[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2957
To encourage the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and transparent
elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 8, 2004
Mr. Kyl (for himself, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Domenici) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To encourage the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and transparent
elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine,
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 ``Ukraine Democracy and Fair Elections
Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States supports the promotion of democracy,
free, fair, and transparent elections, and respect for human
rights and the rule of law in Ukraine consistent with the
commitments of Ukraine as a member country of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (hereinafter referred to
as the ``OSCE'').
(2) The United States has a vital interest in the
independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and in its successful
integration into the European community of democracies.
(3) Elections conducted by the Government of Ukraine
between 1994 and 2004 have not satisfied the criteria
established for free, fair, and transparent elections
consistent with OSCE and European democratic standards.
(4) Georgiy Gongadze, Igor Alexandrov, and other
independent journalists in Ukraine who supported democracy and
published critical reports concerning governmental actions have
been murdered or have disappeared and are presumed dead.
(5) Former government officials of Ukraine have made
credible allegations and produced evidence that top officials
of the government were involved in the disappearances.
(6) The Government of Ukraine, led by President Leonid D.
Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych--
(A) systematically harasses and represses
independent media and independent trade unions and
journalists;
(B) actively suppresses freedom of speech and
expression and encourages a virtual blackout on
national television stations of the main democratic
opposition candidate;
(C) uses police to block the transit by land of
opposition candidates and refuses access for the
airplane of the opposition candidates to land at city
airports for campaign appearances;
(D) uses state and city dump trucks and bulldozers
to block access of voters to city squares for
appearances by opposition candidates;
(E) denies access of opposition candidates to rent
government-owned auditoriums and public places for
meetings with voters; and
(F) denies postal service delivery of opposition
campaign literature.
(7) In spite of statements by President Kuchma and Prime
Minister Yanukovych that the presidential election to be held
during 2004 will be free, fair, and transparent with an honest
ballot count, the presidential election of October 1999, the
national referendum of 2000, the parliamentary election of
March 2002, and recent by-elections to Parliament and city
mayoral races, including the mayoral race in Mukachevo in
spring 2004, were determined by OSCE and other local and
international observers to be fundamentally unfair.
(8) These elections failed to meet OSCE standards for
democratic elections as formulated in the 1990 Copenhagen
Document, and were marred by significant abusive and illegal
misconduct that was publicly approved at the highest levels of
the government, including--
(A) the harassment, arrest, and false
disqualification of opposition candidates;
(B) the arrest and beating by the police of members
of Parliament who were acting as official precinct
election observers;
(C) the denial of equal and fair access by
opposition candidates to the state-controlled
television, radio, and print media, and the denial of
the use of the postal system for sending opposition
campaign mail to voters;
(D) the seizure of equipment and property of
independent nongovernmental organizations, radio
stations, and press organizations and the harassment of
their staff and management, causing several individuals
to flee to foreign countries for their safety;
(E) the implementation of voting and vote counting
procedures that were neither transparent nor legal; and
(F) the implementation of a campaign of
intimidation directed against opposition activists,
domestic election observer organizations, and
opposition and independent media, including denying
newsprint and access to printing plants to the
independent media.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on
International Relations of the House of Representatives.
(2) Senior government official.--The term ``senior
government official'' means, with respect to Ukraine--
(A) an individual who--
(i) is an official of the Government of
Ukraine, including the president, the
prime minister, a deputy prime minister, a government minister, a
chairman or member of a state committee, including the Central Election
Commission or a regional or local election commission, a member of the
Presidential Administration, a member of Parliament, a judge, a law
enforcement officer, a prosecutor, a regional governor, a mayor, an
administrator, and the head of the Security Services, the State Tax
Administration, or the State Customs Services; and
(ii) is personally involved in the
suppression of freedom and free, fair, and
transparent elections in Ukraine; and
(B) any other individual determined by the
Secretary of State to be personally involved in the
formulation or execution of policies or activities that
are in contradiction of internationally recognized
human rights and free, fair, and transparent elections
standards.
SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
Congress--
(1) expresses its support for individuals and organizations
in Ukraine that promote--
(A) democracy, free, fair, and transparent
elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of
law in Ukraine; and
(B) the integration of Ukraine into the European
community of democracies;
(2) expresses its grave concern over the murders and
disappearances of independent journalists in Ukraine, including
Georgiy Gongadze and Igor Alexandrov;
(3) calls upon the President Kuchma and Prime Minister
Yanukovych to cease persecution of political opponents and
independent journalists and to cease harassment of individuals
who try to exercise their rights to freedom of speech,
expression, assembly, and association;
(4) calls upon President Kuchma and Prime Minister
Yanukovych to end the pattern of clear, gross, and uncorrected
violations of relevant OSCE human dimension commitments and to
respect the basic freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, and
association; and
(5) calls upon the Government of Ukraine to resolve the
continuing constitutional and political crisis by assuring--
(A) a free, fair, and transparent presidential
election in 2004;
(B) meaningful access by the political opposition
to state-controlled media, including access to
newsprint and printing plants;
(C) full and uninterrupted access for the political
opposition to postal delivery services;
(D) unimpeded access by the political opposition to
public auditoriums and other areas for gathering and
meeting with voters;
(E) unimpeded transit by road and air for
opposition candidates;
(F) modification of the electoral code in keeping
with OSCE commitments; and
(G) full freedom for international observers to
monitor the election and ballot counting at local,
regional, and national levels.
