IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3714 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Daniel Pearl Freedom 

3 of the Press Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELAT5 ING TO FREEDOM OF THE PRESS WORLD6 WIDE IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON 

7 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES. 

8 The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended— 

9 (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)), as 

10 amended by section 333(c) of this division— 

11 (A) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

12 at the end; 

13 (B) in paragraph (11)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

15 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

16 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

17 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

18 and’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(12) wherever applicable— 

22 ‘‘(A) a description of the status of freedom 

23 of the press, including initiatives in favor of 

24 freedom of the press and efforts to improve or 

25 preserve, as appropriate, the independence of 


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1 the media, together with an assessment of 

2 progress made as a result of those efforts; 

3 ‘‘(B) an identification of countries in which 

4 there were violations of freedom of the press, 

5 including direct physical attacks, imprisonment, 

6 indirect sources of pressure, and censorship by 

7 governments, military, intelligence, or police 

8 forces, criminal groups, or armed extremist or 

9 rebel groups; and 

10 ‘‘(C) in countries where there are particu11 larly severe violations of freedom of the press— 

12 ‘‘(i) whether government authorities 

13 of each such country participate in, facili14 tate, or condone such violations of the free15 dom of the press; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) what steps the government of 

17 each such country has taken to preserve 

18 the safety and independence of the media, 

19 and to ensure the prosecution of those in20 dividuals who attack or murder journal21 ists.’’; and 

22 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by add23 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

24 ‘‘(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall in25 clude, wherever applicable— 


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1 ‘‘(1) a description of the status of freedom of 

2 the press, including initiatives in favor of freedom of 

3 the press and efforts to improve or preserve, as ap4 propriate, the independence of the media, together 

5 with an assessment of progress made as a result of 

6 those efforts; 

7 ‘‘(2) an identification of countries in which 

8 there were violations of freedom of the press, includ9 ing direct physical attacks, imprisonment, indirect 

10 sources of pressure, and censorship by governments, 

11 military, intelligence, or police forces, criminal 

12 groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups; and 

13 ‘‘(3) in countries where there are particularly 

14 severe violations of freedom of the press— 

15 ‘‘(A) whether government authorities of 

16 each such country participate in, facilitate, or 

17 condone such violations of the freedom of the 

18 press; and 

19 ‘‘(B) what steps the government of each 

20 such country has taken to preserve the safety 

21 and independence of the media, and to ensure 


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1 the prosecution of those individuals who attack 

2 or murder journalists.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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