[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4155-S4156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2402. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for Mr. Markey (for himself, Mrs. Loeffler,
Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Merkley)) submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed to amendment SA 2301 proposed by Mr. Inhofe to the bill S.
4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS DURING NOVEL CORONAVIRUS
PANDEMIC.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the Sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States should lead the international
community in its efforts to respond to the novel coronavirus
pandemic;
(2) the United States, in implementing emergency policies
at home and through its diplomacy and foreign assistance
abroad, should promote the protection of internationally
recognized human rights during and after the coronavirus
pandemic;
(3) the Department of State and the United States Agency
for International Development (referred to in this section as
``USAID'') should provide assistance and implement programs,
directly or through nongovernmental organizations or
international organizations, that--
(A) support democratic institutions, civil society, free
media, and other internationally recognized human rights
during, and in the aftermath of, the novel coronavirus
pandemic; and
(B) ensure attention to countries in which the government's
response to the pandemic violated human rights and democratic
norms; and
(4) in implementing emergency policies in response to the
novel coronavirus pandemic--
(A) governments should fully respect and comply with
internationally recognized human rights, including the rights
to life, liberty, and security of the person, the freedoms of
movement, religion, speech, peaceful assembly, association,
freedom of expression and of the press, and the freedom from
arbitrary detention, discrimination, or invasion of privacy;
(B) emergency restrictions or powers that impact
internationally recognized human rights, including the rights
to freedom of assembly, association, and movement should be--
(i) narrowly tailored, proportionate, and necessary to the
government's legitimate goal of ending the pandemic;
(ii) limited in duration;
(iii) clearly communicated to the population;
(iv) subject to independent government oversight; and
(v) implemented in a nondiscriminatory and fully
transparent manner;
(C) governments--
(i) should not place any limits or other restrictions on,
or criminalize, the free flow of information; and
(ii) should make all efforts to provide and maintain open
access to the internet and other communications platforms;
(D) emergency measures should not discriminate against any
segment of the population, including minorities, vulnerable
individuals, and marginalized groups;
(E) monitoring systems put in place to track and reduce the
impact of the novel coronavirus should, at a minimum--
(i) abide by privacy best practices involving data
anonymization and aggregation;
(ii) be administered in an open and transparent manner;
(iii) be scientifically justified and necessary to limit
the spread of disease;
(iv) be employed for a limited duration of time in
correspondence with the system's public health objective;
(v) be subject to independent oversight;
(vi) incorporate reasonable data security measures; and
(vii) be firewalled from other commercial and governmental
uses, such as law enforcement and the enforcement of
immigration policies; and
(F) governments should take every feasible measure to
protect the administration of free and fair elections.
(b) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United
States--
(1) to encourage the protection and promotion of
internationally recognized human rights at home and abroad at
all times and especially during the novel coronavirus
pandemic;
(2) to support freedom of expression and freedom of the
press in the United States and elsewhere, which freedoms are
critical to ensuring public dissemination of, and access to,
accurate information about the novel coronavirus pandemic,
including information authorities need to enact science-based
policies that limit the spread and impact of the virus, while
protecting human rights;
(3) to support multilateral efforts to address the novel
coronavirus pandemic; and
(4) to oppose the use of the novel coronavirus pandemic as
a justification for the enactment of laws and policies that
use states of emergency to violate or otherwise restrict the
human rights of citizens, inconsistent with the principles of
limitation and derogation, and without clear scientific or
public health justifications, including the coercive,
arbitrary, disproportionate, or unlawful use of surveillance
technology.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
(2) Internationally recognized human rights.--The term
``internationally recognized human rights'' means--
(A) the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, including the rights to life, liberty,
security of person, the freedom of movement, religion,
speech, peaceful assembly, association, freedom of expression
and the press, the freedom from arbitrary detention,
discrimination, or invasion of privacy; and
(B) all other rights indispensable for human dignity.
(d) Funding for Programs and Countries.--
(1) Program priorities.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to
subsection (g) may be made available for fiscal years 2020
through 2025, to carry out the Foreign Assistance Act
[[Page S4156]]
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), including programs to
support democratic institutions, freedom of the press, civil
society, and human rights defenders in countries where
government measures taken in response to the novel
coronavirus pandemic, including emergency measures, violated
or seriously undermined internationally recognized human
rights according to the principles set forth in subsection
(a)(4). Programs carried out under this paragraph shall be
designed--
(A) to strengthen and support all internationally
recognized human rights, freedom of the press, human rights
defenders, and civil society; and
(B) to restore and strengthen democratic institutions.
(2) Strategy.--
(A) Initial strategy.--Not later than 30 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and
the Administrator of USAID shall jointly submit an initial
strategy for carrying out the programs referred to in
paragraph (1) to the appropriate congressional committees.
(B) Strategic plan.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and the
Administrator of USAID shall submit a 5-year strategic plan
to the appropriate congressional committees that lays out the
steps the Department of State and USAID will take, through
diplomacy and foreign assistance, to address the persistent
issues related to internationally recognized human rights in
the aftermath of the novel coronavirus response, including
identifying the resources necessary to implement such
strategic plan.
