Required Colombia-related reports to Congress for 2002

Required Colombia-related reports to Congress for 2002

Required Colombia-related reports to Congress, arranged by due date

(Note: these due dates are often missed. Also, reports requested in committee report language, which is non-binding, often get ignored if committees do not pressure for their release.)

For links to many past reports, go to http://ciponline.org/colombia/aidgovt.htm

- As soon as they need money for Colombia's armed forces (probably mid-February): The State Department must certify to the appropriations committees that Colombia's Armed Forces meet three human rights conditions (suspending members, cooperating with investigations, severing paramilitary links). The State Department must meet with "internationally recognized human rights organizations" 10 days before the first certification (this meeting occurred on February 1). After certifying, State can obligate up to 60 percent of its planned 2002 aid for Colombia's military. The first certification took place on May 1, 2002; read the State Department's memorandum of justification.

- As soon as they need money for new fumigation chemicals: The State Department must certify to the appropriations committees that several conditions exist regarding the safety of fumigation and (after July 10) the presence of alternative development programs in areas to be sprayed. This report was released in September 4, 2002 and is available on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/rpt/aeicc/.

January 1 (or as soon as possible): The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report “on the human and environmental impact of all materials used in such aerial coca and opium poppy eradication in Colombia. The report shall include guidelines for the application of aerially sprayed materials, scientific and other justifications for such guidelines, as well as a description of a verification system to ensure compliance with those guidelines.”

January 1 (or as soon as possible): The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report including “a description of all areas sprayed, materials and methods used, compliance with the spray guidelines, and the human and environmental impacts of such spraying.”

January 31: Human Rights Reports - The Secretary of State must report on the status of internationally-recognized human rights in all foreign countries which belong to the United Nations or receive U.S. economic or security assistance. The reports may be obtained on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm.

February 1: Congressional Presentation Document - The President must submit his budget request for all foreign aid programs for 2003. Along with this request, the President must report on the dollar value of all foreign assistance and guaranties, by category and by country, provided by the United States to foreign countries and international organizations. The 2003 Congressional Presentation Document may be obtained on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/m/rm/rls/cbj/2003/.

February 1: National Drug Control Strategy - the President, together with the Director of the White House's Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP, popularly known as the "Drug Czar"), must report on the government's goals and objectives for all drug-control activities, both international and domestic. This year’s report may be obtained on the Internet at the ONDCP site: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ndcs.html

February 1: “Section 655” arms transfers report: the President must report on the dollar value and quantity of defense articles (including excess defense articles), defense services and military training transferred to each foreign country and international organization during the previous fiscal year. This report is always late. The 2000 DCS portion, released in 2001, is available, as a large PDF file, on the site of the Center for International Policy: http://ciponline.org/facts/655-2000.pdf. The FMS portion for 2000 has not yet been released. The 1999 FMS portion, released in 2000, may be obtained on the Internet at the site of the Federation of American Scientists' Arms Transfers Monitoring Program: http://www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/655-99/655rep.html.

March 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report with “an accounting of all aircraft, vehicles, boats and lethal equipment (other than ammunition) transferred to the militaries or police” of each Andean Regional Initiative country (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, or Venezuela). The report must also include “an accounting of the number of U.S. Armed Forces personnel deployed or assigned to duty in the Andean Region or other nation at any time during the preceding 180 days” using foreign operations funds, as well as “the length and purpose of the deployment or assignment, and the associated costs and force protection risks.” (Because of the troop presence requirement, this report may be classified.)

March 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report “with respect to the specific efforts being made by AID, the State Department and the Colombian Government to expedite the delivery of non-cash assistance to communities in Colombia that have signed pacts to voluntarily eradicate their coca crops. This report shall include complete data on the percentage of available alternative development funds that have been disbursed to communities in Colombia that have signed pacts to voluntarily eradicate their crops.”

March 1: International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - The Secretary of State must provide the factual basis of the President's yearly decisions to certify whether significant drug source and transit countries are cooperating with U.S. anti-drug efforts. The report must also offer a detailed description of these efforts in each country, the country's own efforts, a status report on drug production or transportation in each country, and other aspects of each country's anti-drug policies. It must also include the amounts and nature of U.S. counter-drug assistance and discuss the health and environmental impact of herbicides used for aerial drug eradication. This report may be obtained on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2001/. Also of interest is the annual budget request for the State Department's International Narcotics Control (INC) program. The 2003 request is available on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/rpt/cbj/fy2003.

