II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2689 

To provide for the appointment of a Special Envoy for Belarus. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide for the appointment of a Special Envoy for 

Belarus. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR BELARUS. 

4 (a) SPECIAL ENVOY.—The President shall appoint a 

5 Special Envoy for Belarus within the Department of State 

6 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Special Envoy’’). 

7 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Special Envoy— 

8 (1) should be a person of recognized distinction 

9 in the field of European security, geopolitics, democ10 racy, and human rights; and 

11 (2) may be a career foreign service officer. 


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1 (c) CENTRAL OBJECTIVE.—The central objective of 

2 the Special Envoy is to coordinate and promote efforts— 

3 (1) to improve respect for the fundamental 

4 human rights of the people of Belarus; 

5 (2) to sustain focus on the national security im6 plications, for the United States, of Belarus’s polit7 ical and military alignment; and 

8 (3) to respond to the political, economic, and 

9 security impacts of events in Belarus on neighboring 

10 countries and the wider region. 

11 (d) DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Special 

12 Envoy shall— 

13 (1) engage in discussions with Belarusian offi14 cials regarding human rights and political, economic, 

15 and security issues in Belarus; 

16 (2) support international efforts to promote 

17 human rights and political freedoms in Belarus, in18 cluding coordination and dialogue between the 

19 United States and the United Nations, the Organi20 zation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the 

21 European Union, Belarus, and the other countries in 

22 Eastern Europe; 

23 (3) consult with nongovernmental organizations 

24 that have attempted to address human rights and 

25 political and economic instability in Belarus; 


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1 (4) make recommendations regarding the fund2 ing of activities promoting human rights, democracy, 

3 the rule of law, and the development of a market 

4 economy in Belarus; 

5 (5) review strategies for improving protection of 

6 human rights in Belarus, including technical train7 ing and exchange programs; 

8 (6) develop an action plan for holding to ac9 count the perpetrators of the human rights viola10 tions documented in the United Nations High Com11 missioner for Human Rights report on the situation 

12 of human rights in Belarus in the run-up to the 

13 2020 presidential election and its aftermath (Human 

14 Rights Council Resolution 49/36); 

15 (7) engage with member countries of the North 

16 Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization for 

17 Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Euro18 pean Union with respect to the implications of 

19 Belarus’s political and security alignment for trans20 atlantic security; and 

21 (8) to work within the Department of State and 

22 among partnering countries to sustain focus on the 

23 political situation in Belarus. 

24 (e) ROLE.—The position of Special Envoy— 

25 (1) shall be a full-time position; 


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1 (2) may not be combined with any other posi2 tion within the Department of State; 

3 (3) shall only exist for the period during which 

4 United States diplomatic operations in Belarus at 

5 the United States Embassy in Minsk have been sus6 pended; and 

7 (4) shall oversee the operations and personnel 

8 of the Belarus Affairs Unit of the Department of 

9 State. 

10 (f) REPORT ON ACTIVITIES.—Not later than 180 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu12 ally thereafter for the following 5 years, the Secretary of 

13 State, in consultation with the Special Envoy, shall submit 

14 to the appropriate congressional committees a report that 

15 describes the activities undertaken pursuant to subsection 

16 (d) during the reporting period. 

17 (g) TERMINATION.—The position of Special Envoy 

18 for Belarus Affairs and the authorities provided by this 

19 section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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