Title: Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic Act
This bill establishes strategies and reporting requirements related to internationally recognized human rights and COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
Specifically, the bill requires the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development to submit (1) a strategy for carrying out programs to support democratic institutions, freedom of the press, civil society, and human rights defenders in countries where government measures in response to COVID-19 violated or undermined internationally recognized human rights; and (2) a five-year strategic plan outlining the steps to address persistent human rights issues in the aftermath of COVID-19.
The bill also conditions the provision of security assistance to a foreign government on consideration of whether the foreign government used emergency laws, policies, or administrative procedures in violation of internationally recognized human rights.
Further, the bill requires the State Department to author initial, monthly, and final reports describing, among other things (1) specified countries' adherence to certain human rights principles in responding to COVID-19, (2) the actions of the U.S. government to address foreign governments' violations of human rights in responding to COVID-19, (3) the impact of such violations on things such as access to health care and the efforts and ability to control the pandemic, and (4) the U.S government's global efforts to counter disinformation and disseminate accurate information about the pandemic.
The bill also requires the inclusion of certain information, such as the misuse and abuse of emergency powers, in the annual country reports on human rights practices.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6986 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






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 Representatives 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 enshrines 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 arbitrary detention, discrimination, or invasion 
        of privacy.
            (2) Authorities in more than 83 countries, including 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 
        Organization 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 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 emerging surveillance 
        technologies, including artificial intelligence 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 actions 
        are necessary to combat the novel coronavirus.
            (7) In some countries, including Azerbaijan, El Salvador, 
        Hungary, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines, 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, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, 
        Jordan, Russia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Thailand, the 
        Philippines, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, 
        governments have restricted the ability of journalists and 
        other individuals to distribute or publish information related 
        to the novel coronavirus, including by imposing 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, including India 
        and Uganda, have used the novel coronavirus pandemic response 
        to further discriminate 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 international 
        community in its efforts to respond to the novel coronavirus 
        pandemic;
            (2) the United States, in implementing emergency 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 (referred to in this Act as`` 
        USAID'') should provide assistance and implement programs, 
        directly or through nongovernmental organizations or 
        international 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 violated human 
                rights and democratic norms; and
            (4) in implementing emergency policies in response 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 movement, religion, speech, 
                peaceful assembly, association, freedom of expression 
                and of the press, and the freedom from arbitrary 
                detention, discrimination, or invasion of privacy;
                    (B) emergency restrictions or powers that impact 
                internationally recognized human rights, including the 
                rights to freedom of assembly, association, and 
                movement should be--
                            (i) narrowly tailored, proportionate, and 
                        necessary to the government's legitimate goal 
                        of ending the pandemic;
                            (ii) limited in duration;
                            (iii) clearly communicated to the 
                        population;
                            (iv) subject to independent government 
                        oversight; and
                            (v) implemented in a nondiscriminatory 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;
                    (D) emergency measures should not discriminate 
                against any segment of the population, including 
                minorities, vulnerable individuals, 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 
                        involving data anonymization and aggregation;
                            (ii) be administered in an open and 
                        transparent manner;
                            (iii) be scientifically justified and 
                        necessary to limit the spread of disease;
                            (iv) be employed for a limited duration of 
                        time in correspondence with the system's public 
                        health objective;
                            (v) be subject to independent oversight;
                            (vi) incorporate reasonable data security 
                        measures; and
                            (vii) be firewalled from other commercial 
                        and governmental uses, such as law enforcement 
                        and the enforcement of immigration policies; 
                        and
                    (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 freedom of the 
        press in the United States and elsewhere, which freedoms are 
        critical to ensuring public dissemination of, and access to, 
        accurate information about the novel coronavirus pandemic, 
        including information 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 violate or otherwise restrict the human 
        rights of citizens, inconsistent with the principles of 
        limitation and derogation, and without clear scientific or 
        public health justifications, including the coercive, 
        arbitrary, disproportionate, or unlawful use of surveillance 
        technology.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' 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, including the rights to 
                life, liberty, security of person, the freedom of 
                movement, religion, speech, peaceful assembly, 
                association, freedom of expression and the press, the 
                freedom from arbitrary 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 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), including 
programs to support democratic institutions, freedom of the press, 
civil society, and human rights defenders in countries where government 
measures taken in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, including 
emergency measures, violated or seriously undermined internationally 
recognized human rights according to the principles set forth in 
section 3(4). Programs carried out under this subsection 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 institutions.
    (b) Strategy.--
            (1) Initial strategy.--Not later than 30 days after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the 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 Secretary of State and the 
        Administrator of USAID shall submit a 5-year strategic plan to 
        the appropriate 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 recognized human rights in 
        the aftermath of the novel coronavirus response, including 
        identifying the resources necessary to implement such strategic 
        plan.
    (c) Conditioning of Security Sector Assistance.--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 violation of 
                internationally recognized human rights through the use 
                of emergency laws, policies, or administrative 
                procedures.''.

