117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7025 

AN ACT 

To prohibit the Director of the United States Fish and 

Wildlife Service from funding entities that commit, fund, 

or support gross violations of internationally recognized 

human rights, 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 ‘‘Advancing Human 

3 Rights-Centered International Conservation Act of 2022’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON7 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con8 gress’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Natural Resources 

10 of the House of Representatives; 

11 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

12 the House of Representatives; 

13 (C) the Committee of Appropriations of 

14 the House of Representatives; 

15 (D) the Committee on Environment and 

16 Public Works of the Senate; 

17 (E) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

18 the Senate; and 

19 (F) the Committee on Appropriations of 

20 the Senate. 

21 (2) COVERED RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

22 recipient’’ means any entity that receives financial 

23 assistance from the Director for the purpose of 

24 international activities or a subrecipient as defined 

25 in section 200.1 of title 2, Code of Federal Regula-
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1 tions, of such entity with respect to a grant issued 

2 by the Director. 

3 (3) CREDIBLE INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘cred4 ible information’’ means information that, consid5 ering the source of such information and the sur6 rounding circumstances, supports a reasonable belief 

7 that an event has occurred or will occur. 

8 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

9 the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 

10 Service. 

11 (5) GROSS VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONALLY

12 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio13 lation of internationally recognized human rights’’ 

14 has the meaning given that term in section 

15 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

16 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)). 

17 (6) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec18 tor General’’ means the Inspector General for the 

19 Department of the Interior. 

20 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘the Secretary’’ 

21 means the Secretary of State. 

22 (8) SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Service’’ means the 

23 United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 
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1 (9) UNIT OF A FOREIGN SECURITY FORCE.— 

2 The term ‘‘unit of a foreign security force’’ means 

3 a unit of— 

4 (A) a foreign military; 

5 (B) a foreign police force; 

6 (C) a foreign paramilitary group; 

7 (D) any person providing security services 

8 to a foreign government; and 

9 (E) such other organizations as the Sec10 retary of State determines appropriate. 

11 SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION GRANT RESTRIC12 TIONS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ensure that no 

14 international financial assistance provided by the Director 

15 shall be furnished to any covered recipient or subrecipient 

16 for funding or supporting any unit of a foreign security 

17 force if the Director or the Secretary of State has credible 

18 information that such unit has committed a gross violation 

19 of internationally recognized human rights. 

20 (b) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition in subsection (a) 

21 shall not apply if the Director, in consultation with the 

22 Secretary, determines and reports to the appropriate Con23 gressional committees that the applicable national govern24 ment, and covered recipient or subrecipient as appro25 priate, is taking effective steps to bring the responsible 
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1 members of the unit of a foreign security force to justice 

2 and to prevent gross violations of internationally recog3 nized human rights by the unit in the future. 

4 (c) RISK ANALYSIS.—In performing a risk assess5 ment analysis for a grant to a covered recipient, the Direc6 tor, in consultation with the Secretary, shall include the 

7 occurrence of human rights violations by individuals em8 ployed, funded, or supported by the covered recipient or 

9 subrecipient as a factor in such analysis. 

10 (d) PROCEDURES TO IDENTIFY HUMAN RIGHTS VIO11 LATORS.—The Director, in consultation with the Sec12 retary, shall establish, and periodically update, procedures 

13 to— 

14 (1) avoid duplication of effort with respect to 

15 vetting a unit of a foreign security force under this 

16 Act and vetting carried out under section 620M of 

17 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

18 2378d); 

19 (2) carry out the requirements of section 4; 

20 (3) ensure that for each country the Director 

21 and the Secretary have a current list of all units of 

22 foreign security forces receiving training, equipment, 

23 or other types of assistance through covered recipi24 ents or subrecipients; 
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1 (4) ensure that when an individual is des2 ignated to receive United States training, equipment, 

3 or other types of assistance the individual’s unit is 

4 vetted as well as the individual; 

5 (5) seek to identify the unit involved with re6 spect to any credible information of a gross violation 

7 of internationally recognized human rights in any 

8 nation in which a covered recipient or subrecipient 

9 provides funding, training, equipment, or other as10 sistance to a unit of a foreign security force; and 

11 (6) make publicly available the identity of those 

12 units for which no assistance shall be furnished pur13 suant to subsection (a) unless such publication 

14 would create a risk to national security or the health 

15 and safety of a victim of a gross violation of inter16 nationally recognized human rights. 

