I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6986 
To encourage the protection and promotion of internationally recognized 
human rights during the novel coronavirus pandemic, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2020 
Mr. MCGOVERN
(for himself, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. RASKIN) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To encourage the protection and promotion of internationally 
recognized human rights during the novel coronavirus 
pandemic, 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 ‘‘Protecting Human 
Rights During Pandemic Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The United States led the drafting of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which en-
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shrines the commitment of countries around the 
world to the protection and promotion of universal 
human rights and values that are indispensable for 
human dignity, including the rights to life, liberty, 
security of person, freedom of movement, religion, 
speech, peaceful assembly, association, freedom of 
expression and the press, and freedom from arbi-
trary detention, discrimination, or invasion of pri-
vacy. 
(2) Authorities in more than 83 countries, in-
cluding the United States, have declared states of 
emergency and restricted the movement of people 
due to the threat of the novel coronavirus, which 
causes COVID–19, and which the World Health Or-
ganization designated a global pandemic on March 
11, 2020. 
(3) During public health emergencies, it may be 
necessary and appropriate for governments to take 
extraordinary action to halt the spread of disease 
through steps such as restricting the movement of 
people, closing businesses, and limiting access to 
public spaces. 
(4) States are legally obligated to continue to 
protect the human rights of their citizens at all 
times, subject to the principles of limitation and 
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derogation, even and especially during national 
emergencies. 
(5) In many countries with COVID–19 cases, 
governments have taken steps that violate the 
human rights of their citizens without clear scientific 
or public health justifications, or any end date or 
functional oversight. 
(6) In some countries, including China and 
Russia, governments are using existing and emerg-
ing surveillance technologies, including artificial in-
telligence and facial recognition software, without 
appropriate safeguards, which violates the human 
rights of their citizens, such as the rights to privacy 
and freedom of movement, while claiming such ac-
tions are necessary to combat the novel coronavirus. 
(7) In some countries, including Azerbaijan, El 
Salvador, Hungary, Kazakhstan, and the Phil-
ippines, governments with a history of repressing 
human rights are exploiting the current crisis to 
consolidate power, sideline representative legislative 
bodies, and silence criticism. 
(8) In several countries, including Algeria, 
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Hon-
duras, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Russia, South Africa, 
Tajikistan, 
Thailand, 
the 
Philippines, 
Turkey, 
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Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, govern-
ments have restricted the ability of journalists and 
other individuals to distribute or publish information 
related to the novel coronavirus, including by impos-
ing criminal penalties, which violates the universal 
human rights of free speech and freedom of the 
press, and limits people’s access to information. 
(9) Governments in countries with a history of 
discrimination against minority populations, includ-
ing India and Uganda, have used the novel 
coronavirus pandemic response to further discrimi-
nate against vulnerable populations. 
(10) Actions taken by foreign governments, 
under the guise of the coronavirus, that weaken 
democratic institutions and restrict internationally 
recognized human rights, contrary to the principles 
of limitation and derogation, pose a threat to the 
health, economic, and national security interests of 
the United States. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the United States should lead the inter-
national community in its efforts to respond to the 
novel coronavirus pandemic; 
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(2) the United States, in implementing emer-
gency policies at home and through its diplomacy 
and foreign assistance abroad, should promote the 
protection of internationally recognized human 
rights during and after the coronavirus pandemic; 
(3) the Department of State and the United 
States Agency for International Development (re-
ferred to in this Act as‘‘ USAID’’) should provide 
assistance and implement programs, directly or 
through nongovernmental organizations or inter-
national organizations, that— 
(A) support democratic institutions, civil 
society, free media, and other internationally 
recognized human rights during, and in the 
aftermath of, the novel coronavirus pandemic; 
and 
(B) ensure attention to countries in which 
the government’s response to the pandemic vio-
lated human rights and democratic norms; and 
(4) in implementing emergency policies in re-
sponse to the novel coronavirus pandemic— 
(A) governments should fully respect and 
comply with internationally recognized human 
rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and 
security of the person, the freedoms of move-
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ment, religion, speech, peaceful assembly, asso-
ciation, freedom of expression and of the press, 
and the freedom from arbitrary detention, dis-
crimination, or invasion of privacy; 
(B) emergency restrictions or powers that 
impact internationally recognized human rights, 
