SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Around the world, human rights defenders 
form the backbone of democratic societies and move-
ments, advocating for human rights and political 
freedoms, protecting the environment, fighting cor-
ruption, and supporting good governance, inde-
pendent media, and labor rights. 
(2) Reprisals against human rights defenders 
are on the rise as autocratic and illiberal regimes in-
creasingly target human rights defenders with fab-
ricated legal charges, threats and violence for exer-
cising civil, political, economic, social, and cultural 
rights, often collaborating with transnational crimi-
nal organizations, paramilitary groups, private sector 
actors, and others to carry out such reprisals. 
(3) According to the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Human Rights, every year hundreds of 
human rights defenders are murdered and thousands 
more are subjected to torture, enforced disappear-
ance, sexual violence, hate crimes, unlawful or arbi-
trary detention, judicial harassment, unlawful or ar-
bitrary digital surveillance, and forced exile. 
(4) The lack of accountability for attacks on 
human rights defenders engenders further violence 
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and leaves human rights defenders hesitant or un-
able to continue their work out of fear of retaliation. 
(5) Foreign governments are no longer oppress-
ing only individuals within the borders of their coun-
tries and are increasingly resorting to transnational 
repression tactics, both digital and physical, to tar-
get human rights defenders outside of their coun-
tries of origin, often where such human rights de-
fenders are seeking asylum or temporary refuge. 
(6) Human rights defenders facing the highest 
levels of violence include individuals advocating for 
land rights and environmental issues, Indigenous 
communities, the freedoms of expression, assembly, 
and 
association, 
minority 
communities, 
and 
LGBTQI+, women’s, youth, and religious rights. 
(7) Environmental human rights defenders are 
vulnerable to reprisals because such human rights 
defenders pose challenges to financial interests and 
often live in remote areas where government over-
sight is weak and powerful actors can use corrupt 
practices and brute force to seize resources with im-
punity. 
(8) Women human rights defenders often face 
additional grave risks, including gender-based vio-
lence, reprisals against their children, use of digital 
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disinformation campaigns against them, and stig-
matization from their families, workplaces, and com-
munities. 
(9) Many human rights defenders who have 
been forced into exile desire to continue their advo-
cacy from abroad, yet such human rights defenders 
lack the legal protections and support they need to 
continue such advocacy. 
(10) The United States has a strong legacy of 
supporting human rights defenders. Given the rising 
number of human rights defenders at risk, the 
United States should elevate and enhance such sup-
port, especially at embassies, consulates, and foreign 
missions of the United States. 
(11) The training and guidance for individuals 
and organizations working with the United States 
Government, including members of the Foreign 
Service, on recognizing and responding to reprisals 
against human rights defenders is insufficient, lead-
ing to ad hoc and inconsistent responses, while 
human rights defenders who are at risk are fre-
quently unaware of how to safely work with United 
States officials abroad and the resources that are 
available to human rights defenders. 
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(12) The United States has neither a coherent 
strategy to strengthen protections for human rights 
defenders, nor adequate measures to prevent and re-
spond to cases in which members of foreign security 
forces, law enforcement, judicial institutions, crimi-
nal groups, or private companies contribute to at-
tacks on human rights defenders. The United States 
also lacks adequate consular resources and authori-
ties to facilitate temporary evacuation of human 
rights defenders facing immediate lethal danger. 
(13) While the United States possesses multiple 
tools to hold perpetrators of reprisals accountable, 
including sanctions, export controls, visa restrictions, 
and diplomatic pressure, the United States deploys 
such tools unevenly and without clear connections to 
a broader strategic framework to strengthen protec-
tions for human rights defenders. 
(14) Given the dramatic increase in attacks on 
human rights defenders globally, the current ap-
proach by the United States Government to address 
such attacks is insufficient to adequately respond to 
the threats human rights defenders face, weakening 
the ability of the United States to advance human 
rights and democratic principles, respond to the cli-
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mate 
crisis, 
counter 
corruption, 
and 
combat 
transnational crime. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Relations 
of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives. 
(2) DEMOCRACY
ADVOCATE
AT
RISK.—The 
term ‘‘democracy advocate at risk’’ means a human 
rights defender or other individual engaging in 
peaceful democratic advocacy or political protest who 
participates in the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fel-
lows Program. 
(3) HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘human 
rights defender’’ means an individual, working 
alone or in a group, who uses nonviolent means 
to promote or protect human rights and funda-
mental freedoms, in a manner consistent with 
the principles described in the United Nations 
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. 
