I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1152

To promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law by providing

a process for executive agencies for declassifying on an expedited basis

and disclosing certain documents relating to human rights abuses in

countries other than the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 21, 2001

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. GILMAN, Mr.

SHAYS, Mr. HORN, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr.

TOWNS, Mr. UPTON, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs.

MALONEY of New York, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr.

BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TURNER, Mr.

ALLEN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CLAY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. DELAHUNT,

Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. OLVER, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr.

MCDERMOTT, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms.

MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. FILNER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr.

COSTELLO, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SERRANO, Mr.

MCNULTY, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. BARRETT, Mr. HOLT, Mr. DOYLE, Mr.

STARK, Ms. RIVERS, Ms. WATERS, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms.

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. UNDERWOOD, and Mr. SANDLIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law

by providing a process for executive agencies for declassifying on an expedited basis and disclosing certain documents relating to human rights abuses in countries other

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Human Rights Infor5 mation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The commitment to the promotion and pro9 tection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of

10 law around the world has led the United States to

11 undertake tremendous diplomatic, economic, and

12 military efforts to end systematic gross human

13 rights violations abroad, consistent with the national

14 interests and international leadership role of the

15 United States. Such efforts are thwarted if the cycle

16 of impunity for human rights violations in countries

17 other than the United States is not broken, and the

18 likelihood of the need for renewed United States en19 gagements in those countries remains.

20 (2) The United States has a significant interest

21 that newly established or reestablished democratic

22 societies take credible steps to fully investigate and

23 prosecute human rights violations. Such steps could

24 include the creation of a national or international

25 truth commission or tribunal, the appointment of a
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1 human rights officer, or the leading of official na2 tional investigations by credible sections of the civil

3 society, including churches and nongovernmental or4 ganizations.

5 (3) Executive agencies are in possession of doc6 uments pertaining to gross human rights violations

7 abroad that are needed by foreign authorities to doc8 ument, investigate, and subsequently prosecute in9 stances of continued and systematic gross human

10 rights violations, including those directed against

11 citizens of the United States.

12 (4) The overwhelming importance to the United

13 States of investigations by foreign authorities of

14 gross human rights violations and the urgency of re15 quests for legal assistance which the United States

16 will continue to receive from foreign entities require

17 a systematic process of expedited declassification

18 and disclosure of documents pertaining to such gross

19 human rights violations.

20 (5) Only an expedited systematic process can

21 help ensure timely investigations of perpetrators of

22 gross and systematic human rights violations and

23 provide families with urgently needed information

24 regarding the fate of relatives, including information

25 making possible the location, identification, and bur-
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1 ial of the remains of family members who have been

2 killed, bringing closure for those families and begin3 ning the process of national reconciliation.

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

5 In this Act:

6 (1) HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD.—The term

7 ‘‘human rights record’’ means a record in the pos8 session, custody, or control of the United States

9 Government containing information about gross vio10 lations of internationally recognized human rights

11 committed in a country other than the United

12 States.

13 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means the

14 National Archives and Records Administration (and

15 all the Presidential libraries it maintains), the Na16 tional Security Council, the Office of National Drug

17 Control Policy, and any executive agency of the

18 United States Government charged with the conduct

19 of foreign policy or foreign intelligence, including,

20 but not limited to, the Department of State, the De21 partment of Justice, the Department of Defense, the

22 Central Intelligence Agency, the Agency for Inter23 national Development, and the National Reconnais24 sance Office.
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1 (3) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY

2 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio3 lations of internationally recognized human rights’’

4 has the meaning given that term in section

5 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

6 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).

7 (4) INTERNATIONAL BONA FIDE REQUEST.—

8 The term ‘‘international bona fide request’’ means a

9 request for a human rights record from an indi10 vidual or entity (such as an entity created by the

11 United Nations, a regional international organiza12 tion, a national truth commission, or the principal

13 justice or human rights official of a country) that is

14 carrying out an official mandate to investigate a pat15 tern of gross violations of internationally recognized

16 human rights, pursuant to a proceeding that—

17 (A) is a credible examination or investiga18 tion conducted in accordance with the mandate

19 of the entity or official;

20 (B) is carried out in accordance with inter21 national law, including laws regarding appro22 priate jurisdiction of the person or entity car23 rying out the proceeding; and
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1 (C) does not threaten to violate due proc2 ess or other internationally recognized human

3 rights.