including the rights to freedom of assembly, as-
sociation, and movement should be— 
(i) narrowly tailored, proportionate, 
and necessary to the government’s legiti-
mate goal of ending the pandemic; 
(ii) limited in duration; 
(iii) clearly communicated to the pop-
ulation; 
(iv) subject to independent govern-
ment oversight; and 
(v) implemented in a nondiscrim-
inatory and fully transparent manner; 
(C) governments— 
(i) should not place any limits or 
other restrictions on, or criminalize, the 
free flow of information; and 
(ii) should make all efforts to provide 
and maintain open access to the internet 
and other communications platforms; 
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(D) emergency measures should not dis-
criminate against any segment of the popu-
lation, including minorities, vulnerable individ-
uals, and marginalized groups; 
(E) monitoring systems put in place to 
track and reduce the impact of the novel 
coronavirus should, at a minimum— 
(i) abide by privacy best practices in-
volving data anonymization and aggrega-
tion; 
(ii) be administered in an open and 
transparent manner; 
(iii) be scientifically justified and nec-
essary to limit the spread of disease; 
(iv) be employed for a limited dura-
tion of time in correspondence with the 
system’s public health objective; 
(v) be subject to independent over-
sight; 
(vi) incorporate reasonable data secu-
rity measures; and 
(vii) be firewalled from other commer-
cial and governmental uses, such as law 
enforcement and the enforcement of immi-
gration policies; and 
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(F) governments should take every feasible 
measure to protect the administration of free 
and fair elections. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to encourage the protection and promotion 
of internationally recognized human rights at home 
and abroad at all times and especially during the 
novel coronavirus pandemic; 
(2) to support freedom of expression and free-
dom of the press in the United States and elsewhere, 
which freedoms are critical to ensuring public dis-
semination of, and access to, accurate information 
about the novel coronavirus pandemic, including in-
formation authorities need to enact science-based 
policies that limit the spread and impact of the 
virus, while protecting human rights; 
(3) to support multilateral efforts to address 
the novel coronavirus pandemic; and 
(4) to oppose the use of the novel coronavirus 
pandemic as a justification for the enactment of 
laws and policies that use states of emergency to vio-
late or otherwise restrict the human rights of citi-
zens, inconsistent with the principles of limitation 
and derogation, and without clear scientific or public 
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health justifications, including the coercive, arbi-
trary, disproportionate, or unlawful use of surveil-
lance technology. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the Senate; 
(B) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate; 
(C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives; and 
(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives. 
(2) INTERNATIONALLY
RECOGNIZED
HUMAN 
RIGHTS.—The 
term 
‘‘internationally 
recognized 
human rights’’ means— 
(A) the human rights enshrined in the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, includ-
ing the rights to life, liberty, security of person, 
the freedom of movement, religion, speech, 
peaceful assembly, association, freedom of ex-
pression and the press, the freedom from arbi-
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trary detention, discrimination, or invasion of 
privacy; and 
(B) all other rights indispensable for 
human dignity. 
SEC. 6. FUNDING FOR PROGRAMS AND COUNTRIES. 
(a) PROGRAM PRIORITIES.—Amounts appropriated 
pursuant to section 9 may be made available for fiscal 
years 2020 through 2025, to carry out the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), including pro-
grams to support democratic institutions, freedom of the 
press, civil society, and human rights defenders in coun-
tries where government measures taken in response to the 
novel coronavirus pandemic, including emergency meas-
ures, violated or seriously undermined internationally rec-
ognized human rights according to the principles set forth 
in section 3(4). Programs carried out under this sub-
section shall be designed— 
(1) to strengthen and support all internationally 
recognized human rights, freedom of the press, 
human rights defenders, and civil society; and 
(2) to restore and strengthen democratic insti-
tutions. 
(b) STRATEGY.— 
(1) INITIAL
STRATEGY.—Not later than 30 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
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Secretary of State and the Administrator of USAID 
shall jointly submit an initial strategy for carrying 
out the programs referred to in subsection (a) to the 
appropriate congressional committees. 
(2) STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State and the Administrator of USAID 
shall submit a 5-year strategic plan to the appro-
priate congressional committees that lays out the 
steps the Department of State and USAID will take, 
through diplomacy and foreign assistance, to address 
the persistent issues related to internationally recog-
nized human rights in the aftermath of the novel 
coronavirus response, including identifying the re-
sources necessary to implement such strategic plan. 
(c) CONDITIONING OF SECURITY SECTOR ASSIST-
ANCE.—Section 502B(a)(4) of the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 
the end; 
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 
at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) has engaged in the systematic viola-
tion of internationally recognized human rights 
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