[Seac] US Training Military Officials in Countries of Human Rights Violations

Please join us in the fight to reform U.S. training for foreign security forces by signing the attached statement asking Members of Congress to introduce legislation on this issue. We plan to use the statement in lobby efforts to secure congressional sponsors for the legislation. To sign on to the statement send name and organization to America@aiusa.org by Friday, Dec. 17.

As you may know, the United States has greatly increased its training for foreign security forces since the 9/11 tragedy. Several of the countries now receiving training were prohibited from such training prior to 9/11 because of poor human rights records. For example, the effective ban on U.S. training for militaries in Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan has been lifted since ! 9/11 even though the State Department's annual report on human rights practices lists these countries as having "poor" human rights records. In addition, foreign militaries receiving U.S. training have in some cases used child soldiers or worked closely with paramilitary forces or armed groups that utilize child soldiers. Examples include Colombia, Angola, Burundi, and Uganda.

The U.S. justifies much of its training on the grounds that training helps professionalize these forces, and maintains that through "professionalization" and contact with U.S. soldiers, human rights practices will improve. Yet, this hypothesis has never been tested because there is no systematic way to monitor or track the record of those soldiers who do receive U.S. training.

Given this situation, several organizations have come together to propose some modest reforms of U.S. training for foreign militaries. This coalition includes The Africa Faith and Justice Network, Amnesty Interna! tional USA, East Timor Action Network (ETAN), and School Of the Americas Watch. Together, we met and consulted with many researchers and advocates with expertise in military training, child soldiers, and geographic areas across the globe. We also met with several Senate allies who have a track record of concern about human rights and training issues.

The result is a draft bill - the product of many revisions - that reflects politically viable proposals that begin to address some of our concerns. It represents an important step forward in improving the U.S. record in foreign military training. Specifically, the proposed bill would call for the United States to do these three things: 1) Discontinue military training to countries with militaries that use child soldiers; 2) Mainstream effective human rights and humanitarian law education into all foreign security force training; and, 3) Establish a joint Departments of
Defense and State database of U.S.-trained foreign security force personnel.

While this legislation would not exhaust all our concerns, we feel it is a good starting point. For example, the bill will expand current U.S. commitments on ending the use of child soldiers. While training in human rights and international humanitarian law is no guarantee of success, as demonstrated by WHINSEC, a training program at all 275 US training facilities, not just WHINSEC, is important to ensure that no one can say that they did not know the laws of war, as has been suggested in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Finally, the bill will also provide improved access to information about whom the U.S. is training so that policy makers and NGOs can better monitor human rights practices after training is completed.

Please find attached a fuller description of the proposed legislative language with justifications.

Our next step is to secure primary sponsors for this legislation. The plan is to meet again with the offices we first met with, and then expand the circle to others. Our hope would be to identify chief sponsors in the House and Senate before the 109th Congress begins, so that we can hit the ground running. If your organization can endorse the attached statement, we will use this to demonstrate the broad-b! ased NGO and grassroots support for this kind of reform agenda. We are seeking institutional endorsements primarily, but are aware that some individuals with a well-known track record on this issue cannot make institutional endorsements, so we will include individuals on a limited basis and reference their institutional affiliations for identification purposes only. To sign on to the statement send name and organization to America@aiusa.org.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us at the following numbers:

Sincerely,

Marcel Kitisou, Africa Faith and Justice Network, (202) 635-3705
Eric Olson and Colby Goodman, Amnesty International USA, (202) 544-0200 ext. 251 and 328, respectively
Karen Orenstein, East Timor Action Network, ! (202) 544-6911
Jacqueline Baker, School of the Americas Watch, (202) 234-3440.

NGO STATEMENT TO SUPPORT REFORM OF U.S. TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR FOREIGN SECURITY FORCES:

We, the undersigned individuals, and human rights, religious, and solidarity organizations, believe there is an urgent need to reform current United States training programs for foreign security forces. The dramatic increase in training for countries with poor human rights records continues to have a serious impact on human rights for ordinary citizens around the world, and will have a lasting impact on the security of hundreds of millions. We join together in asking Members of Congress to introduce legislation that would include the following proposals for reform:

§       Discontinue military training to countries and groups that use child soldiers.

§       Mainstream effective human rights and humani! tarian law education into all training of foreign security forces.

§       Establish a joint State and Defense Department database of U.S. trained foreign security force personnel.

We believe the attached draft bill provides a viable platform that addresses these concerns. We endorse this draft legislation and ask for your co-sponsorship and active support for its passage.

To endorse this statement, send your name and organizational affiliation to america@aiusa.org. For indidiviuals signing on, institutional affiliation will be for indentificaiton purposes only. Closing date is December 17, 2004. Questions, call Eric Olson, (202) 544-0200 Ext. 251.