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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1782 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1782

  To promote human rights in Cuba, urge the Cuban Government to meet 
        certain human rights milestones, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 14, 2015

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Diaz-
 Balart, Mr. Sires, Mr. Curbelo of Florida, Mr. Lance, Mr. MacArthur, 
   Mr. Meadows, Mr. Frelinghuysen, and Mr. LoBiondo) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To promote human rights in Cuba, urge the Cuban Government to meet 
        certain human rights milestones, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Cuba Human Rights 
Act of 2015''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; Table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 4. Statement of policy.
Sec. 5. United States public diplomacy.
Sec. 6. Religious freedom.
Sec. 7. Trafficking in persons.
Sec. 8. Support for the Cuban people.
Sec. 9. Annual report.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) United States foreign policy towards the Government of 
        Cuba is governed by a variety of Federal laws, including the 
        Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the International Claims 
        Act of 1949, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban 
        Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the International Economic 
        Powers Act of 1977, the Food Security Act of 1985, the Internal 
        Revenue Code of 1986, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the 
        Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, the 
        Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 
        of 1999, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 
        Act of 2000.
            (2) Since 1961, it has been the stated policy of the United 
        States to institute a commercial and economic embargo against 
        the Government of Cuba, supported and buttressed by the Federal 
        laws referred to in paragraph (1), with the Cuban Assets 
        Control Regulations of 1963 being the principal means through 
        which the United States enforces its embargo against Cuba. 
        These Federal laws and related regulations regulate commerce, 
        trade, travel, and telecommunications with Cuba.
            (3) The Cuban regime, which is effectively synonymous with 
        the Communist Party of Cuba, forbids public challenge to the 
        legitimacy of its single-party rule, and restricts freedom of 
        assembly, association, expression, press, religion, and speech, 
        as well as tightly limits access to the Internet and 
        telecommunications. This includes attempts to jam access to the 
        Internet and the signals of some foreign radio and television 
        stations, including the United States sponsored Radio y 
        Televisioon Martii.
            (4) The Government of Cuba continues to harbor fugitives 
        wanted in the United States, such as Joanne Chesimard, who is 
        on the top of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted 
        Terrorist List. Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, was 
        convicted of murdering New Jersey State trooper Werner 
        Foerster. After escaping prison, Chesimard fled to Cuba, where 
        Fidel Castro granted her political asylum. This deplorable 
        failure to extradite has caused ongoing suffering and stress to 
        Mr. Foerster's surviving family and friends.
            (5) The Government of Cuba continues to detain, imprison, 
        place under house arrest, convict, or otherwise restrict its 
        citizens for peacefully expressing any dissenting political 
        views, deny workers the right of free association and the 
        related right to organize and collectively bargain outside the 
        state monopoly on power, and limit freedom of religion, 
        restrict the operations of independent religious organizations, 
        and persecute believers whose religious activities or views the 
        Government of Cuba regards as a potential threat to its 
        monopoly on power.
            (6) The Government of Cuba, through its Office of Religious 
        Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba 
        and the Ministry of Justice, controls all religious activity on 
        the island and often represses religious freedom, including the 
        harassment, beating, detainment, and jailing of individuals 
        involved in religious activities, typically on a weekly basis. 
        The Government of Cuba also unjustly uses treason laws to 
        repress religious freedom by accusing religious peoples of 
        being ``counter-revolutionaries'' and then illegally harassing, 
        beating, detaining, and jailing them.
            (7) Individuals arrested by the Government of Cuba because 
        of their political or religious affiliations and activities are 
        not accorded due legal process as they lack full access to 
        lawyers of their choice, may experience closed trials, have 
        often been detained for years without trial, and have been 
        subjected to the use of torture to admit to crimes that they 
        did not commit or to falsely denounce others.
            (8) Cuba continues to be a destination country for the 
        commercial sexual exploitation of women and young girls in the 
        form of sex tourism, as well as a source country for the forced 
        labor of individuals who subsequently face conditions of debt 
        bondage or forced labor.
            (9) The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and 
        several Latin American countries have passed resolutions 
