IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8405 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 

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

AN ACT 

To direct the Department of State to ensure persons representing the United States in international athletic competitions in certain countries are appropriately informed, 

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 ‘‘American Values and 

3 Security in International Athletics Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) In 2017, the International Olympic Com7 mittee (IOC) revised its Host City Contract to re8 quire host countries to ‘‘protect and respect human 

9 rights and ensure any violation of human rights is 

10 remedied in a manner consistent with international 

11 agreements, laws, and regulations applicable in the 

12 Host Country and in a manner consistent with all 

13 internationally recognised human rights standards 

14 and principles, including the United Nations Guiding 

15 Principles on Business and Human Rights, applica16 ble in the Host Country’’. 

17 (2) The Olympic Charter states the goal of 

18 Olympism is ‘‘to place sport at the service of the 

19 harmonious development of humankind, with a view 

20 to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the 

21 preservation of human dignity’’. 

22 (3) The IOC set up an advisory committee on 

23 human rights in December 2018, and IOC President 

24 Thomas Bach said, ‘‘Promoting humanistic values in 

25 sport has been a core feature of the IOC since its 

26 beginning. Our mission, to put sport at the service 


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1 of humanity, goes hand-in-hand with human rights, 

2 which is part of our DNA.’’. 

3 (4) In the report, ‘‘The Cybersecurity of Olym4 pic Sports: New Opportunities, New Risks’’, the UC 

5 Berkley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity listed 

6 the ‘‘hacking and release of sensitive athletic data’’ 

7 as one of the four significant categories of 

8 cyberattacks on major sporting events. 

9 (5) According to the State Department’s 2019 

10 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the 

11 People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Public Se12 curity employs ‘‘tens of millions of surveillance cam13 eras’’ to monitor the general public, as well as ‘‘po14 litical dissidents, religious leaders and adherents, Ti15 betans, and Uyghurs’’. 

16 (6) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) Gov17 ernment’s extensive use of artificial intelligence sur18 veillance technology, including facial and voice pat19 tern recognition technology, poses grave humani20 tarian, privacy, and security concerns. PRC authori21 ties have used surveillance technology to monitor, 

22 control, and repress an estimated 1.8 million 

23 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the 

24 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. PRC State 

25 media has confirmed that ‘‘voice, image, position 


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1 and behavior recognition technologies’’ will be used 

2 in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 

3 SEC. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS FOR AMERICAN ATH4 LETIC DELEGATIONS. 

5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that individuals representing the United States at 

7 international athletic competitions in foreign countries 

8 should have the opportunity to be informed about human 

9 rights and security concerns in such countries and how 

10 best to safeguard their personal security and privacy. 

11 (b) IN GENERAL.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary of State shall devise and implement a strategy 

15 for disseminating briefing materials, including infor16 mation described in subsection (c), to individuals 

17 representing the United States at international ath18 letic competitions in a covered country. 

19 (2) TIMING AND FORM OF MATERIALS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The briefing materials 

21 referred to in paragraph (1) shall be offered not 

22 later than 180 days prior to the commencement 

23 of an international athletic competition in a 

24 covered country. 


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1 (B) FORM OF DELIVERY.—Briefing mate2 rials related to the human rights record of cov3 ered countries may be delivered electronically or 

4 disseminated in person, as appropriate. 

5 (C) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—Informa6 tion briefing materials related to personal secu7 rity risks may be offered electronically, in writ8 ten format, by video teleconference, or 

9 prerecorded video. 

10 (3) CONSULTATIONS.—In devising and imple11 menting the strategy required under paragraph (1), 

12 the Secretary of State shall consult with the fol13 lowing: 

14 (A) The Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

15 the House of Representatives and the Com16 mittee on Foreign Relations in the Senate, not 

17 later than 90 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act. 

19 (B) Leading human rights nongovern20 mental organizations and relevant subject-mat21 ter experts in determining the content of the 

22 briefings required under this subsection. 

23 (C) The United States Olympic and 

24 Paralympic Committee and the national gov25 erning bodies of amateur sports that play a role 


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1 in determining which individuals represent the 

2 United States in international athletic competi3 tions, regarding the most appropriate and effec4 tive method to disseminate briefing materials. 

5 (c) CONTENT OF BRIEFINGS.—The briefing mate6 rials required under subsection (b) shall include, with re7 spect to a covered country hosting an international athletic 

8 competition in which individuals may represent the United 

9 States, the following: 

10 (1) Information on the human rights concerns 

11 present in such covered country, as described in the 

12 Department of State’s Annual Country Reports on 

13 Human Rights Practices. 

14 (2) Information, as applicable, on risks such in15 dividuals may face to their personal and digital pri16 vacy and security, and recommended measures to 

17 safeguard against certain forms of foreign intel18 ligence targeting, as appropriate. 

19 (d) COVERED COUNTRY DEFINED.—In this section, 

20 the term ‘‘covered country’’ means, with respect to a coun21 try hosting an international athletic competition in which 

22 individuals representing the United States may partici23 pate, any of the following: 


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1 (1) Any Communist country specified in sub2 section (f) of section 620 of the Foreign Assistance 

3 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(f)). 

4 (2) Any country ranked as a Tier 3 country in 

5 the most recent Department of State’s annual Traf6 ficking in Persons Report. 

7 (3) Any other country the Secretary of State 

8 determines present serious human rights concerns 

9 for the purpose of informing such individuals. 

10 (4) Any country the Secretary of State, in con11 sultation with other cabinet officials as appropriate, 

12 determines presents a serious counterintelligence 

13 risk. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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