119-hres451

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 451 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 451

 Expressing condemnation for police brutality wherever in the world it 
 occurs.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 29, 2025

Ms. Omar 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;
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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