[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3714 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.3714

                      One Hundred Eleventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten


                                 An Act


 
  To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include in the Annual 
 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices information about freedom of 
         the press in foreign countries, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press 
Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO FREEDOM OF THE 
PRESS WORLDWIDE IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.
    The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended--
        (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)), as amended by 
    section 333(c) of this division--
            (A) in paragraph (10), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (B) in paragraph (11)--
                (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the 
            end; and
                (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the 
            end and inserting ``; and''; and
            (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
        ``(12) wherever applicable--
            ``(A) a description of the status of freedom of the press, 
        including initiatives in favor of freedom of the press and 
        efforts to improve or preserve, as appropriate, the 
        independence of the media, together with an assessment of 
        progress made as a result of those efforts;
            ``(B) an identification of countries in which there were 
        violations of freedom of the press, including direct physical 
        attacks, imprisonment, indirect sources of pressure, and 
        censorship by governments, military, intelligence, or police 
        forces, criminal groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups; 
        and
            ``(C) in countries where there are particularly severe 
        violations of freedom of the press--
                ``(i) whether government authorities of each such 
            country participate in, facilitate, or condone such 
            violations of the freedom of the press; and
                ``(ii) what steps the government of each such country 
            has taken to preserve the safety and independence of the 
            media, and to ensure the prosecution of those individuals 
            who attack or murder journalists.''; and
        (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by adding at the end the 
    following new subsection:
    ``(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall include, wherever 
applicable--
        ``(1) a description of the status of freedom of the press, 
    including initiatives in favor of freedom of the press and efforts 
    to improve or preserve, as appropriate, the independence of the 
    media, together with an assessment of progress made as a result of 
    those efforts;
        ``(2) an identification of countries in which there were 
    violations of freedom of the press, including direct physical 
    attacks, imprisonment, indirect sources of pressure, and censorship 
    by governments, military, intelligence, or police forces, criminal 
    groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups; and
        ``(3) in countries where there are particularly severe 
    violations of freedom of the press--
            ``(A) whether government authorities of each such country 
        participate in, facilitate, or condone such violations of the 
        freedom of the press; and
            ``(B) what steps the government of each such country has 
        taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media, and 
        to ensure the prosecution of those individuals who attack or 
        murder journalists.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.