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The '''Leahy Laws''' or '''Leahy amendments''' are U.S. [[human rights]] laws that prohibit the U.S. [[Department of State]] and [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] from providing military assistance to foreign security force units that violate human rights with [[impunity]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2378d|title=22 U.S. Code § 2378d - Limitation on assistance to security forces|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref> It is named after its principal sponsor, Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] (D-Vermont).<ref name="leahy.senate.gov">{{Cite web | url=http://www.leahy.senate.gov/issues/human-rights | title=Human Rights | U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont}}</ref>
To implement this law, the U.S. embassies, the [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]], and the appropriate regional bureau of the U.S. Department of State vet potential recipients of security assistance.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.humanrights.gov/2013/07/09/an-overview-of-the-leahy-vetting-process/ |title=An Overview of the Leahy Vetting Process « humanrights.gov |access-date=2013-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626002618/http://www.humanrights.gov/2013/07/09/an-overview-of-the-leahy-vetting-process/ |archive-date=2014-06-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> If a unit is found to have been credibly implicated in a serious abuse of human rights, assistance is denied until the host nation government takes effective steps to bring the responsible persons within the unit to justice. While the U.S. government does not publicly report on foreign armed forces units it has cut off from receiving assistance, press reports have indicated that security force and national defense force units in [[Australia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Bolivia]], [[Colombia]], [[Guatemala]], [[Mexico]], [[Nigeria]], [[Turkey]], [[Indonesia]], [[Lebanon]], and [[Saint Lucia]] have been denied assistance due to the Leahy Law.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} On the other hand, [[Israel]] has never been denied assistance under this law.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Beinart |first=Peter |date=August 18, 2024 |title=Harris Can Change Biden’s Policy on Israel Just by Upholding the Law |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/opinion/biden-israel-policy-harris.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
==Origins and background==
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The process is, in general, not transparent; in June 2016, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said department officials do not "speak to specific cases on Leahy vetting. We don't do that."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/06/258467.htm|title=Daily Press Briefing – June 14, 2016|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=2016-06-15}}</ref>
While there is no exact definition of what constitutes "credible" information, the State Department's standard is that it need not reach the same standard as would be required to admit evidence in a U.S. court of law. Vetters rely on a wide array of sources including the annual
Certain countries known as "Fast Track" countries are only required to be vetted at the embassy level.{{cn|reason=WikiLeaks is an unreliable source, see [[WP:RS/P]]|date=September 2021}} The State Department's Leahy Working Group determines by consensus which countries are eligible for Fast Track vetting. A Fast Track country has a "favorable human rights record, including no serious or systemic problems in the country's security forces and no widespread problems with impunity".{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}
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A number of observers have complained that the Leahy Act has not been enacted in response to what they have claimed are [[Human rights in Israel|human rights abuses]] by the [[Israel]]i military. In 2011, Haaretz reported that Leahy (D-VT), after being approached by constituents in Vermont, was pushing clauses that would bar aid to three elite Israeli military units that have been accused of human rights violations in the [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupation]] of the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]].<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-senator-seeks-to-cut-aid-to-elite-idf-units-operating-in-west-bank-and-gaza-1.378800 | title=U.S. Senator Seeks to Cut Aid to Elite IDF Units Operating in West Bank and Gaza| newspaper=Haaretz| date=2011-08-16}}</ref> A spokesman for Leahy denied this.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0811/Leahy_says_legislation_doesnt_aim_at_Israel_but_could_hit_it.html | title=Leahy says legislation doesn't aim at Israel, but could hit it| website=[[Politico]]}}</ref> Leahy's Senate webpage<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.leahy.senate.gov/issues/policies-by-region | title=Policies by Region | U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont}}</ref> repeats his views that while "he has supported Israel's right to self-defense", "he disagrees with restrictions on imports of goods into Gaza as it amounts to collective punishment, with Israel's use of excessive force in Gaza which has caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and with home demolitions and settlement construction in the West Bank." In February 2016, 11 members of Congress, including Leahy, sent a letter to the State Department demanding a review of the Leahy Act be conducted after reports of [[extrajudicial killing]]s by Israeli and [[Egypt]]ian military forces.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/patrick-leahy-senate-israel-egypt-state-221366 | title=Leahy asked State Dept. To investigate Israeli human rights 'violations'| website=[[Politico]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000153-c56c-d662-a75b-cfecc6be0000|title=Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-1004|last=|first=|date=|website=[[Politico]]|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref>
In April 2024, [[ProPublica]] reported that [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Antony Blinken]] had refused to act on recommendations from the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum to sanction Israeli units that had participated in human rights violations including torture, rape, and extrajudicial killings in the [[West Bank]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Brett |date=2024-04-17 |title=Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/israel-gaza-blinken-leahy-sanctions-human-rights-violations |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=[[ProPublica]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Flaherty |first=Anne |date=April 26, 2024 |title=US holds off on sanctioning Israeli military units accused of human rights violations in West Bank before start of war with Hamas |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-sanction-israeli-military-units-accused-human-rights/story?id=109651562 |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> Charles Blaha, a former State Department official, explained that Israel receives special treatment under the Leahy law because the decision on any sanction is taken by the Department's top political appointees rather than by career officials.<ref name=":0" />
==See also==
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[[Category:1997 in American law]]
[[Category:1997 in international relations]]
[[Category:Patrick Leahy]]
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