To authorize appropriations for the Department of State and for certain other international affairs functions and activities of the United States Government for fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and for other purposes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations

Title XX: General Provisions

Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for

Department of State and Certain International

Affairs Functions and Activities

Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and

Activities

Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of

State; Department of State Personnel; The Foreign Service

Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy;

Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs

Title XXV: International Organizations and

Commissions

Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions

Title XXVII: Congressional Statements

Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations - Title XX: General Provisions - Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997 - Sets forth definitions.

Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for Department of State and Certain International Affairs Functions and Activities - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of State for FY 1996 and 1997 for: (1) the administration of foreign affairs; (2) contributions to international organizations and international peacekeeping activities; (3) international conferences and contingencies; (4) purposes of offsetting adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; (5) international commissions; (6) migration and refugee assistance; (7) the Asia Foundation; (8) international information activities and educational and cultural exchange programs; and (9) purposes of carrying out the Arms Control and Disarmament Act. Earmarks funds for specified organizations and activities.

(Sec. 2102) Makes funds available to the International Atomic Energy Agency only if the Secretary reports to the appropriate congressional committees that Israel is not being denied its right to participate in the Agency.

Bars the use of international organization funds for programs for Libya, Iran, or Communist countries listed under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Withholds certain amounts of funds from the United Nations Development Program unless the President certifies that the Program has terminated activities in and for Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar).

Prohibits international peacekeeping funds from being made available for contributions to the United Nations Protection Force unless the President reports to the Congress that: (1) the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the continued presence of such Force within its territory; (2) the Force is carrying out its mandate under specified Security Council resolutions; (3) the Force is providing support to the efforts of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal to investigate and prosecute war crimes and support to diplomatic, military, and relief personnel; and (4) the Force has investigated and taken appropriate action against any personnel suspected of participating in illegal or improper activities.

Makes the authorization of appropriations for international conferences and contingencies effective only after the Secretary makes a certification regarding the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and accreditation of certain nongovernmental organizations.

(Sec. 2104) Bars the use of migration and refugee assistance funds for salaries and administrative expenses of the Bureau of Migration and Refugee Assistance. Prohibits the use of such assistance for the repatriation of any person to Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia unless the President makes a specified certification regarding the status of such persons as refugees and whether they have been offered resettlement outside their countries of nationality.

(Sec. 2121) Prohibits the authorization of appropriations under this Act for any entity which: (1) provides, supports, assists, or promotes abortion, except where necessary to save the life of the mother or following rape or incest; or (2) conducts, assists, or promotes any activity related to population control or family planning and assistance in the People's Republic of China, until the President certifies that there have been no abortions performed as a result of coercion, duress, or severe psychological pressure within the preceding 12 months.

Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and Activities - Adds to the list of actions for which rewards are available the furnishing of information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual aiding or abetting in acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property or in certain narcotics-related offenses.

Authorizes appropriations, with limitations.

(Sec. 2205) Directs the Secretary to develop a worldwide plan for the consolidation, on a regional or areawide basis, of U.S. missions and consular posts abroad.

(Sec. 2231) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) include membership in a terrorist organization as a basis for exclusion from the United States; and (2) authorize the Secretary of State to waive the requirement that a person receive written notice of the provisions under which his or her visa application was denied in the case of any alien deemed excludable on criminal or security grounds.

(Sec. 2233) Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to limit the amount of fees collected from processing machine readable visas that may be deposited as an offsetting collection to any Department of State appropriation. Removes provisions which prohibit fees from being charged to citizens of countries that are signatories to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

(Sec. 2234) Requires visa applicants who are determined to have a criminal history record, have been present in the United States, and are more than 16 years of age to provide a fingerprint record for submission with the application. Directs the Department of State to submit such record to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for analysis to determine whether the applicant has been convicted of a felony under State or Federal law.

(Sec. 2235) Sets aside a percentage of the fees collected in FY 1996 and 1997 for expedited passport processing for enhancing passport services, investigating passport fraud, and deterring entry into the United States by terrorists and other criminals.

(Sec. 2237) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) include as a basis for exclusion from the United States the confiscation of American property abroad or trafficking in such confiscated property; and (2) revise the definition of "refugee" to provide that a person who has been forced to have an abortion or undergo involuntary sterilization or who has been persecuted for refusing to do so or for other resistance to a coercive population control program shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion.

(Sec. 2253) Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees every six months on the methods employed by the Cuban Government to enforce the United States-Cuba Immigration Agreement of September 1994 to restrict the emigration of Cuban people to the United States.

(Sec. 2254) Prohibits the United States from involuntarily returning, or promoting or assisting the return of, any person to a country in which the person has a well founded fear of persecution.

(Sec. 2255) Directs the President to report to specified congressional committees preceding each fiscal year on the foreseeable number of refugees who will be in need of resettlement and the anticipated allocation of refugee admissions during the fiscal year.

(Sec. 2256) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 1997 a provision which authorizes admission into the United States of a specified number of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (independent states), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania based on religious persecution due to participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches.

Makes FY 1997 the latest allowable entry date for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status.

Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of State; Department of State Personnel; The Foreign Service - Establishes a Coordinator for Counterterrorism within the office of the Secretary.

