[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3508-S3510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 241--WIDENING THREATS TO FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND 
FREE EXPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD, AND REAFFIRMING THE VITAL ROLE THAT A 
 FREE AND INDEPENDENT PRESS PLAYS IN INFORMING LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL 
  AUDIENCES ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH CRISES, COUNTERING MISINFORMATION AND 
DISINFORMATION, AND FURTHERING DISCOURSE AND DEBATE TO ADVANCE HEALTHY 
 DEMOCRACIES IN COMMEMORATION OF WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY ON MAY 3, 2021

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
Kaine, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Van 
Hollen, Mr. Casey, Mr. Cramer, and Mr. Boozman) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.:

                              S. Res. 241

       Whereas, Thomas Jefferson, who championed the necessity of 
     a free press for a thriving democratic society, wisely 
     declared, ``Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, 
     and that cannot be limited without being lost.'';
       Whereas Article 19 of the United Nations Universal 
     Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in Paris on December 10, 
     1948, states, ``Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion 
     and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions 
     without interference and to seek, receive and impart 
     information and ideas through any media and regardless of 
     frontiers.'';
       Whereas, in 1993, the United Nations General Assembly 
     proclaimed the third day of May of each year to be ``World 
     Press Freedom Day''--
       (1) to celebrate the fundamental principles of freedom of 
     the press;
       (2) to evaluate freedom of the press around the world;
       (3) to defend the media against attacks on its 
     independence; and
       (4) to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives 
     while working in their profession;
       Whereas the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 
     (Public Law 111-166) expanded the examination of the freedom 
     of the press around the world in the annual Country Reports 
     on Human Rights Practices published by the Department of 
     State;
       Whereas, on December 18, 2013, and December 18, 2019, the 
     United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/163 and 
     Resolution 74/157, respectively, on the safety of journalists 
     and the problem of impunity, unequivocally condemning all 
     attacks on, and violence against, journalists and media 
     workers, including torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced 
     disappearance, arbitrary detention, and intimidation and 
     harassment in conflict and nonconflict situations;
       Whereas the First Amendment to the United States 
     Constitution and various State constitutions protect freedom 
     of the press in the United States;
       Whereas the United States Government has used the Global 
     Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of 
     title XII of Public Law 114-328) to place targeted visa and 
     economic restrictions on individuals, including for their 
     roles in the targeted killings of journalists;
       Whereas, in an effort to combat attacks against 
     journalists, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken recently 
     announced a new policy allowing the Department of State to 
     impose visa restrictions on individuals who, acting on behalf 
     of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly 
     engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident 
     activities, including those that suppress, harass, surveil, 
     threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons 
     perceived to be dissidents for their work;
       Whereas the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by 
     Reporters Without Borders, warns that the COVID-19 pandemic 
     ``illustrates the negative factors threatening the right to 
     reliable information'' and amplifies the many crises that 
     threaten media freedom and pluralism;
       Whereas the Freedom in the World 2021 report, published by 
     Freedom House, noted that 2020 was an especially hazardous 
     year for democracy, during which ``less than 20 percent of 
     the world's population [then lived] in a Free country, the 
     smallest proportion since 1995'';
       Whereas, according to the Committee to Protect 
     Journalists--
       (1) at least 30 journalists were killed in 2020, 21 of whom 
     were singled out in retaliation for their work, an increase 
     from 10 murders in 2019;
       (2) Mexico, Afghanistan, and the Philippines had the most 
     retaliatory killings in 2020;
       (3) at least 274 journalists were behind bars in relation 
