[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 194 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S7816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4282. Mr. MENENDEZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed 
to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 
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 end of subtitle F of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1054. COMBATING TRAFFICKING OF CUBAN DOCTORS.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the 
     ``Combating Trafficking of Cuban Doctors Act of 2021''.
       (b) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Department of State's 2020 Trafficking in Persons 
     report ranked Cuba in Tier 3 and included evidence regarding 
     Cuba's foreign medical missions and the Government of Cuba's 
     longstanding failure to criminalize most forms of forced 
     labor, specifically noting allegations that Cuban authorities 
     coerced participants to remain in foreign medical missions 
     by--
       (A) ``withholding their passports and medical 
     credentials'';
       (B) ``using `minders' to conduct surveillance of 
     participants outside of work'';
       (C) ``restricting their movement'';
       (D) ``retaliat[ing] against their family members in Cuba if 
     participants leave the program''; or
       (E) ``impos[ing] criminal penalties, exile, and family 
     separation if participants do not return to Cuba as directed 
     by government supervisors''.
       (2) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 
     2020, the Government of Cuba has deployed approximately 1,500 
     medical personnel to at least 20 countries.
       (3) The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary 
     forms of slavery and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
     trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in 
     their letter to the Government of Cuba on November 6, 2019--
       (A) noted reports of coercive labor practices through the 
     Government of Cuba's foreign medical missions;
       (B) highlighted reports by Cuban medical professionals that 
     they received regular threats from Cuban officials while 
     working overseas, including sexual harassment of women; and
       (C) expressed concern that the practices referred to in 
     subparagraphs (A) and (B) constitute slavery and trafficking 
     in persons.
       (4) In 2019, the Government of Cuba maintained an estimated 
     34,000 to 50,000 medical personnel in more than 60 countries 
     under conditions that represent forced labor, according to 
     the Department of State.
       (5) The Government of Cuba realized profits in excess of 
     $6,300,000,000 during 2018 from exporting the services of 
     Cuban professionals, of which foreign medical missions 
     represent the majority of the services and income.
       (6) The term ``severe forms of trafficking in persons'' is 
     defined under section 103(11)(B) of the Trafficking Victims 
     Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11)(B)) as ``the 
     recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or 
     obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use 
     of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to 
     involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery''.
       (c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the Government of Cuba subjects Cuban doctors and other 
     medical professionals to state-sponsored human trafficking; 
     and
       (2) the Government of Cuba should immediately and 
     transparently respond to requests for information from the 
     United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of 
     slavery and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
     trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
       (d) Annual Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter until 
     the date specified in subsection (f), the Secretary of State 
     shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
     of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
     House of Representatives that--
       (1) identifies the countries that are hosting Cuban medical 
     personnel who are participating in foreign medical missions 
     for the Government of Cuba;
       (2) to the extent feasible, includes an estimate of--
       (A) the number of Cuban medical personnel in each country; 
     and
       (B) the value of the financial arrangement between the 
     Government of Cuba and the host country government;
       (3) describes the conditions in each country under which 
     Cuban medical personnel live and work; and
       (4) describes the role of any international organization in 
     each country hosting Cuban medical personnel.
       (e) Determination on Human Trafficking.--In each report 
     submitted pursuant to subsection (d), the Secretary of State 
     shall determine whether--
       (1) the Cuban medical personnel in each country identified 
     in the report are subjected to conditions that qualify as 
     severe forms of trafficking in persons (as defined in section 
     103(11) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 
     U.S.C. 7102(11))); and
       (2) Cuba's foreign medical missions program constitutes 
     proof of failure to make significant efforts to bring the 
     Government of Cuba into compliance with the minimum standards 
     for the elimination of trafficking in persons (as determined 
     under section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
     of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106)).
       (f) Sunset.--The Secretary of State is not required to 
     submit the report otherwise required under subsection (d) 
     after the date on which the Secretary submits a second 
     consecutive annual report under such paragraph that includes 
     a determination under subsection (e) that Cuban medical 
     personnel are no longer subjected to trafficking in persons.
                                 ______