        condemning the human rights abuses of the Government of Cuba.
            (10) In anticipation of the Summit of the Americas in 
        Panama, on April 8, 2015, persons affiliated with the Castro 
        regime attacked Cuban pro-democracy activists Jorge Luis Garcia 
        Perez ``Antunez'', Yris Perez Aguilera, Juan Carlos Gonzaalez 
        Leyva, Leticia Ramos Herreriia, and Rolando Rodriiguez Lobaina 
        and United States citizens Orlando Gutierrez, Silvia Iriondo, 
        and Gus Monge during a peaceful gathering.
            (11) According to media reports, Colonel Alexis Frutos 
        Weeden, who is the head of Cuban intelligence in Venezuela, was 
        identified as one of the assailants in Panama who attacked the 
        Cuban pro-democracy activists and United States citizens.
            (12) Despite the continued presence of these aggravating 
        circumstances, President Obama recently announced his intention 
        to comprehensively modify and normalize relations between the 
        United State and Cuba, all without the advice and consent of 
        Congress or with any attempt to amend or modify the myriad of 
        Federal laws and regulations that govern the United States-Cuba 
        relationship or the related embargo.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the United States-Cuba 
relationship should not be changed, nor should any Federal law or 
regulation be amended, until the Government of Cuba ceases violating 
the human rights of the people of Cuba.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It should be the policy of the United States to--
            (1) continue to vigorously oppose and denounce the human 
        rights violations of the Government of Cuba;
            (2) maintain the status quo of Federal law with respect to 
        the Government of Cuba, including sanctions and embargo, on the 
        Government of Cuba so long as it continues to violate the human 
        rights of the people of Cuba, and to deny the Government of 
        Cuba any embassy or consulates in the United States due to 
        security concerns stemming from past illicit espionage 
        activities;
            (3) seek the cooperation of other democratic countries in 
        this policy;
            (4) make clear to other countries that, in determining its 
        relations with them, the United States will take into account 
        their willingness to cooperate in such a policy; and
            (5) not amend the Federal laws and regulations referred to 
        in section 2(1) and not reduce the sanctions against the 
        Government of Cuba until the Government of Cuba ceases 
        violating and, in fact, protects, the human rights of the 
        people of Cuba, including--
                    (A) releasing all political and religious 
                prisoners;
                    (B) respecting the right to freedom of religion, 
                including the right to participate in religious 
                activities and institutions without interference, 
                harassment, or involvement of the Government of Cuba 
                for all of Cuba's religious communities;
                    (C) returning estates and properties confiscated 
                from churches and religious communities;
                    (D) respecting the right to freedom of assembly, 
                association, expression, press, and speech, including 
                releasing all independent journalists, bloggers, and 
                democracy and labor activists;
                    (E) repealing or revising laws that criminalize 
                peaceful dissent, independent media, unsanctioned 
                religious activity, and nonviolent demonstrations and 
                rallies, in accordance with international standards and 
                treaties to which Cuba is a party;
                    (F) allowing Cuban nationals free and open access 
                to United States refugee programs;
                    (G) respecting the human rights of members of all 
                racial and ethnic minorities, including Afro-Cubans, 
                who face discrimination;
                    (H) taking all appropriate steps to end any 
                complicity of officials of the Government of Cuba or 
                companies wholly or partly owned or controlled by the 
                Government of Cuba in human rights violations, 
                including severe forms of trafficking in persons, and 
                vigorously investigating, prosecuting, convicting, and 
                sentencing such officials and the complicit individuals 
                in such companies for such conduct;
                    (I) satisfying, to the satisfaction of the 
                individual claims holders, all claims outstanding under 
                the International Claims Act of 1949 and the Cuban 
                Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, which 
                now total roughly $7 billion;
                    (J) returning all fugitives from justice convicted 
                in the United States of crimes, including Joanne 
                Chesimard, Guillermo Morales, Victor Manuel Gerena, and 
                Charles Hill; and
                    (K) ceasing the sponsorship of terrorist 
                organizations abroad or otherwise giving support and 
                refuge to such terrorist organizations, including the 
                Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FARC) of Colombia, the 
                Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), 
                and the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacioon Nacional (FALN) 
                of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