     to their work on December 1, 2020, marking the fifth 
     consecutive year that at least 250 journalists were 
     imprisoned globally;
       (4) China, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were responsible 
     for nearly half of all jailed journalists worldwide;
       (5) journalists around the world have been targeted by 
     sophisticated spyware products that pose a severe risk to 
     their safety and the safety of their sources; and
       (6) the world's most censored countries include Eritrea, 
     North Korea, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, 
     Iran, Equatorial Guinea, Belarus, and Cuba;
       Whereas the Government of China has unleashed an onslaught 
     of attacks on press freedom in China and Hong Kong, including 
     through--
       (1) state-sponsored censorship and disinformation campaigns 
     limiting access to information about the novel coronavirus, 
     including through its censorship of virus-related keywords on 
     social media platforms;
       (2) attacks on press freedom in Hong Kong, including the 
     passage of the National Security Law, which poses an 
     existential threat to the city's tradition of press freedom, 
     and the arrest and subsequent conviction of Jimmy Lai, owner 
     of Hong Kong's largest media outlet, Apple Daily, and an 
     outspoken democracy advocate;
       (3) arrests or other repressive actions against independent 
     journalists and others in mainland China attempting to share 
     uncensored news or opinion about the COVID-19 outbreak, 
     including the detention of citizen journalist Chen Qiushi, 
     who remains incommunicado; and
       (4) the detention of journalists critical of the Government 
     of China, including Chen Jieren, who was sentenced to 15 
     years in 2020, following 2 years of incommunicado detention, 
     after blogging about allegations of corrupt local officials;
       Whereas Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous 
     countries for journalists, with--
       (1) militant groups targeting at least 4 journalists for 
     murder in retaliation for their work in 2020; and
       (2) at least 4 media workers killed in early 2021;
       Whereas Belarus has witnessed sweeping attacks against the 
     press since Alexander Lukashenka's fraudulent election in 
     August 2020, where since the beginning of 2020, nearly 550 
     journalists and media workers have been harassed, assaulted, 
     imprisoned, or otherwise retaliated against for their work, 
     including--
       (1) Katsiaryna Barysevich, a physician, and Artsyom 
     Sarokin, a journalist, who were respectively charged with 6 
     months and 2 years in a penal colony (on charges of 
     disclosing medical data and instigating a crime, 
     respectively) for disclosing information about a protestor 
     who was killed during a crackdown on demonstrations against 
     President Lukashenka;
       (2) Katerina Borisevich, a journalist charged with 6 months 
     in prison after contradicting official statements about the 
     cause of death of a protester; and
       (3) Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova, journalists 
     sentenced to 2 years in prison (on charges of violating 
     public order) for filming live coverage of the violent 
     dispersal of a protest against President Lukashenka;
       Whereas Reporters Without Borders asserts that ``press 
     freedom in [Burma] has been set back ten years in ten days'' 
     after the February 2021 military coup, during which--
       (1) at least 40 journalists were arrested, including BBC 
     journalist Aung Thura and Associated Press journalist Thein 
     Zaw;
       (2) media workers were forced into hiding and confronted 
     censorship, harassment, internet blocks, beatings, 
     interrogations, threats, and injuries at the hands of the 
     military; and
       (3) multiple independent media outlets had to cease 
     operations or close altogether or had their licenses revoked 
     by the military;

[[Page S3509]]

       Whereas Cuba remains a highly restricted environment for 
     independent media, marked by internet restrictions and 
     constant harassment of journalists and news outlets, 
     including--
       (1) independent journalist Yoel Suarez, who was summoned to 
     a police station in March 2021 for the second time in 2 
     months as a result of his work;
       (2) Iliana Hernandez, who was charged with illegally 
     possessing journalistic equipment in January 2020;
       (3) Luz Escobar, a journalist who was repeatedly barred by 
     security forces from leaving her home;
       (4) an official notice from the Cuban Ministry of Labor and 
     Social Security in February reiterating the longstanding 
     government policy that bars independent ``journalists 
     activities'' and the independent publishing of ``edition of 
     newspapers, tabloids and magazines in any format''; and