4 SEC. 4. DETERMINATIONS REQUIRED REGARDING RE5 QUESTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS.

6 (a) DETERMINATION REQUIRED.—If the President

7 or the head of an agency receives a request for a human

8 rights record from an individual or entity (such as an enti9 ty created by the United Nations, a regional international

10 organization, a national truth commission, or the principal

11 justice or human rights official of a country) that is car12 rying out an official mandate to investigate a pattern of

13 gross violations of internationally recognized human

14 rights, not later than 60 days after the receipt of such

15 request the President (or the Attorney General on behalf

16 of the President) shall make a determination whether such

17 request is an international bona fide request.

18 (b) PROCEDURES IN CASE OF POSITIVE DETERMINA19 TION.—If the President or Attorney General makes a de20 termination that a request under subsection (a) is an

21 international bona fide request, not later than 120 days

22 after the date that the President or Attorney General

23 makes such determination, the heads of the appropriate

24 agencies shall identify, review, and organize all human

25 rights records with respect to such request for the purpose
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1 of declassifying and disclosing the records to the public.

2 Except as provided in section 5 and subsection (d), all

3 records described in the preceding sentence shall be made

4 available to the public not later than 30 days after the

5 date that a review under this subsection is completed.

6 (c) PROCEDURES IN CASE OF NEGATIVE DETER7 MINATION.—If the President or Attorney General makes

8 a determination that a request under subsection (a) is not

9 an international bona fide request, such determination,

10 and a detailed explanation regarding such determination,

11 shall be published in the Federal Register not later than

12 90 days after the date that such request is received.

13 (d) REQUESTS FOR DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS ON

14 CONFIDENTIAL BASIS.—The head of an agency disclosing

15 human rights records as a result of a positive determina16 tion under subsection (b) shall honor a request of the indi17 vidual or entity that submitted the request for the

18 records—

19 (1) to disclose such records to the individual or

20 entity on a confidential basis; and

21 (2) to not disclose such records to the public

22 until 30 days after the date that the individual or

23 entity notifies the agency that the confidentiality of

24 such records is no longer required.
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1 SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF DISCLOSURE OF

2 RECORDS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may post4 pone disclosure of a human rights record or particular in5 formation in a human rights record under this Act only

6 if the head of the agency determines that there is clear

7 and convincing evidence that—

8 (1) the threat to the military defense, intel9 ligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of

10 the United States that would result from disclosure

11 of the human rights record is of such gravity that

12 it outweighs the public interest, and such disclosure

13 would reveal—

14 (A) an intelligence agent whose identity re15 quires protection;

16 (B) an intelligence source or method—

17 (i) which is being utilized, or reason18 ably expected to be utilized, by the United

19 States Government;

20 (ii) which has not been officially dis21 closed; and

22 (iii) the disclosure of which would

23 interfere with the conduct of intelligence

24 activities; or

25 (C) any other matter currently relating to

26 the military defense, intelligence operations, or
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1 conduct of foreign relations of the United

2 States, the disclosure of which would demon3 strably impair the national security of the

4 United States;

5 (2) the disclosure of the human rights record—

6 (A) would reveal the name or identity of a

7 living individual who provided confidential in8 formation to the United States; and

9 (B) would pose a substantial risk of harm

10 to such individual;

11 (3) the disclosure of the human rights record

12 could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwar13 ranted invasion of personal privacy, and that inva14 sion of privacy would be so substantial that it out15 weighs the public interest; or

16 (4) the disclosure of the human rights record

17 would compromise the existence of an understanding

18 of confidentiality requiring protection between a

19 United States Government agent and a cooperating

20 individual or a foreign government, and disclosure

21 would be so harmful that it outweighs the public in22 terest.

23 (b) SPECIAL TREATMENT OF CERTAIN INFORMA24 TION.—It shall not be grounds for postponement of disclo25 sure of a human rights record that an individual named
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1 in the human rights record was an intelligence asset of

2 the United States Government, although the existence of

3 such relationship may be withheld if any of the criteria

4 set forth in subsection (a) are met. For purposes of the

5 preceding sentence, the term ‘‘intelligence asset’’ means

6 a covert agent as defined in section 606(4) of the National

7 Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 426(4)).

8 SEC. 6. REVIEW OF DETERMINATIONS TO WITHHOLD

9 RECORDS.

10 (a) DUTIES OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—The Inter11 agency Security Classification Appeals Panel (referred to

12 in this Act as the ‘‘Appeals Panel’’), or any successor or13 ganization, shall review all determinations by the head of

14 an agency to postpone disclosure of a record under this

15 Act.

16 (b) DETERMINATIONS OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Appeals Panel may up18 hold a determination by the head of an agency to

19 postpone disclosure of a record under this Act only

20 if the Appeals Panel determines that there is clear

21 and convincing evidence that—

22 (A) the record is not a human rights

23 record; or
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1 (B) the record or particular information in

2 the record qualifies for postponement of disclo3 sure under section 5.