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING MULTILATERAL COOPERATION CONCERNING
UKRAINE.
It is the sense of Congress that the President should coordinate
with other countries, particularly European countries, to formulate and
implement a comprehensive and multilateral strategy to further the
purposes of this Act, including, as appropriate, encouraging other
countries to take measures with respect to Ukraine that are similar to
the measures described in this Act.
SEC. 6. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE.
(a) Application and Timing of Sanctions.--Until the President makes
the determination that Ukraine meets all the requirements specified in
subsection (b) and certifies such determination to the appropriate
congressional committees, the President shall direct that the sanctions
described in subsection (c) shall apply immediately with respect to
Ukraine.
(b) Certification.--A certification under this subsection is a
certification transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees
of a determination made by the President that the following has
occurred with respect to Ukraine:
(1) The implementation of free, fair, and transparent
elections for president and Parliament fully consistent with
OSCE standards for democratic elections and in cooperation with
relevant OSCE and Council of Europe institutions.
(2) The cessation of all forms of harassment and repression
against the media, independent trade unions, nongovernmental
organizations, religious organizations, and the political
opposition.
(3) The withdrawal and cessation of politically motivated
legal charges against opposition figures and independent
journalists.
(c) Sanctions Described.--
(1) Denial of entry into united states.--The President
shall direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to deny entry
under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(f)) to the United States of any alien who--
(A) is a senior government official in the
government of Ukraine; or
(B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an
alien.
(2) Seizure of assets in united states.--The President
shall direct the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
Department of the Treasury to identify and seize the personal
assets or personal financial accounts in the United States
obtained by improper or illicit means of any alien who--
(A) is a senior government official in the
government of Ukraine; or
(B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an
alien.
(3) Prohibitions on loans and investment.--The President
shall direct that--
(A) no loan, credit guarantee, insurance,
financing, or other similar financial assistance is
provided on or after the date of the enactment of this
Act by any agency of the United States, including by
the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to the
Government of Ukraine (except with respect to the
provision of humanitarian goods and agricultural or
medical products); and
(B) no funds made available to the U.S. Trade and
Development Agency may be made available on or after
the date of the enactment of this Act for any activity
or project of the Agency in or for Ukraine.
(4) International financial institutions.--The President
shall direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the
United States executive director to each appropriate
international financial institution in which the United States
participates, to oppose and vote against the extension by each
such institution of any loan or financial or technical
assistance or grant to the Government of Ukraine (except for
loans and assistance that serve humanitarian needs).
(d) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--The President may waive the application of
subsection (c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(3), or (c)(4), or any
combination of such subsections, if the President determines--
(A) that it is in the national security interest of
the United States to do so;
(B) that a new president is elected in Ukraine in
November 2004 who--
(i) has corrected the abuses and election
irregularities outlined under section 2; and
(ii) has pledged to conduct a free, fair,
and transparent election in the parliamentary
election scheduled for March 2006; or
(C) that in the case of the application any such
subsection or combination of such subsections to an
individual, such individual was not directly or
indirectly involved in any of the abuses or election
irregularities outlined under section 2.
(2) Certification.--If the President exercises the waiver
under paragraph (1), the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report containing the
reasons for such waiver.
SEC. 7. REPORTS.
(a) Dates for Submission.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the President
shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
containing the information required by subsection (b). In the case of
the second and all subsequent reports, each such report shall contain
such information with respect to the preceding 12-month period.
(b) Contents.--The reports required by subsection (a) shall contain
information regarding the following:
(1) The personal assets and bank accounts of the current
president, prime minister and other senior government officials
of the Government of Ukraine that are located in the United
States or other country, and, if such assets and accounts are
determined to have been acquired through improper or illicit
means, any actions the United States has taken to investigate
and seize such assets and accounts and encourage such other
country to take similar action.
(2) The sale or delivery of weapons or weapons-related
technologies from Ukraine to any country, the government of
which the Secretary of State has determined, for purposes of
section 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50
U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)), has repeatedly provided support for
acts of international terrorism.
(3) An identification of each country described in
paragraph (2) and a detailed description of the weapons or
weapons-related technologies involved in such sale.
(4) An identification of the goods, services, credits, or
other consideration received by Ukraine in exchange for the
weapons or weapons-related technologies involved in such sale.
(c) Form.--A report transmitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall be
in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
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