       (5) a March 2020 raid on the office of the Instituto Cubano 
     por la Libertad de Expression y Prensa (ICLEP) publication 
     Paginas Villarenas, during which Cuban Government authorities 
     confiscated equipment and detained multiple journalists;
       Whereas Egypt's restrictions on the media have accelerated 
     under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since 2013, with at 
     least 27 journalists imprisoned during 2020, including--
       (1) Esraa Abdelfattah, who has attempted multiple hunger 
     strikes to protest her torture and mistreatment while 
     detained;
       (2) Shimaa Samy, who was detained on charges of joining a 
     terrorist organization, spreading false news, and misusing 
     social media for his work;
       (3) Hisham Abdel Aziz, an Al Jazeera journalist on the 
     verge of losing his eyesight following untreated glaucoma 
     while in prison; and
       (4) Mahmoud Abou Zeid, who was released after 5 years in 
     prison, but remains subject to a 5-year probation term that 
     requires him to spend the hours of 6:00 p.m. through 6:00 
     a.m. at a police station every night;
       Whereas assaults on press freedom in El Salvador imperil 
     its fragile democracy and include both verbal attacks on 
     journalists by political leaders and use of state power to 
     intimidate independent media, such as--
       (1) the ongoing criminal investigation against outlet El 
     Faro, which was launched after it reported damaging 
     information about the administration; and
       (2) the online attacks and threats to journalists from the 
     outlet Revista Factum, which has been banned from press 
     conferences at the presidential residence;
       Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders and Freedom 
     House, Indian authorities have recently imposed internet and 
     communication blackouts, detained and charged journalists 
     covering political demonstrations, and called for the 
     temporary blockage of journalists and media accounts on 
     Twitter;
       Whereas Iran remains a hostile environment for the press, 
     where media workers are subjected to summons, arrests, and 
     unjust sentences, including--
       (1) investigative journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed 
     on December 4, 2020, after being disappeared in October 2019 
     and charged with ``corruption on earth'' for his reporting;
       (2) freelance journalist Fariborz Kalantari, who was 
     sentenced on February 7, 2021, to 7 years in prison and 74 
     lashes for using his telegram channel to circulate articles 
     about corruption charges brought against the ex-Vice 
     President's brother; and
       (3) editor of weekly Agrin Rozh, Mahmoud Mahmoudi, who was 
     arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in 
     Sanandaj after issuing an open letter calling for the release 
     of detained Kurdish activists;
       Whereas Reporters Without Borders reported that Mexico was 
     the world's deadliest country for journalists outside of a 
     war zone in 2020, where reporters covering stories on 
     political corruption and organized crime are frequently 
     assaulted and murdered, including--
       (1) Ruben Pat, a local news website editor who was gunned 
     down on the street after requesting urgent protection when 
     one of his reporters, Jose Guadalupe Chan Dzib, was murdered; 
     and
       (2) Mario Leonel Gomez Sanchez, a journalist who was 
     murdered in the southern state of Chiapas after covering 
     cases of increased violence and alleged corruption 
     implicating municipal officials;
       Whereas on March 1, 2021 the Day of the Journalist in 
     Nicaragua, 470 journalists from around the world signed a 
     letter denouncing years of persecution of journalists in 
     Nicaragua, which has included news outlets forced to close 
     and individual journalists being threatened, harassed, sued, 
     surveilled, jailed, and forced into exile, including--
       (1) Miguel Angel Gahona, who was shot in April 2018 while 
     filming riots; and
       (2) Miguel Mora, Director of 100% Noticias, and journalist 
     Lucia Pineda, who were arrested in April 2018 and 
     subsequently tortured;
       Whereas Honduras remains one of the Western Hemisphere's 
     deadliest countries for journalists, where those working for 
     opposition media or who are outspoken critics of the 
     government are subjected to harassment, intimidation, and 
     death threats by the country's security forces and its 
     affiliates, including--
       (1) freelance journalist Luis Alonzo Almendares, who was 
     killed by 2 unidentified individuals in Comayagua in 
     September 2020; and
       (2) radio journalist Pedro Arcangel Canelas, who was shot 
     and killed in the rural department of Olancho in December 
     2020;
       Whereas media workers face heightened dangers in Russia, 