SEC. 7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Initial Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall publish on the 
Department of State website, and submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees, a report that describes--
            (1) for each country and territory included in the annual 
        Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, whether and how each 
        country or territory has adhered to the principles set forth in 
        section 3(4) in responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic;
            (2) with regard to each country in which the response to 
        the novel coronavirus pandemic violated or seriously undermined 
        internationally recognized human rights in a manner 
        inconsistent with the principles of limitation and derogation, 
        a description of--
                    (A) the actions of the United States Government to 
                address such restrictions through diplomacy and the use 
                of foreign assistance; and
                    (B) any efforts made by each country to respond to 
                and resolve such human rights concerns;
            (3) with regard to each country in which the response to 
        the coronavirus pandemic violated or seriously undermined 
        internationally recognized human rights, a description of the 
        impact of noncompliant policies on--
                    (A) the population's access to health care 
                services;
                    (B) the population's access to services for 
                survivors of violence and abuse;
                    (C) women and ethnic, religious, sexual, and other 
                minority, vulnerable, or marginalized populations; and
                    (D) the government's efforts and ability to control 
                the pandemic;
            (4) whether any foreign person or persons within a country 
        have been determined to have committed gross violations of 
        internationally recognized human rights during the novel 
        coronavirus pandemic response, including any sanctions imposed 
        on such persons in accordance with United States law;
            (5) actions taken by the Global Engagement Center 
        established under section 1287 of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note) to 
        counter disinformation related to the novel coronavirus 
        pandemic; and
            (6) the United States Government's efforts around the 
        world--
                    (A) to counter disinformation related to the novel 
                coronavirus pandemic; and
                    (B) to disseminate accurate information about the 
                pandemic.
    (b) Monthly Reports.--Not later than 30 days after the publication 
of the report required under subsection (a), and monthly thereafter 
until the date that is 60 days after the date on which the World Health 
Organization declares that the novel coronavirus pandemic has ended, 
the Department of State and the United States Agency for International 
Development shall provide, to the appropriate congressional 
committees--
            (1) a briefing containing updates on any new developments 
        related to issues covered in the report published under 
        subsection (a); and
            (2) a list of the countries that have removed coronavirus-
        related emergency restrictions impacting internationally 
        recognized human rights, including details regarding the 
        restrictions that were removed.
    (c) Final Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date on which 
the World Health Organization declares that the novel coronavirus 
pandemic has ended, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the 
appropriate congressional committees that--
            (1) lists the countries whose emergency measures or other 
        legal actions limiting internationally recognized human rights 
        in a manner inconsistent with the principles of limitation and 
        derogation extended beyond the end of the pandemic;
            (2) describes such countries' emergency measures, 
        including--
                    (A) how such procedures violate or seriously 
                undermine internationally recognized human rights; and
                    (B) an analysis of the impact of such measures on--
                            (i) the government's efforts and ability to 
                        control the pandemic within the country;
                            (ii) the population's access to health care 
                        services;
                            (iii) the population's access to services 
                        for survivors of violence and abuse; and
                            (iv) women and ethnic, religious, sexual, 
                        and other minority, vulnerable, or marginalized 
                        populations;
            (3) describes--
                    (A) any surveillance measures implemented or 
                utilized by the governments of such countries as part 
                of the novel coronavirus pandemic response;
                    (B) the extent to which such measures have been, or 
                have not been, rolled back; and
                    (C) whether and how such measures impact 
                internationally recognized human rights; and
            (4) indicates whether any foreign person or persons within 
        a country have been determined to have committed gross 
        violations of internationally recognized human rights during 
        the novel coronavirus pandemic response, including a 
        description of any resulting sanctions imposed on such persons 
        under United States law.

SEC. 8. COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 116(f)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(f)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
            ``(C) A description of--
                    ``(i) any misuse by the government of such country 
                of any emergency powers;
                    ``(ii) any failure by the government of such 
                country--
                            ``(I) to state the specific duration of the 
                        powers referred to in clause (i);
                            ``(II) to clearly articulate the purposes 
                        of such powers; or
                            ``(III) to notify the United Nations 
                        regarding the use of such powers, as required 
                        by applicable treaty;
                    ``(iii) any failure by the government of such 
                country--
                            ``(I) to abide by the stated purposes of 
                        the powers referred to in clause (i); or
                            ``(II) to cease the use of such powers 
                        after any specified term expires;
                    ``(iv) any violations by the government of such 
                country of non-derogable rights;
                    ``(v) any discriminatory implementation by such 
                government of the powers referred to in clause (i);
                    ``(vi) the impact of such powers on the access of 
                the people of such country to health care services; and
                    ``(vii) any development and proliferation of 
                surveillance technologies in such country, including 
                new or emerging technologies used by the government of 
                such country in the surveillance of civilian 
                populations in ways that are inconsistent with the 
                standards described in section 3(4)(E)(i) through (vii) 
                of the Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic Act.''.
    (b) Human Rights Report.--
            (1) In general.--Section 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance 
        Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(b)) is amended by inserting ``Each 
        report under this section shall include the information 
        described in section 116(f)(1)(C).'' after ``the Secretary of 
        State.''.
            (2) Briefing.--The Assistant Secretary of State for 
        Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor shall be available to brief 
        the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
        Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 
        regarding the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
        during the 90-day period beginning on the date on which the 
        reports are released.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out--
            (1) the strategy described in section 6(b)(1);
            (2) the 5-year strategic plan described in section 6(b)(2); 
        and
            (3) the reporting requirements set forth in section 7.
                                 <all>