(B) 
INCLUSIONS.—The 
term 
‘‘human 
rights defender’’ may include members of civil 
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society organizations, journalists, activists, law-
yers, community leaders, land and environ-
mental defenders, labor leaders and activists, 
anti-corruption activists, whistleblowers, polit-
ical prisoners, members of opposition political 
parties, and any other individual engaging in 
peaceful advocacy, actions, or political protest. 
(4) REPRISAL.—The term ‘‘reprisal’’ means an 
act or omission that— 
(A) violates, intends to violate, or encour-
ages a violation of the rights of a human rights 
defender; or 
(B) otherwise prevents a human rights de-
fender from carrying out his or her work. 
(5) UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON HUMAN 
RIGHTS
DEFENDERS.—The term ‘‘United Nations 
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders’’ means 
the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of 
Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Pro-
mote and Protect Universally Recognized Human 
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (United Nations 
General Assembly Resolution 53/144 (1998)), adopt-
ed by the United Nations General Assembly on De-
cember 9, 1998. 
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SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States— 
(1) to reaffirm the commitment of the United 
States to— 
(A) the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, adopted by the United Nations on De-
cember 10, 1948; 
(B) the United Nations Declaration on 
Human Rights Defenders; and 
(C) human rights defenders, who, often at 
great risk to themselves, work nonviolently to 
protect and advance human rights and demo-
cratic principles; 
(2) to integrate support for human rights de-
fenders and democracy advocates and their protec-
tion from reprisals as part of bilateral and multilat-
eral diplomatic, development, defense, economic, law 
enforcement, security assistance, export control, cli-
mate, and anti-corruption activities of the United 
States; 
(3) to engage with the private sector to respect, 
support, and, when possible, protect human rights 
defenders and prevent human rights violations 
throughout business operations, investments, and 
supply chains in accordance with the Guiding Prin-
ciples on Business and Human Rights published by 
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the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational 
Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct; 
(4) to work in solidarity with front-line human 
rights defenders and democracy advocates to inte-
grate prevention, mitigation, and response measures 
into development and foreign assistance activities to 
strengthen physical and digital safety, well-being, 
protection measures, and the resiliency of local orga-
nizations in the country of concern; 
(5) to assist human rights defenders and their 
immediate family members living in exile so they can 
safely continue their work, free from threats or acts 
of transnational repression; 
(6) to end impunity for reprisals against human 
rights defenders by strengthening accountability for 
perpetrators, including through appropriate inves-
tigations and prosecutions, exercise of sanctions au-
thorities such as the Global Magnitsky Human 
Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), 
and support for other mechanisms and measures; 
(7) to strengthen access to justice and provide 
legal representation for human rights defenders; 
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(8) to affirm that support for human rights de-
fenders and their protection from reprisals is central 
to the policy interests of the United States; and 
(9) to coordinate assistance strategies and di-
rect assistance for human rights defenders with bi-
lateral partners, non-governmental foundations and 
charities, and other advocates and service providers. 
SEC. 5. GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFEND-
ERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and once every 3 years 
thereafter, the President, in consultation with the heads 
of relevant Federal agencies, shall develop and submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a comprehensive 
interagency strategy to support and protect human rights 
defenders abroad to be known as the Global Human 
Rights Defenders Strategy (referred to in this section as 
the ‘‘Strategy’’). 
(b) ELEMENTS OF THE STRATEGY.—The Strategy 
shall include detailed information on the following ele-
ments: 
(1) An assessment of tools and resources avail-
able at United States embassies and missions to 
support human rights defenders, including— 
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(A) measures to monitor and respond to 
reprisals against human rights defenders, in-
cluding human rights defenders located outside 
of their country, and their immediate family 
members; and 
(B) information on implementation of the 
training required by subparagraph (E) of sec-
tion 708(a)(1) of the Foreign Service Act of 
1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028(a)(1)), as added by sec-
tion 8. 
(2) Bolstering the ability of United States em-
bassies and missions to prioritize the protection of 
human rights defenders, including— 
(A) ensuring the policy objectives described 
in section 4 are addressed in each country-spe-
cific Integrated Country Strategy of the De-
partment of State; 
(B) developing guidance for United States 
embassies and missions on assessing when and 
how to prevent and respond to reprisals against 
human rights defenders, including in countries 
that host human rights defenders in exile; 
(C) identifying a designated point of con-
tact at each United States embassy or mission 
who— 
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