Category: Congress

McGovern to Trump: Don’t do business with Bahrain’s monarchy

U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) is calling on President-elect Trump to stop doing business with foreign governments — including Bahrain’s monarchy.

rep-mcgovernU.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) is calling on President-elect Trump to stop doing business with foreign governments — including Bahrain’s monarchy.

In a letter (PDF) to the President-elect, Rep. McGovern raised serious concerns about the decision to host the Bahraini monarchy’s “national day” this Wednesday at the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC.

Rep. McGovern’s letter to President-elect Trump urges him to “take the following immediate steps:”

  • “Reject all business income from the Bahraini monarchy and any other foreign government.”
  • “Release all correspondence between the Bahraini monarchy and your businesses, including price negotiations and final contracts.”
  • “Release all correspondence between any foreign government and any of your businesses since you announced your campaign for president.”

From the letter:

“The American people deserve a president and White House that will act solely in our country’s interests, not those of any foreign government or business. Your private commercial dealings with repressive governments endanger this fundamental expectation of the president and deeply trouble many who care about human rights. I urge you to immediately and completely end your business dealings with the Bahraini and other foreign governments.”

Full letter text below:

Continue reading “McGovern to Trump: Don’t do business with Bahrain’s monarchy”

Briefing: Bahrain’s Fake Reform?

Amnesty International briefing: Bahrain’s ongoing culture of impunity and how policymakers can create a path to reform.

Bahrain’s Fake Reform? Human Rights Failures on the Eve of the Manama Dialogue

Thursday, Dec 1st, 2016
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
402 Cannon House Office Building, Washington DC

 

Amnesty International
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain

RSVP to Avram Reisman (areisman@aiusa.org)

bahrain-map
Map data (c) 2016 Google, ORION-ME

 

In 2011, Bahrain convulsed with public protests and a bloody crackdown by the government. Amnesty International’s latest report on Bahrain documents how the human rights institutions announced by the King of Bahrain have failed to break the government’s long-standing culture of impunity.

Continue reading “Briefing: Bahrain’s Fake Reform?”

Testimony: Syria After 5 Years

How can we put human rights on the agenda for Syrian peace talks? My briefing on Capitol Hill. 7 min audio.

WithSyriaGraphic

This morning I spoke at a Syria briefing in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Organized by Crisis Action, the briefing focused on the 5 year anniversary of the start of the armed conflict in Syria.

Syria: Hope after 5 Years – Justice, Humanitarian Aid and looking to Syria’s Future
Friday March 18, 10:00am-12:00pm

 

 

Briefing Description:

Continue reading “Testimony: Syria After 5 Years”

Qatar, FIFA, and Labor Exploitation – My Senate Testimony

“… in the most extreme examples, foreign migrant workers have become suicidal after being trapped without pay by employers in Qatar. They have been forced to depend on charity from others simply to eat. Meanwhile, their family members in poor communities in their countries of origin can face eviction and other serious challenges…”

US Senate Testimony on Qatar Labor Exploitation by Sunjeev Bery
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security

Hearing - 2015-07-15 - Qatar FIFA - Senate - Sunjeev Bery

“Examining the Governance and Integrity of International Soccer”
July 15, 2015
Verbal Remarks (PDF) / Written Testimony (PDF) / Hearing Page / CSPAN Video

Media:  New York Times (1, 2), Guardian, USA Today, Reuters, Bloomberg, Vice News, McClatchy DC, Roll Call

Full Text of Verbal Remarks:

“Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, distinguished members of the Subcommittee, and distinguished guests: On behalf of Amnesty International, thank you for the opportunity to address the issue of human rights in Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has brought into global focus the shocking conditions that are routine for migrant workers in Qatar.

Under Qatar’s Kafala employment sponsorship system, foreign migrant workers cannot change employers or leave Qatar without the permission of their current employer. Even if an employer is not paying the employee, the employer can still block the employee from changing jobs or leaving the country.

In 2012, the Qatar National Research Fund funded a survey of some 1,000 low-income labor migrants: Continue reading “Qatar, FIFA, and Labor Exploitation – My Senate Testimony”

U.S. Senate Committee passes humanitarian aid resolution on Syria

Notes on U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing

Date: Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Time: 02:15 PM
Location: S-116 Capitol Building

Attended / compiled by Anna McMahon, Intern, Middle East/North Africa Advocacy Department, Amnesty International USA

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Presiding: Senator Menendez

Summary: Unanimous passage of Resolution 384 from Committee.