     where more than 210 rights infractions took place during 
     protests following the arrest of opposition leader Alexander 
     Navalny in January and February 2021, and wide-spread 
     harassment, censorship, and state-driven retaliation are 
     commonplace, including in the cases of--
       (1) Sergei Smirnov, who was sentenced to 25 days in jail 
     after sharing a joke on Twitter that called for ``rallies in 
     support of Navalny'';
       (2) Dmitry Nikitin, who was detained while covering a 
     protest;
       (3) Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist detained after 
     covering a protest in Sochi;
       (4) Ivan Kleimenov, a freelance photographer who was 
     severely beaten by police with a stun gun while covering a 
     protest, and consequently sentenced to 10 days in jail;
       (5) Ivan Safronov, a former investigative journalist 
     arrested in July 2020 on politically motivated charges of 
     treason; and
       (6) Svetlana Prokopieva, a correspondent for Radio Free 
     Europe/Radio Liberty and Echo of Moscow, who was found guilty 
     of ``inciting terrorism'' and fined 500,000 rubles after 
     reporting on the suicide of a 17-year-old inside a Federal 
     Security Service building;
       Whereas in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Ukrainian 
     journalists and bloggers have repeatedly been threatened, 
     arrested, and tortured for resisting Russian occupation, such 
     as the detention of Crimean journalist Vladyslav Yesipenko 
     and Crimean Tatar journalists Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem 
     Sheikhaliev, and Remzi Bekirov;
       Whereas the Office of the Director of National Intelligence 
     has concluded that the murder of Washington Post journalist 
     and American resident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018 was 
     approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman;
       Whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia maintains an especially 
     hostile environment towards journalists through systematic 
     and arbitrary arrests, torture and inhumane or degrading 
     treatment, lengthy pre-trial detentions, political 
     persecution, and conditional release restrictions, which 
     inhibit reporters and columnists from traveling or returning 
     to their professional work post-detention, including--
       (1) Maha Al-Rafidi Al-Qahtani, a journalist and writer 
     arrested in September 2019, held in solitary confinement, and 
     physically abused while in prison;
       (2) Redha Al-Boori, a writer and journalist detained for 
     almost 2 years in an unknown location;
       (3) Khadija Al-Harbi, a Saudi feminist writer and online 
     commentator arrested alongside her husband, journalist and 
     blogger Thumar Al-Marzouqi, while in the late stages of 
     pregnancy; and
       (4) Saleh Al-Shehi, a noted anti-corruption columnist 
     sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2018 for ``insulting the 
     royal court'', who died 3 weeks after his release from 
     prison;
       Whereas the battle for a free press continues to be fought 
     in Southeast Asia, where-
       (1) Bangladeshi journalists have repeatedly been arrested 
     and charged under the Digital Security Act, some of whom have 
     been subjected to torture and one of whom died in custody;
       (2) Steven Gan, the Editor-in-Chief of the news 
     organization Malaysiakini, was interrogated after readers 
     left comments criticizing Malaysia's judiciary on a 
     Mayalysiakini article reporting on a court's lifting of a 
     coronavirus lockdown;
       (3) Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa has been 
     targeted by the Filipino Government's aggressive campaign 
     against independent media after her reporting on President 
     Duterte's ``war on drugs'';
       (4) Thum Ping Tjin, founder and director of New Naratif, a 
     democracy-focused media organization, was detained by 
     Singaporean police after being accused of publishing 
     unauthorized and ``illegal'' paid advertisements on Facebook 
     during the July election campaign; and
       (5) Vietnamese journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong 
     Thuy, and Le Huu Minh Tuan were each sentenced to more than 
     10 years in prison;
       Whereas press freedom continues to face challenges in sub-
     Saharan Africa, including in--
       (1) Ethiopia, where journalist Lucy Kassa was questioned by 
     unidentified men on her reporting of the Government of 
     Ethiopia's armed conflict with the Tigray People's Liberation 
     Front and whose house was ransacked;
       (2) Cameroon, where journalist Samuel Wazizi was arrested 
     for his reporting and held incommunicado for nearly one year 
     before the government announced that he had died in custody;
       (3) Ghana, where Manasseh Azure Awuni received death 