17 SEC. 4. INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION GRANT REQUIRE18 MENTS. 

19 (a) REQUIREMENTS TO RECEIVE A GRANT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall incor21 porate into the terms of an agreement for financial 

22 assistance to a covered recipient and require a duly 

23 designated representative of the covered recipient to 

24 certify before receiving the award that— 
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1 (A) the covered recipient will not commit, 

2 fund, or support gross violations of internation3 ally recognized human rights in carrying out 

4 the activities under the award; 

5 (B) the covered recipient has provided a 

6 list to the Director of each subrecipient to 

7 which the covered recipient intends to provide 

8 funding using such financial assistance and has 

9 provided a certification from each subrecipient 

10 that such subrecipient will not commit, fund, or 

11 support gross violations of internationally rec12 ognized human rights in carrying out the activi13 ties under the award; 

14 (C) the covered recipient has provided the 

15 Director with the covered recipient’s and each 

16 subrecipient’s written policy on maintaining 

17 standards for conduct consistent with recog18 nized international human rights standards, in19 cluding the Universal Declaration of Human 

20 Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the 

21 Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the United 

22 Nations Guiding Principles on Business and 

23 Human Rights; 
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1 (D) the covered recipient has implemented 

2 and is enforcing a social safeguards plan de3 scribed in subsection (b)(1); 

4 (E) the covered recipient has implemented 

5 procedures to detect, investigate, discipline or 

6 terminate a subrecipient, employee, or agent of 

7 the covered recipient that fails to comply with 

8 applicable policies to protect human rights in 

9 connection with the award; and 

10 (F) the covered recipient will comply with 

11 the requirements established in this section. 

12 (2) SUBSEQUENT SUBRECIPIENT.—If, after re13 ceiving an award of funds from the Director, a cov14 ered recipient selects a new subrecipient, the covered 

15 recipient shall provide the Director with— 

16 (A) an updated version of the list described 

17 in paragraph (1)(B); 

18 (B) a certification from such subrecipient 

19 that such subrecipient will not commit, fund, or 

20 support gross violations of internationally rec21 ognized human rights in carrying out the activi22 ties under the award; 

23 (C) the subrecipient’s written policy de24 scribed in paragraph (1)(C); and 
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1 (D) justification for any changes in selec2 tion of subrecipients. 

3 (b) SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS PLAN.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A social safeguards plan de5 scribed in this paragraph is a plan consistent with 

6 the principles of the documents listed in subsection 

7 (a)(1)(C) to implement appropriate human rights 

8 standards and prevent gross violations of inter9 nationally recognized human rights in connections 

10 with activities funded under the award that includes, 

11 as determined appropriate by the Director, taking 

12 into consideration the location, size, complexity, and 

13 scope of the award— 

14 (A) a process for meaningful consultation 

15 and engagement with Indigenous Peoples and 

16 local communities to safeguard their rights, in17 cluding obtaining their free, prior, and informed 

18 consent for any new land-use restriction and, if 

19 applicable, procedures for the fair resolution of 

20 existing land and resource claims, in the area in 

21 which the project will be conducted; 

22 (B) requirements for internal review of re23 search involving human subjects; 

24 (C) measures to improve governance, in25 crease the agency and protect the rights and 
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1 needs of Indigenous Peoples and local commu2 nities, and address the potential adverse im3 pacts of a project on the well-being and security 

4 of Indigenous Peoples and local communities; 

5 (D) a grievance redress mechanism to re6 dress gross violations of internationally recog7 nized human rights; 

8 (E) human rights training and effective 

9 monitoring by the recipient for law enforcement 

10 personnel and units of a foreign security force; 

11 and 

12 (F) publication of documents, such as park 

13 management plans and ranger codes of conduct, 

14 that are relevant to potential impacts of the 

15 project on Indigenous Peoples and local commu16 nities. 

17 (2) GUIDANCE AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

18 To assist covered recipients develop, implement, and 

19 enforce a social safeguard plan that meets the re20 quirements of paragraph (1), the Director may— 

21 (A) develop and publish guidance on devel22 oping, implementing, and enforcing a social 

23 safeguard plan; and 

24 (B) provide technical assistance to covered 

25 recipients and subrecipients. 
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1 (c) REQUIREMENT TO REMEDY VIOLATIONS.—The 

2 Director may require a covered recipient to take such 

3 measures to address an alleged violation of the terms of 

4 an agreement required by subsection (a) as the Director 

5 determines appropriate. 

6 (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

7 (1) INITIAL NOTIFICATION.—A covered recipi8 ent shall refer all credible information of a gross vio9 lation of internationally recognized human rights in 

10 connection with a Service award by such covered re11 cipient or a subrecipient of such covered recipient to 

12 the Director and to the diplomatic or consular post 

13 of the United States for the country at issue as soon 

14 as reasonably practicable, but not later than 30 days 

15 after the date on which the covered recipient knew 

16 or should have known such information. 