(3) Conditioning of security sector assistance.--Section
502B(a)(4) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2304) is amended--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; or''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) has engaged in the systematic violation of
internationally recognized human rights through the use of
emergency laws, policies, or administrative procedures.''.
(e) Reporting Requirements.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than 60 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall
publish on the Department of State website, and submit to the
appropriate congressional committees, a report that
describes--
(A) for each country and territory included in the annual
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, whether and how
each country or territory has adhered to the principles set
forth in subsection (a)(4) in responding to the novel
coronavirus pandemic;
(B) with regard to each country in which the response to
the novel coronavirus pandemic violated or seriously
undermined internationally recognized human rights in a
manner inconsistent with the principles of limitation and
derogation, a description of--
(i) the actions of the United States Government to address
such restrictions through diplomacy and the use of foreign
assistance; and
(ii) any efforts made by each country to respond to and
resolve such human rights concerns;
(C) with regard to each country in which the response to
the coronavirus pandemic violated or seriously undermined
internationally recognized human rights, a description of the
impact of noncompliant policies on--
(i) the population's access to health care services;
(ii) the population's access to services for survivors of
violence and abuse;
(iii) women and ethnic, religious, sexual, and other
minority, vulnerable, or marginalized populations; and
(iv) the government's efforts and ability to control the
pandemic;
(D) whether any foreign person or persons within a country
have been determined to have committed gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights during the novel
coronavirus pandemic response, including any sanctions
imposed on such persons in accordance with United States law;
(E) actions taken by the Global Engagement Center
established under section 1287 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note)
to counter disinformation related to the novel coronavirus
pandemic; and
(F) the United States Government's efforts around the
world--
(i) to counter disinformation related to the novel
coronavirus pandemic; and
(ii) to disseminate accurate information about the
pandemic.
(2) Monthly reports.--Not later than 30 days after the
publication of the report required under paragraph (1), and
monthly thereafter until the date that is 60 days after the
date on which the World Health Organization declares that the
novel coronavirus pandemic has ended, the Department of State
and the United States Agency for International Development
shall provide, to the appropriate congressional committees--
(A) a briefing containing updates on any new developments
related to issues covered in the report published under
paragraph (1); and
(B) a list of the countries that have removed coronavirus-
related emergency restrictions impacting internationally
recognized human rights, including details regarding the
restrictions that were removed.
(3) Final report.--Not later than 90 days after the date on
which the World Health Organization declares that the novel
coronavirus pandemic has ended, the Secretary of State shall
submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees
that--
(A) lists the countries whose emergency measures or other
legal actions limiting internationally recognized human
rights in a manner inconsistent with the principles of
limitation and derogation extended beyond the end of the
pandemic;
(B) describes such countries' emergency measures,
including--
(i) how such procedures violate or seriously undermine
internationally recognized human rights; and
(ii) an analysis of the impact of such measures on--
(I) the government's efforts and ability to control the
pandemic within the country;
(II) the population's access to health care services;
(III) the population's access to services for survivors of
violence and abuse; and
(IV) women and ethnic, religious, sexual, and other
minority, vulnerable, or marginalized populations;
(C) describes--
(i) any surveillance measures implemented or utilized by
the governments of such countries as part of the novel
coronavirus pandemic response;
(ii) the extent to which such measures have been, or have
not been, rolled back; and
(iii) whether and how such measures impact internationally
recognized human rights; and
(D) indicates whether any foreign person or persons within
a country have been determined to have committed gross
violations of internationally recognized human rights during
the novel coronavirus pandemic response, including a
description of any resulting sanctions imposed on such
persons under United States law.
(f) Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.--
(1) In general.--Section 116(f)(1) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(f)(1)) is amended--
(A) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D);
and
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
``(C) A description of--
``(i) any misuse by the government of such country of any
emergency powers;
``(ii) any failure by the government of such country--
``(I) to state the specific duration of the powers referred
to in clause (i);
``(II) to clearly articulate the purposes of such powers;
or
``(III) to notify the United Nations regarding the use of
such powers, as required by applicable treaty;
``(iii) any failure by the government of such country--
``(I) to abide by the stated purposes of the powers
referred to in clause (i); or
``(II) to cease the use of such powers after any specified
term expires;
``(iv) any violations by the government of such country of
non-derogable rights;
``(v) any discriminatory implementation by such government
of the powers referred to in clause (i);
``(vi) the impact of such powers on the access of the
people of such country to health care services; and
``(vii) the development and proliferation of surveillance
technologies in such country, including new or emerging
technologies used by the government of such country in the
surveillance of civilian populations in ways that are
inconsistent with the standards described in subsection
(a)(4)(E) of the Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic
Act.''.
(2) Human rights report.--
(A) In general.--Section 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(b) is amended by inserting ``Each
report under this section shall include the information
described in section 116(f)(1)(C).'' after ``the Secretary of
State.''.
(B) Briefing.--The Assistant Secretary of State for
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor shall be available to
brief the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives regarding the annual Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices during the 90-day period beginning on the
date on which the reports are released.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry
out--
(1) the strategy described in subsection (d)(2)(A);
(2) the 5-year strategic plan described in subsection
(d)(2)(B); and
(3) the reporting requirements set forth in subsection (e).
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