<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="115" measure-type="hres" measure-number="537" measure-id="id115hres537" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2017-09-26" update-date="2017-12-12">
<title>Promoting United States national security and foreign policy objectives through consolidation and strengthening of the rule of law and respect for human rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan.</title>
<summary summary-id="id115hres537v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2017-12-12">
<action-date>2017-09-26</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>Affirms the importance of the U.S. partnership with the government of Azerbaijan in the areas of international security, European energy security, and economic development.</p> <p>Calls on the U.S. government:</p> <ul> <li>in its diplomatic engagement and delivery of bilateral assistance, to prioritize as a matter of strategic importance its response to Azerbaijan's violations of universally recognized human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law to ensure the long-term sustainability of the U.S.-Azerbaijani bilateral partnership;</li> <li>to closely evaluate reporting to identify and impose travel and financial restrictions on Azerbaijan officials responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act; and </li> <li>to closely evaluate reporting to identify and impose travel restrictions on Azerbaijan officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom, pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.</li> </ul> <p>Calls on the government of Azerbaijan to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, rehabilitate their records, lift travel bans, and cease harassment, intimidation, and mistreatment of citizens engaged in political speech, independent journalism, and other forms of advocacy on behalf of government accountability, democratic values, and universally recognized human rights.</p> <p>Supports the peaceful efforts of the people of Azerbaijan ito achieve democratic reform and exercise their fundamental freedoms.</p> <ul> </ul>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