SEC. 5. UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY.

    (a) Radio Y Televisioon Martii Transmissions to Cuba.--It is the 
sense of Congress that the United States should take all necessary 
measures to overcome the jamming of all radio and television signals of 
the Radio y Televisioon Martii by the Government of Cuba and that the 
Broadcasting Board of Governors should not cut staffing, funding, or 
broadcast hours for Radio y Televisioon Martii.
    (b) United Nations Human Rights Council.--It is the sense of 
Congress that if the conditions described in section 4 are not met, the 
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations should 
strongly oppose, and encourage other Member States of the United 
Nations to strongly oppose, Cuba's continued membership on the United 
Nations Human Rights Council which acts as an affront to the legitimacy 
of such Council.

SEC. 6. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

    It is the sense of Congress that if the conditions described in 
subparagraph (B) of section 4(5) are not met, Cuba should be designated 
as a country of particular concern for religious freedom pursuant to 
subsection (b) of section 402 of the International Religious Freedom 
Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442).

SEC. 7. TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the annual report to Congress 
required under paragraph (1) of section 110(b) of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101(b); Public Law 106-386) 
should include an in-depth analysis of the facilitation of or 
involvement in severe forms of human trafficking by any type of 
official of the Government of Cuba or of companies wholly or partially 
owned by the Government of Cuba, including whether such officials or 
companies were involved in providing minors for commercial sex in the 
tourism industry.

SEC. 8. SUPPORT FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE.

    Nothing in this Act may be construed as--
            (1) prohibiting the donation of food to nongovernmental 
        organizations or individuals in Cuba;
            (2) restricting the export of medicine or medical supplies, 
        instruments, or equipment to Cuba as specified in the Cuban 
        Democracy Act of 1992 or any other applicable Federal law;
            (3) abrogating any requirement that the exports described 
        in paragraph (2) be verified in conformity with the Cuban 
        Democracy Act of 1992 or any other applicable federal law; or
            (4) prohibiting or restricting any other form of assistance 
        specified in the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, including 
        telecommunications, mail, and support for democracy.

SEC. 9. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall submit to Congress a report on the following:
            (1) Whether the conditions described in subparagraphs (A) 
        through (K) of section 4(5) have been met, as applicable.
            (2) Efforts by the United States to promote access by the 
        Cuban people to Radio y Televisioon Martii transmissions.
            (3) Lists of persons believed to be imprisoned, detained, 
        or placed under house arrest, tortured, or otherwise persecuted 
        by the Government of Cuba due to their pursuit of 
        internationally recognized human rights. In compiling such 
        lists, the Secretary shall exercise appropriate discretion, 
        including concerns regarding the safety and security of, and 
        benefit to, the persons who may be included on such lists and 
        their families, but if such persons are not identified by name 
        then they shall disclosed in camera to the Committee on Foreign 
        Affairs of the House of Representatives or the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations of the Senate if requested. In addition, the 
        Secretary shall include a list of such persons and their 
        families who may qualify for protections under United States 
        refugee programs.
            (4) A description of the development of the rule of law in 
        Cuba, including information on the following:
                    (A) Progress toward the development of institutions 
                of democratic governance.
                    (B) Processes by which statutes, regulations, 
                rules, and other legal acts of the Government of Cuba 
                are developed and become binding within Cuba.
                    (C) The extent to which statutes, regulations, 
                rules, administrative and judicial decisions, and other 
                legal acts of the Government of Cuba are published and 
                are made accessible to the public.
                    (D) The extent to which administrative and judicial 
                decisions are supported by statements of reasons that 
                are based upon written statutes, regulations, rules, 
                and other legal acts of the Government of Cuba.
                    (E) The extent to which individuals are treated 
                equally under the laws of Cuba without regard to 
                citizenship, race, religion, political opinion, or 
                current or former associations.
                    (F) The extent to which administrative and judicial 
                decisions are independent of political pressure or 
                governmental interference and are reviewed by entities 
                of appellate jurisdiction.
                    (G) The extent to which laws in Cuba are written 
                and administered in ways that are consistent with 
                international human rights standards, including the 
                rights enumerated in the International Covenant on 
                Civil and Political Rights.
    (b) Contacts With Other Organizations.--In preparing the reports 
required under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall seek out 
and maintain contacts with nongovernmental organizations and human 
rights advocates (including Cuban-Americans and human rights advocates 
in Cuba), in order to receive and evaluate reports and updates from 
such advocates and organizations. The Secretary shall also consult with 
the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom when 
preparing such reports and make all efforts to accommodate the 
Commission's input in the final version of such reports.
                                 <all>
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