17 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the 

18 first date on which a covered recipient provides noti19 fication under paragraph (1), the covered recipient 

20 shall submit to the Director a report describing spe21 cific steps taken to address an alleged violation and 

22 enforce the requirements of the covered recipient’s 

23 plan pursuant to subsection (a)(1)(D) and all rel24 evant information relating to the allegation. 
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1 (3) EXTENSION.—The Director may grant a 

2 covered recipient an extension of not more than 30 

3 days on the time period to file a report under para4 graph (2) if the Director determines that such ex5 tension will improve the Director’s ability to carry 

6 out the purposes of this section. 

7 (4) RESPONSIBILITIES OF COVERED RECIPI8 ENT.—The covered recipient shall fully cooperate 

9 with any Federal agencies responsible for audits, in10 vestigations, or corrective actions relating to gross 

11 violations of human rights under this Act. 

12 (5) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AWARDING PRO13 GRAM.—The head of the program that awarded the 

14 financial assistance shall, with respect to each alle15 gation reported under paragraph (1), not later than 

16 30 days after receipt of the report required by para17 graph (2), complete an investigation, in consultation 

18 with the diplomatic or consular post of the United 

19 States for the country at issue, into such allegation 

20 and submit the results of such investigation, infor21 mation received under paragraph (1), and each re22 port received under paragraph (2) relating to such 

23 allegation to the Director and the diplomatic or con24 sular post of the United States for the country at 

25 issue. 
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1 (e) NOTIFICATION.—If the Director receives credible 

2 information of a gross violation of internationally recog3 nized human rights by a covered recipient or a sub4 recipient of a covered recipient in connection with an 

5 award provided by the Service, then the Director shall, in 

6 consultation with the diplomatic or consular post of the 

7 United States for the applicable country— 

8 (1) immediately notify the relevant covered re9 cipient and require that the covered recipient submit 

10 a report under subsection (d)(2) not later than 60 

11 days after such notification; 

12 (2) immediately notify the government of the 

13 applicable country if the Director determines such 

14 notification is appropriate; and 

15 (3) to the maximum extent practicable, assist 

16 such government in taking effective measures to 

17 bring the responsible members of the unit of a for18 eign security force to justice. 

19 (f) REVIEW OF ALLEGATIONS.— 

20 (1) REFERRAL.—Unless the covered recipient 

21 submits information showing, to the satisfaction of 

22 the Director, that the alleged violation has been re23 solved, abated, or did not occur, the Director shall, 

24 not later than 30 days after receiving information 

25 relating to an allegation under subsection (d)(5), 
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1 refer such alleged violation to the Inspector General 

2 and the diplomatic or consular post of the United 

3 States for the country at issue, including the report 

4 provided by the covered recipient under subsection 

5 (d)(2), and notify the covered recipient of such refer6 ral. 

7 (2) INVESTIGATION.— 

8 (A) PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION.—The 

9 Inspector General shall, not later than 30 days 

10 after a referral of an alleged violation under 

11 paragraph (1), determine whether the referral 

12 requires an investigation and may make a rec13 ommendation to the Director as to whether the 

14 award should be suspended during the course of 

15 the investigation. 

16 (B) SUSPENSION OF AWARD.— 

17 (i) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving a 

18 recommendation from the Inspector Gen19 eral under subparagraph (A), the Director 

20 may suspend the award until a final dis21 position of such award under subsection 

22 (g). 

23 (ii) APPEAL.—A covered recipient 

24 may appeal a suspension under subsection 
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1 (g) pursuant to subpart G of part 4, Code 

2 of Federal Regulations. 

3 (C) DETERMINATION THAT NO INVESTIGA4 TION IS REQUIRED.—If the Inspector General 

5 determines under subparagraph (A) that the re6 ferral does not require further investigation, the 

7 Inspector General shall document the rationale 

8 for such determination and shall notify the rel9 evant Committees of Congress. 

10 (D) DETERMINATION THAT AN INVESTIGA11 TION IS REQUIRED.—If the Inspector General 

12 determines that an investigation is required 

13 under subparagraph (A), the Inspector General 

14 shall complete such investigation not later than 

15 180 days after a referral under paragraph (1) 

16 and prepare a report on such investigation, 

17 which shall include— 

18 (i) the Inspector General’s conclusions 

19 regarding whether or not any allegations 

20 that the covered recipient or any sub21 recipient of the covered recipient has com22 mitted a gross violation of internationally 

23 recognized human rights in connection 

24 with the award are substantiated and re25 garding the effectiveness of the actions of 
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1 the recipient and any subrecipient in pre2 venting and responding to such violations; 

3 (ii) recommendations based on the 

4 findings of such investigation; and 

5 (iii) a recommendation on whether the 

6 award should be terminated. 