March 1: Foreign Military Training Report - The Secretaries of State and Defense must report on all military training which the United States provided to foreign military personnel in 2001 and projected for 2002. For each military training activity, the report must include "the foreign policy justification and purpose for the training activity, the cost of the training activity, the number of foreign students trained and their units of operation, and the location of the training." The report must also discuss the operational benefits that U.S. military units gained as a result of each training activity. The law allows the Defense and State Departments to include a classified annex "if deemed necessary and appropriate." The report released in May 2002 is very much worth a look - it shows, for instance, that the United States trained 6,300 Colombian military and police in 2001. It is available on the Internet at the State Department's site: http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/fmtrpt/2002/.

March 15: School of the Americas - The Secretary of Defense must report on the activities of the School of the Americas (renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).

April 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report including “a description of all areas sprayed, materials and methods used, compliance with the spray guidelines, and the human and environmental impacts of such spraying.”

April 1: JCETs - The Secretary of Defense must report on the Special Forces' training with foreign forces, an often controversial activity that has come to be known as Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET).

April 10: The conference committee report (107-345) calls on the State Department to report on the effectiveness of new procedures to compensate Colombian citizens whose legal crops are unjustly fumigated.

April 10: The Senate Appropriations Committee’s report (107-58) calls on the State Department to report “on the feasibility of procuring additional aircraft for Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador, within the projected budget for counternarcotics programs in fiscal year 2003.”

April 10: The Senate Appropriations Committee’s report (107-58) calls on the State Department to submit a report on the Colombian government’s new national security law, including “An accounting of incidents of arbitrary and prolonged incommunicado detention by members of the Colombian armed forces and police, and whether those incidents have increased; An assessment of the effectiveness of investigations conducted by military personnel, as provided for in the security law, compared to those carried out by civilian authorities; and An analysis of the effects of the security law on Colombia's commitments under international treaties.”

April 15: Section 1022 of the Defense Appropriations bill requires the Pentagon to report on the Defense Department's counter-drug assistance to foreign governments during fiscal year 2001.

Late May: The State Department must meet with "internationally recognized human rights organizations" and submit a report to the appropriations committees regarding progress toward the human rights conditions mentioned above.

After June 1, and before the next time they need money for Colombia's Armed Forces: The State Department must certify to the appropriations committees that Colombia's Armed Forces meet three human rights conditions (suspending members, cooperating with investigations, severing paramilitary links). The law is vague about whether the State Department must meet with "internationally recognized human rights organizations" 10 days before the second certification. After certifying, State can obligate the remaining 40 percent of its planned 2002 aid for Colombia's military. This certification took place on September 9, 2002; read the State Department's memorandum of justification.

July 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report including “a description of all areas sprayed, materials and methods used, compliance with the spray guidelines, and the human and environmental impacts of such spraying.”

August 10: The Senate Appropriations Committee’s report (107-58) calls on the State Department to submit another report on the Colombian government’s new national security law, including “An accounting of incidents of arbitrary and prolonged incommunicado detention by members of the Colombian armed forces and police, and whether those incidents have increased; An assessment of the effectiveness of investigations conducted by military personnel, as provided for in the security law, compared to those carried out by civilian authorities; and An analysis of the effects of the security law on Colombia's commitments under international treaties.”

September 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report with “an accounting of all aircraft, vehicles, boats and lethal equipment (other than ammunition) transferred to the militaries or police” of each Andean Regional Initiative country (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, or Venezuela). The report must also include “an accounting of the number of U.S. Armed Forces personnel deployed or assigned to duty in the Andean Region or other nation at any time during the preceding 180 days” using foreign operations funds, as well as “the length and purpose of the deployment or assignment, and the associated costs and force protection risks.” (Because of the troop presence requirement, this report may be classified.)

September 1: The House Appropriations Committee’s report (107-142) requests the State Department to submit a report “with respect to the specific efforts being made by AID, the State Department and the Colombian Government to expedite the delivery of non-cash assistance to communities in Colombia that have signed pacts to voluntarily eradicate their coca crops. This report shall include complete data on the percentage of available alternative development funds that have been disbursed to communities in Colombia that have signed pacts to voluntarily eradicate their crops.”

Late September: The State Department must meet with "internationally recognized human rights organizations" and submit a report to the appropriations committees regarding progress toward the human rights conditions mentioned above.

November 2: The House-Senate Conference Committee for H.R. 4775, the anti-terror supplemental spending bill, requires the State and Defense Departments to submit a report detailing the United States' strategy in Colombia, among other issues. The State Department submitted the report on December 3, 2002; it is available on this site.