History
The law first appeared in the fiscal year 1997 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, and has been attached to all subsequent acts. Since it is impossible to know in practice the names of the individuals who committed the human rights violations, the U.S. government applies the law by examining the human rights history of a unit. The State Department has interpreted a unit to mean a brigade, which is approximately 3,000 soldiers.
Each U.S. embassy has established a "vetting procedure" to review the backgrounds of military units for which assistance has been proposed. To date, foreign aid to Colombia has been the main focus of the law.
Read more about this topic: Leahy Law
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All history and art are against us, but we still expect happiness in love.”
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“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
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