Foreign Assistance Act of 1974

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 (Pub.L. 93–559) was an Act of the 93rd United States Congress that added several amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Foreign Assistance Act of 1974
Other short titlesForeign Assistance Act Amendments of 1974
Long titleAn Act to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for other purposes.
Enacted bythe 93rd United States Congress
EffectiveDecember 30, 1974
Citations
Public lawPub.L. [https://uslaw.link/citation/us-law/public/93/559 93–559]
Statutes at Large88 Stat. 1795
Codification
Acts amendedForeign Assistance Act of 1961
Titles amended22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse
U.S.C. sections amended22 U.S.C. ch. 32 § 2151
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as S. 3394 by John Sparkman (D–AL) on April 29, 1974
  • Committee consideration by Senate Foreign Relations
  • Passed the Senate on December 4, 1974 (46–45)
  • Passed the House on December 11, 1974 (201–189, in lieu of H.R. 17234)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on December 17, 1974; agreed to by the Senate on December 17, 1974 (49–43) and by the House on December 18, 1974 (209–189)
  • Signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford on December 30, 1974

Aid to South Vietnam

The Act effectively eliminated aid and military funding for South Vietnam. Direct US involvement in Vietnam was already prohibited under the Case–Church Amendment, and the termination of US funding and indirect support for South Vietnam was a significant factor leading to the Fall of Saigon.

Covert actions

The Act also included the Hughes–Ryan Amendment, which required the President to report all covert operations of the CIA to Congress within a set time limit, and placed limits on the funding of such operations.

The Act also included other amendments, including, among others, appropriation of funds to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, and the suspension of funds to Turkey due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[1][2][3]

Human rights

Section 502B of the Act (now codified as Title 22 United States Code Section 2304(a)(2), sometimes abbreviated in legal texts as 22 USC §2304(a)(2)) prohibits the U.S. government from selling weapons or providing security assistance and even law enforcement assistance to countries that engage in a persistent pattern of human rights violations. It provides, in part, that, unless specific exceptions apply:

"...no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Security assistance may not be provided to the police, domestic intelligence, or similar law enforcement forces of a country, and licenses may not be issued under the Export Administration Act of 1979 [50 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.] for the export of crime control and detection instruments and equipment to a country, the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights...[4]

The Act goes on define the term “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” as including:

"...torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of person." (Codified at Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2304(d)(1), sometimes abbreviated as 22 USC § 2304(d)(1).)[5]

See also

References
  1. S. 3394 at Congress.gov
  2. http://searchjustice.usdoj.gov/search?q=cache:UGivNDN17RgJ:www.justice.gov/crt/about/cor/byagency/dos2314.php+crt+cor+byagency+dos2314+site:www.justice.gov/crt&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&ie=UTF-8&access=p&oe=ISO-8859-1%5B%5D
  3. "United States: Foreign Assistance Act of 1974". American Society of International Law ~ International Legal Materials. 14 (1): 167–180. January 1975. doi:10.1017/S0020782900040821. JSTOR 20691387.
  4. Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute, USC §2304(a)(2)
  5. Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute, USC § 2304(d)(1)
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