I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7939 
To counter malign influence, require transparency, and promote accountability 
within the United Nations system, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 4, 2020 
Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To counter malign influence, require transparency, and pro-
mote accountability within the United Nations system, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Trans-
parency and Accountability Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
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(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate. 
(2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 
staff who are compensated in any form in the gen-
eral services, professional staff, or senior manage-
ment of the United Nations system, including con-
sultants, contractors, and subcontractors. 
(3) MALIGN
INFLUENCE
OPERATIONS.—The 
term ‘‘malign influence operations’’ means a coordi-
nated, integrated, and synchronized application by a 
Member State of national diplomatic, informational, 
military, economic, or other capabilities, to foster at-
titudes, behaviors, or decisions by a United Nations 
Entity, or within the United Nations system, that 
furthers the national interests and objectives of a 
Member State, in a manner inconsistent with the 
United Nations Charter. 
(4) MEMBER
STATE.—The term ‘‘Member 
State’’ means a country that is a Member State of 
the United Nations. 
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(5) SENIOR LEVEL EMPLOYEE OF THE UNITED 
NATIONS.—The term ‘‘senior level employee of the 
United Nations’’ means an individual who is em-
ployed in the professional staff or senior manage-
ment of the United Nations system, serving at the 
level of D–1 or higher. 
(6) UNITED
NATIONS
ENTITY.—The term 
‘‘United Nations entity’’ means the United Nations 
General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, 
the Security Council, the Secretariat, the related or-
ganizations, the specialized agencies, or subsidiary 
body. 
(7) UNITED
NATIONS
SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘United Nations system’’ means an aggregation of 
all United Nations entities. 
(8) UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTION.—The term 
‘‘United States contribution’’ means an assessed or 
voluntary contribution, whether financial, in-kind, or 
otherwise, from the United States Government to a 
United Nations entity. 
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TITLE I—COUNTERING MALIGN 
INFLUENCE 
OPERATIONS 
WITHIN 
THE 
UNITED 
NA-
TIONS SYSTEM 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Article 100 of the United Nations Charter 
provides that United Nations Secretariat staff ‘‘shall 
not seek or receive instructions from any govern-
ment or from any authority external to the Organi-
zation’’. 
(2) Furthermore, it requires Member States to 
‘‘respect the exclusively international character of 
the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the 
staff and not to seek to influence them in the dis-
charge of their responsibilities’’. 
(3) For decades, Russia has manipulated the 
United Nations procurement process to its own ben-
efit, especially in air assets. Russian nationals in key 
procurement and personnel positions inside the 
United Nations have repeatedly drafted procurement 
contracts designed to ensure that Russian airframes 
and pilots have an unfair advantage when bidding 
for these contracts. 
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(4) According to Human Rights Watch, the 
People’s Republic of China (PRC) has used its lead-
ership roles within the United Nations to block non-
governmental organizations critical of the PRC from 
being accredited to the U.N. PRC diplomats have 
violated U.N. rules by harassing activists by 
photographing and filming them on U.N. property, 
as well as contacting U.N. employees in efforts to in-
timidate and harass them. 
(5) In 2013, PRC authorities detained Cao 
Shunli after she tried to attend trainings in Geneva 
on the Human Rights Council. She was arrested at 
Beijing Airport and disappeared for several weeks. 
She had previously called on the Chinese Communist 
Party to work with civil society during the drafting 
of the PRC’s second Universal Periodic Review, a 
mechanism by which the U.N. Human Rights Coun-
cil reviews the human rights record of Member 
States. After five and a half months in detention, 
she died in a military hospital in Beijing. When 
NGOs at the Human Rights Council called for a mo-
ment of silence in memory of Cao, the PRC delega-
tion blocked the request. 
(6) In a 2019 interview with China Central Tel-
evision, Wu Hongbo, the former Under-Secretary- 
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General of the United Nations and head of the 
United Nations Department of Economic and Social 
Affairs (UNDESA), stated publicly that as a United 
Nations Employee, he prioritized the PRC’s inter-
ests above the impartiality of the United Nations 
system. When discussing how he demanded the 
United Nations police expel Dolkun Isa, an accred-
ited nongovernmental organization (NGO) partici-
pant, from the United Nations headquarters, Wu 
Hongbo described him as a ‘‘Xinjiang separatist’’ 
and bragged about intimidating an Assistant Sec-
retary-General who complained. He went on to say 
‘‘I think being a Chinese diplomat means one can’t 
be careless, when it is about protecting China’s na-
tional interest and safety. We have to strongly de-
fend the motherland’s interests.’’. 
(7) Despite this action, Wu Hongbo was suc-
ceeded as Under-Secretary-General and head of 
UNDESA by Liu Zhenmin, another PRC national. 
Under-Secretary-General Liu continues to prioritize 
PRC national interests above the impartiality re-
quired in his role. 
(8) On September 19, 2019, the United States 
Department of State expelled two members of the 
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations 
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for ‘‘attempts to conduct influence operations 
against the United States’’. 
SEC. 102. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to— 
(1) identify, report, and hold accountable Mem-
ber States who engage in malign influence oper-
ations and United Nations employees who act incon-
sistently with the principals of impartiality enshrined 
in the United Nations Charter; 
(2) oppose the election as the head of any 
United Nations entity of nationals from Member 
States conducting malign influence operations; and 
(3) support Taiwan’s membership or meaning-
ful participation, as appropriate, in relevant United 
Nations entities in which Taiwan has expressed an 
interest in participating. 
SEC. 103. DESIGNATION OF SENIOR OFFICIAL. 
The Secretary of State shall designate a Senate-con-
firmed senior level official of the United States Mission 
to the United Nations (US-UN) to provide guidance re-
garding implementation of the policies specified in section 
102, fulfill the reporting requirements of section 104, and 
coordinate the implementation of this title within the 
United States Government. 
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