Resolution 384:

“Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning the humanitarian crisis in Syria and neighboring countries, resulting humanitarian and development challenges, and the urgent need for a political solution to the crisis.”

Continue reading “U.S. Senate Committee passes humanitarian aid resolution on Syria”

A Hearing Worth Attending: World Bank Lending and Human Rights

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

Hearing:  World Bank Lending and Human Rights
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
2:00 PM-4:00 PM
HVC-210, Washington, DC

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on World Bank lending and human rights.

Although the World Bank has contributed to the advancement of human rights, it currently lacks procedures to track and measure such contribution. More importantly, there are no safeguard policies in place to help the Bank avoid or mitigate adverse human rights impacts resulting from its projects. In the context of the Bank’s unprecedented comprehensive review of its environmental and social safeguard policies and overall restructuring under the new leadership of President Jim Yong Kim, the hearing will examine how the Bank can be more effective in supporting human rights protections in its activities. Given the World Bank’s considerable influence in the development community and its leadership among multilateral organizations, the hearing will also focus on the role of the United States in strengthening the consistency between Bank policy and U.S. law and policy. Continue reading “A Hearing Worth Attending: World Bank Lending and Human Rights”

Saudi Arabia & Bahrain: 5 Members of Congress Urge President Obama to Push Saudi Officials to Support Reforms

U.S. Rep Hank Johnson and four other Members of Congress have written a letter to President Obama urging him to push Saudi Arabian officials to be “more constructive” regarding political reform in Bahrain.  The core sentence in the letter is the following:

Long-term stability in Bahrain can only be achieved through meaningful political reform, and we urge you to encourage the Saudi government to play a more constructive role in this regard.

Being “more constructive?”  That’s definitely an understatement. 

As my colleagues wrote in our April 2012 report, “Flawed Reforms Bahrain Fails To Achieve Justice For Protesters” (PDF): 

On 15 March 2011, Saudi Arabia sent at least 1,200 troops to Bahrain across the causeway linking the two states, reportedly at the request of the Bahraini government. The same day,the King of Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency, known as the State of National Safety, and gave the security forces sweeping powers to arrest and detain protesters and ban all protests.

Al-Monitor: “Members press Obama to raise human rights in Saudi Arabia” (Article)

“This is the beginning of an expression of popular concern articulated through the US Congress about that relationship,” predicted Sunjeev Bery, the advocacy director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA. “The Saudi Arabian government’s repression is so bad across so many fronts that it has created an environment in Washington, DC, where multiple groups representing multiple communities are all pushing Congress at the same time.”

Article:  “Members press Obama to raise human rights in Saudi Arabia”

Julian Pecquet, March 25, 2014

 

It’s Official: 70 in U.S. Congress Urge President Barack Obama to Back Human Rights in Saudi Arabia

A large, bipartisan group of Members of Congress has sent a formal letter to President Obama calling on him to “publicly address Saudi Arabia’s serious human rights violations” when he visits the country this Friday.

Led by Representatives Trent Franks, Jim McGovern, Frank Wolf, and Jackie Speier, the letter is supported by a total of 70 elected U.S. Representatives.  The signers cover the full ideological spectrum in U.S. politics:  liberal Democrats, “Blue Dog” Democrats, moderate Republicans, and Tea Party-backed conservatives.

How did this happen?

Josh Rogin broke the news at The Daily Beast and offered context:

The letter was signed by a broad bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Trent Franks (R-AZ), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and John Lewis (D-GA). NGOs on the letter included Amnesty International, International Christian Concern, Human Rights Watch, Christian Solidarity Worldwide – USA, and the National Organization for Women.

Julian Pecquet covered the story at Al-Monitor and shared my arguments for why:

The letter, which was first made public by Al-Monitor last week, has been endorsed by groups as varied as Amnesty International, the National Organization for Women and Voice of the Martyrs…

“This is the beginning of an expression of popular concern articulated through the US Congress about that relationship,” predicted Sunjeev Bery, the advocacy director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA. “The Saudi Arabian government’s repression is so bad across so many fronts that it has created an environment in Washington, DC, where multiple groups representing multiple communities are all pushing Congress at the same time.”

For too long, the U.S. government has prioritized geopolitics and oil instead of basic freedoms in its relationship with this highly repressive ally.  Large cracks of congressional dissent are starting to emerge into the light.

Read the full letter from Congress here (PDF).