4 (2) TREATMENT IN CASES OF NONDISCLO5 SURE.—If the Appeals Panel concurs with an agency

6 decision to postpone disclosure of a record under

7 this Act, the Appeals Panel shall determine, in con8 sultation with the head of the agency and consistent

9 with the standards set forth in this Act, which, if

10 any, of the alternative forms of disclosure described

11 in paragraph (3) shall be made by the agency.

12 (3) ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DISCLOSURE.—

13 The forms of disclosure under this paragraph are

14 the following:

15 (A) Disclosure of any reasonably seg16 regable portion of the human rights record

17 after deletion of the portions described in para18 graph (1)(B).

19 (B) Disclosure of a record that is a sub20 stitute for information that is not disclosed.

21 (C) Disclosure of a summary of the infor22 mation in the human rights record.

23 (4) NOTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION.—

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of a

25 review under this section, the Appeals Panel
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1 shall notify the head of the agency in control or

2 possession of the record that was the subject of

3 the review of its determination and shall, not

4 later than 14 days after the determination, pub5 lish the determination in the Federal Register.

6 (B) NOTICE TO PRESIDENT.—The Appeals

7 Panel shall notify the President of a determina8 tion under this section. The notice shall contain

9 a written unclassified justification for the deter10 mination, including an explanation of the appli11 cation of the criteria set forth in section 5.

12 (5) GENERAL PROCEDURES.—The Appeals

13 Panel shall publish in the Federal Register guide14 lines regarding its policy and procedures for adjudi15 cating appeals under this section.

16 (c) PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW OF APPEALS PANEL DE17 TERMINATIONS.—

18 (1) DISCLOSURE OR POSTPONEMENT OF DIS19 CLOSURE.—The President shall have the sole and

20 nondelegable authority to review any determination

21 of the Appeals Panel under this Act, and such re22 view shall be based on the criteria set forth in sec23 tion 5. If the Appeals Panel overturns the deter24 mination of the head of an agency to withhold

25 records from declassification, not later than 30 days
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1 after the Appeals Panel’s determination and notifi2 cation to the head of the agency under subsection

3 (b)(4), the President shall provide the Appeals Panel

4 with an unclassified written certification specifying

5 the President’s determination and stating the rea6 sons for the decision, including, in the case of a de7 termination to postpone disclosure, the criteria set

8 forth in section 5 that are the basis for the Presi9 dent’s determination.

10 (2) RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL POSTPONE11 MENT.—The Appeals Panel shall, upon receipt of

12 the President’s determination, publish in the Federal

13 Register a copy of any unclassified written certifi14 cation, statement, and other materials transmitted

15 by or on behalf of the President with regard to the

16 postponement of disclosure of a record under this

17 Act.

18 SEC. 7. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND PUBLIC DISCLO19 SURE OF CERTAIN HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the head of each agency

22 shall identify, review, and organize all human rights

23 records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala and

24 Honduras for the purpose of declassifying and disclosing

25 such records to the public. Except as provided in section
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1 5, all records described in the preceding sentence shall be

2 made available to the public not later than 30 days after

3 the date that a review under this section is completed.

4 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 150 days

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President

6 shall report to Congress regarding each agency’s compli7 ance with the provisions of this section.

8 SEC. 8. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi10 sion of law, the provisions of this Act shall govern the de11 classification and disclosure of human rights records by

12 executive agencies.

13 (b) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.—Nothing in

14 this Act shall be construed to limit any right to file a re15 quest with any executive agency or seek judicial review of

16 a decision pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States

17 Code.

18 (c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Nothing in this Act shall be

19 construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of

20 title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or re21 quired to be taken under this Act.

22 SEC. 9. CREATION OF ADDITIONAL POSITIONS FOR AP23 PEALS PANEL.

24 Two additional positions shall be created for the Ap25 peals Panel (or any successor organization) solely for pur-
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1 poses of carrying out the provisions of this Act. In filling

2 such positions, the President—

3 (1) shall appoint individuals who are not em4 ployees of the United States who have demonstrated

5 substantial human rights expertise and who are able

6 to meet the security requirements for such positions;

7 and

8 (2) shall seek recommendations with respect to

9 such positions from nongovernmental human rights

10 organizations.

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