[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 354 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 354
Expressing condemnation for police brutality wherever in the world it
occurs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 2, 2023
Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Pocan, and Mr. Grijalva)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing condemnation for police brutality wherever in the world it
occurs.
Whereas, in recent years, there have been significant peaceful assemblies
protesting against police brutality throughout the world, including in
the United States;
Whereas police brutality may include human rights violations such as the use of
excessive force, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture,
and the use of lethal rounds and the unnecessary use of ``less-lethal''
crowd control weapons by law enforcement, in response to peaceful
assemblies;
Whereas police brutality may occur prior to an arrest, during crowd control
operations, during an arrest, and while an individual is in custody;
Whereas the Small Arms Survey identified that between 2007-2012, 19,000 people
worldwide were killed by police annually;
Whereas a 2017 United Nations Development Program report found that more than 70
percent of individuals who had joined violent extremist groups across
Africa self-reported that ``government action'', including police
brutality, was the determining factor in their decision to join such
groups;
Whereas the United States is the largest arms exporter in the world, including
as the top provider to 13 out of 19 countries in the Middle East;
Whereas the United States is the largest developer and exporter of ``less-
lethal'' weapons, including tear gas, in the world;
Whereas the United States, especially under the auspices of the wars on drugs
and global terrorism, has in recent decades dramatically increased its
influence on the tactics, equipment, and purpose of policing around the
world;
Whereas, during that same period and under those same auspices, domestic police
forces at the State, local, and Federal level have become increasingly
militarized in both equipment and tactics;
Whereas several United States embassies in Africa released statements in the
aftermath of the May 25, 2020, police killing of Minneapolis resident
George Floyd, explicitly recognizing the foreign policy dimension of
domestic police violence;
Whereas many of those statements included reminders of the importance of an
impartial judicial system and accountability for state security forces
who commit human rights violations;
Whereas, on a global scale, police brutality occurs on every continent, in both
democracies and dictatorships, and in countries that are both partners
and adversaries of the United States;
Whereas, on a global scale, police brutality disproportionately harms already
vulnerable people, including racial, ethnic, and religious minorities,
women, migrants, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQIA+
community; and
Whereas, on a global scale, impunity for both individual police officers and
departments or units who commit police brutality is an endemic problem:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns police brutality wherever in the world it
occurs;
(2) stands with peaceful protesters around the world in
their calls for justice and accountability for police
brutality;
(3) recognizes that police brutality disproportionately
targets already vulnerable populations, including racial,
ethnic, religious minorities, women, migrants, and the LGBTQIA+
community;
(4) recognizes that impunity for police brutality
undermines the rule of law, erodes public confidence in state
institutions and degrades social cohesion;
(5) calls on the United States Government to--
(A) take immediate and significant steps to
eliminate police brutality and impunity for police
brutality in the United States;
(B) prohibit the sales of arms, ammunition, and
``less-lethal'' policing equipment to countries with
demonstrated patterns of human rights violations by
security forces or impunity for human rights violations
by security forces;
(C) prohibit other forms of security assistance,
including police training, to countries with
demonstrated patterns of human rights violations by
security forces or impunity for human rights violations
by security forces;
(D) use its voice, vote, and influence in
international institutions to work toward the
elimination of police brutality and ending impunity for
police brutality around the world;
(E) end the use of militarized equipment and
tactics in policing both at home and abroad; and
(F) reallocate funding in both the United States
and abroad to peacebuilding, job training, counseling
and mental health programming, and violence-preventing
programming; and
(6) calls on businesses based in the United States that
sell lethal and less-lethal policing equipment to adopt strict
protocols prohibiting the sale of such articles to countries
with demonstrated patterns of police brutality or impunity for
police brutality.
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