7 (E) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—The In8 spector General shall provide the report re9 quired by subparagraph (C) to the Director and 

10 the diplomatic or consular post of the United 

11 States for the country at issue. 

12 (g) ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES.—The following re13 quirements apply to any administrative action to enforce 

14 the requirements of this section with respect to a covered 

15 recipient: 

16 (1) WRITTEN RESPONSE.—A covered recipient 

17 subject to administrative action under this sub18 section may submit, not later than 30 days after the 

19 date of such administrative action, a written re20 sponse to contest such action. 

21 (2) MEETING.—The Director, or a representa22 tive, shall meet with a covered recipient that has 

23 filed a response under subparagraph (1) and re24 quests such a meeting not later than 45 days after 

25 the date of such administrative action to allow such 
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1 covered recipient an opportunity to present informa2 tion, including witness testimony, for inclusion in the 

3 administrative record. 

4 (3) TIMELINE FOR DETERMINATION.—The Di5 rector shall, not later than 45 days after conclusion 

6 of any procedures required by paragraphs (1) and 

7 (2), make a determination in writing as to whether 

8 to continue, modify, or terminate an administrative 

9 action under this subsection. 

10 (4) RECONSIDERATION.—A covered recipient 

11 that was the subject of an administrative action 

12 under this subsection may request a reconsideration 

13 of such administration action based upon— 

14 (A) newly discovered evidence; 

15 (B) a change in ownership or management; 

16 or 

17 (C) such other factors as the Director de18 termines appropriate. 

19 (h) FINANCIAL AND PROGRAMMATIC AUDIT OF

20 GRANTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall perform 

22 and require compliance with periodic financial and 

23 programmatic audits of covered recipients receiving 

24 financial assistance from the Director. The Director 

25 shall prioritize audits of programs— 
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1 (A) with new land-use restrictions; 

2 (B) in fragile or conflict-affected states; or 

3 (C) in regions that otherwise have an ele4 vated risk of gross violations of internationally 

5 recognized human rights. 

6 (2) SPECIFIC AWARD CONDITION AUDITS.—The 

7 Director shall carry out regular audits of any cov8 ered recipient that is subject to specific award condi9 tions under subsection (i). 

10 (i) REMEDIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—Each agree11 ment for financial assistance made by the Director with 

12 a covered recipient is subject to the provisions of subpart 

13 D of part 200 of chapter II of subtitle A of title 2 of 

14 the Code of Federal Regulations. The Director may con15 sider, in determining an appropriate remedy of a violation 

16 of a grant requirement under such provision, whether the 

17 covered recipient was in compliance with subsection 

18 (a)(1)(D) at the time of such violation. 

19 (j) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Director, in consultation 

20 with the Secretary of State, shall, not later than 1 year 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act and annually there22 after, submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 

23 a report summarizing, with respect to the previous cal24 endar year— 
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1 (1) each report received under subsection 

2 (d)(2); 

3 (2) each investigation concluded by the Inspec4 tor General under subsection (f)(2), including the 

5 purpose and duration of such investigation; 

6 (3) each administrative action taken with re7 spect to a covered recipient to enforce this Act; 

8 (4) information about the action taken by each 

9 covered recipient to abate a gross violation of inter10 nationally recognized human rights; 

11 (5) information about remedial actions taken by 

12 the Director pursuant to subsection (i); 

13 (6) explanations for each extension of time 

14 given under subsection (d)(3); and 

15 (7) a summary of allegations and information 

16 that the Director did not refer to the Inspector Gen17 eral and the explanation for why such information 

18 was not referred. 

19 (k) SAFEGUARD FOR SENSITIVE INFORMATION.—In 

20 carrying out this section, the Director may take such 

21 measures and withhold such information as the Director 

22 determines necessary to protect the safety of individuals— 

23 (1) who are victims, or at risk of being victims, 

24 of a gross violation of internationally recognized 

25 human rights; and 
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1 (2) who provide information regarding a poten2 tial gross violation of internationally recognized 

3 human rights. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 19, 2022. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7025 

AN ACT 

To prohibit the Director of the United States Fish 

other purposes. internationally recognized human rights, and for commit, fund, or support gross violations of and Wildlife Service from funding entities that