.R. 4449, the Trafficking Prevention
Act, by Mr. Maloney.
This requires training of State Department officials, and I
wanted to emphasize the importance of the training to recognize
especially overseas victims that are trafficked into the United
States, specifically minor children: Not only that we recognize
who those children are, but we also need to have training.
State Department officials need to have training on recognizing
the problem of the demand, whether that demand occurs by
Americans or someone else overseas for this scourge of human
trafficking.
So this is a good piece of legislation. Education and
training on human trafficking is critical for us on a worldwide
basis to stop this criminal conduct, this scourge, but it also
includes training to recognize the problem and the issue of the
demand sector. And with that I will yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Poe. We go now Mr. Joaquin
Castro of Texas.
Mr. Castro. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank
you and Ranking Member Engel for including my amendment to H.R.
1771 in the en bloc package.
Recently a U.N. panel recommended that the international
community must significantly improve enforcement of existing
resolutions particularly relating to cargo inspections at air
and sea ports. Recognizing that there are enforcement gaps, my
amendment urges the United States to strengthen the capacity of
responsible nations to monitor and intercept shipments to and
from North Korea that provide them cash as well as technology
and material for its nuclear and ballistic missiles program.
I encourage my colleagues of course to support the
amendment and I thank you all for your support. I yield back.
Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Castro. Hearing no further
requests for recognition, 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. The measures
are considered en bloc. That would be H.R. 17714573
(sic) deg., H.R. 44494587 (sic) deg., and House
Resolution 600. They are agreed to as amended, and without
objection each of the measures as amended is ordered favorably
reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute.
Staff is directed to make any technical and conforming changes,
and that concludes business for today.
I want to thank our ranking member, Eliot Engel, and all of
our committee members for their contributions and for their
assistance, and this committee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 10:45 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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