(Sec. 2302) Establishes within the Department of State a U.S. Special Envoy for Tibet.

(Sec. 2303) Establishes a Coordinator for Human Rights and Refugees within the office of the Secretary.

Repeals provisions that provide for an Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

Establishes the Bureau of Refugee and Migration Assistance within the Department of State.

(Sec. 2304) Repeals provisions of law which provide for: (1) an Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs; (2) a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Burdensharing; and (3) a Bureau and Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

(Sec. 2305) Establishes an Assistant Secretary for Human Resources within the Department of State.

(Sec. 2351) Establishes limits on the number of Foreign Service personnel in the Department of State, USIA, and AID during FY 1996 and 1997. Provides for a waiver of such limitations as necessary to carry out foreign affairs functions.

(Sec. 2352) Repeals provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 that provide for performance pay for Senior Foreign Service personnel.

Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy: Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs - Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 to eliminate the permanent authorization for the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between North and South.

(Sec. 2403) Requires the USIA Director to establish educational and cultural exchange programs between the United States and Hong Kong and Tibet, respectively.

(Sec. 2405) Provides for scholarships to Tibetan and Burmese students and professionals who are outside their countries.

(Sec. 2406) Authorizes the USIA Director to make available, upon request, computer readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania.

(Sec. 2431) Amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to increase the number of members on the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

(Sec. 2432) Requires the USIA Director to submit a plan for the establishment and operation of Radio Free Asia to the Congress.

(Sec. 2433) Requires the USIA Director to make grants for broadcasting to China, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam for purposes of providing broadcasting on an interim basis before Radio Free Asia becomes fully operational.

Title XXV: International Organizations and Commissions - Authorizes the Secretary to make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project.

(Sec. 2521) Permits the President to withhold 20 percent of the funds appropriated for the U.S. assessed contribution to the United Nations if the United Nations has failed to implement consensus-based decisionmaking procedures on budgetary matters which assure that sufficient attention is paid to the views of the United States and other member states who are major financial contributors.

(Sec. 2523) Prohibits U.S. contributions to any affiliated organization of the United Nations or to the United Nations if they grant full membership as a state to a group that does not have internationally recognized attributes of statehood.

(Sec. 2524) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the management of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions - Provides that certain provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act concerning defense articles and services and the determination of Taiwan's defense needs supersede any provision of the Joint Communique of the United States and China of August 17, 1982.

(Sec. 2602) Requires the Secretary to report annually to specified congressional officials on conditions in Tibet and on the state of relations between the United States and those recognized by the Congress as the true representatives of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, his representatives, and the Tibetan government in exile.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that whenever an executive branch report is transmitted to the Congress on a country-by-country basis there should be included a separate report on Tibet.

(Sec. 2603) Bosnia Genocide Justice Act - Urges the President to take specified steps to assist efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991.

(Sec. 2642) Sets forth minimum conditions relating to nuclear nonproliferation that the President should uphold in negotiations with North Korea.

(Sec. 2643) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) South Korea should play the central role in the project to provide light water reactors to North Korea; and (2) the President should not take steps toward upgrading diplomatic relations with North Korea beyond opening liaison offices or relaxing trade and investment barriers without action by North Korea to engage in a dialogue with South Korea, implementation of the North-South Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and progress toward U.S. policy objectives regarding North Korea and the Korean Peninsula.

(Sec. 2645) Makes the provision of assistance to North Korea or the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization contingent on the same terms that govern such assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

(Sec. 2651) Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to encouraging the United Nations Security Council to take certain steps against Burma.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should reduce the U.S. diplomatic presence in Burma.

(Sec. 2661) Torture Victims Relief Act of 1995 - States that the United States shall not involuntarily return a person to a country where such person would be subject to torture.

Establishes an expedited procedure for processing refugee, asylum, withholding of deportation, and parole entry claims of torture victims.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that sufficient funds should be allocated to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Resource Information Center to maintain information on foreign torture.

Provides for specialized training in torture identification and handling of torture victims for consular, immigration, and asylum personnel.

Directs the Center for Disease Control to study and report on torture victims residing in the United States.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for respective domestic and foreign treatment centers for torture victims. Authorizes appropriations.

Title XXVII: Congressional Statements - Declares that the Secretary, in allocating resources for international organizations, should pay particular attention to funding levels of the Inter-American organizations.

(Sec. 2702) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should refuse to recognize the incorporation of any territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina into the territory of a neighboring state or the creation of a new state within Bosnia's borders resulting from the use of force, coercion, or other means inconsistent with international law.

(Sec. 2703) Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to calling upon the Chinese Government to dismantle the Laogai (system of forced labor camps).

(Sec. 2704) Expresses the sense of the Congress that none of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act may be obligated to normalize diplomatic relations with Vietnam until Vietnam: (1) releases all of its political and religious prisoners; (2) accounts for American prisoners-of-war and missing in action from the Vietnam War; (3) holds democratic elections; and (4) institutes policies which protect human rights.

(Sec. 2705) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should take specified actions with respect to: (1) promoting human and worker rights in China; and (2) requesting the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to encourage the development and protection of treatment centers.