     threats as a result of his reporting on the Ghanaian 
     election;
       (4) Nigeria, where the press faces a ``climate of permanent 
     violence'' and journalists, including Omoyele Sowore, have 
     been ``spied on, attacked, arbitrarily arrested, or even 
     killed'';
       (5) South Sudan, where reporter Bullen Alexander was 
     detained without cause for 4 days while covering the 
     University of Juba's student protests and Christopher Allen 
     was killed with impunity and without investigation while 
     reporting on the civil war; and
       (6) Zimbabwe, where journalist and filmmaker Hopewell 
     Chin'ono was abducted

[[Page S3510]]

     from his home and sentenced 45 days with an iron leg chain 
     for his live-streaming of protests and investigative 
     reporting;
       Whereas the Turkish Journalists' Association reported 
     that--
       (1) in 2020--
          (A) 1 out of every 4 Turkish journalists was subjected 
     to physical violence;
          (B) 1 out of every 2 Turkish journalists were 
     threatened; and
          (C) 1 out of every 5 Turkish journalists faced trial 
     (often on fabricated terrorism charges); and
       (2) Turkey is maintaining its standing as--
          (A) 1 of the world's most oppressive environments for 
     press freedom; and
          (B) 1 of the world's leading jailers of journalists;
       Whereas the Government of Venezuela continues to target 
     independent media outlets, attacking freedom of expression 
     and severely limiting Venezuelan access to accurate 
     information with at least 7 different media outlets targeted 
     in 2021, including an incident in January 2021 where 
     government officials entered the studio of the independent 
     news station Venezolanos por la Informacion in Caracas 
     without a warrant, seized their work equipment, and 
     threatened the journalists with arrest if they continued to 
     report;
       Whereas, under the auspices of the United States Agency for 
     Global Media, the United States Government provides financial 
     assistance to several editorially independent media outlets, 
     including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 
     Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and the 
     Middle East Broadcast Networks--
       (1) which report and broadcast news, information, and 
     analysis in critical regions around the world; and
       (2) whose journalists regularly face harassment, fines, and 
     imprisonment for their work; and
       Whereas the freedom of the press--
       (1) is a key component of democratic governance, activism 
     in civil society, and socioeconomic development; and
       (2) enhances public accountability, transparency, and 
     participation in civil society and democratic governance: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) declares that a free press--
       (A) is a central component of free societies, democratic 
     governance, and contributes to an informed civil society, and 
     government accountability;
       (B) helps expose corruption, and enhances public 
     accountability and transparency of governments at all levels; 
     and
       (C) disseminates information essential to improving public 
     health and safety;
       (2) expresses concerns about threats to press freedom and 
     freedom of expression around the world;
       (3) recognizes and commends journalism's role in providing 
     trusted, accurate, and timely information and in holding 
     governments and leaders accountable to citizens;
       (4) is dismayed that, under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, 
     many governments have restricted the work of journalists 
     reporting on the public health crisis and on peaceful 
     protests on a variety of issues;
       (5) pays tribute to journalists who made tremendous 
     sacrifices, including the loss of their lives, in the pursuit 
     of truth and justice;
       (6) condemns all actions around the world that suppress 
     freedom of the press;
       (7) calls for the unconditional and immediate release of 
     all imprisoned journalists;
       (8) reaffirms the centrality of freedom of the press to 
     efforts of the United States Government to support democracy, 
     mitigate conflict, and promote good governance domestically 
     and around the world; and
       (9) calls on the President and the Secretary of State--
       (A) to preserve and build upon the leadership of the United 
     States on issues relating to freedom of the press, on the 
     basis of the protections afforded the American people under 
     the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
       (B) to transparently investigate and bring to justice the 
     perpetrators of attacks against journalists; and
       (C) to promote the respect and protection of freedom of the 
     press around the world.

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