Title: A resolution widening threats to freedom of the press and free expression around the world, and reaffirming the vital role that a free and independent press plays in informing local and international audiences about public health crises, countering misinformation and disinformation, and furthering discourse and debate to advance healthy democracies in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2021.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the centrality of a free press to free societies and democratic governance and expresses concerns about threats to press freedom and freedom of expression globally.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 241 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 241

     Recognizing widening threats to freedom of the press and free 
expression around the world, and reaffirming the vital role that a free 
   and independent press plays in informing local and international 
  audiences about public health crises, countering misinformation and 
disinformation, and furthering discourse and debate to advance healthy 
democracies in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2021.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 26, 2021

Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Coons, Mr. Kaine, 
Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
Casey, Mr. Cramer, and Mr. Boozman) submitted the following resolution; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Recognizing widening threats to freedom of the press and free 
expression around the world, and reaffirming the vital role that a free 
   and independent press plays in informing local and international 
  audiences about public health crises, countering misinformation and 
disinformation, and furthering discourse and debate to advance healthy 
democracies in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2021.

Whereas Thomas Jefferson, who championed the necessity of a free press for a 
        thriving democratic society, wisely declared, ``Our liberty depends on 
        the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being 
        lost.'';
Whereas Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
        adopted in Paris on December 10, 1948, states, ``Everyone has the right 
        to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to 
        hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart 
        information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.'';
Whereas, in 1993, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the third day 
        of May of each year to be ``World Press Freedom Day''--

    (1) to celebrate the fundamental principles of freedom of the press;

    (2) to evaluate freedom of the press around the world;

    (3) to defend the media against attacks on its independence; and

    (4) to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while 
working in their profession;

Whereas the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-166) 
        expanded the examination of the freedom of the press around the world in 
        the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the 
        Department of State;
Whereas, on December 18, 2013, and December 18, 2019, the United Nations General 
        Assembly adopted Resolution 68/163 and Resolution 74/157, respectively, 
        on the safety of journalists and the problem of impunity, unequivocally 
        condemning all attacks on, and violence against, journalists and media 
        workers, including torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced 
        disappearance, arbitrary detention, and intimidation and harassment in 
        conflict and nonconflict situations;
Whereas the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and various State 
        constitutions protect freedom of the press in the United States;
Whereas the United States Government has used the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 
        Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328) to 
        place targeted visa and economic restrictions on individuals, including 
        for their roles in the targeted killings of journalists;
Whereas, in an effort to combat attacks against journalists, Secretary of State 
        Antony J. Blinken recently announced a new policy allowing the 
        Department of State to impose visa restrictions on individuals who, 
        acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been 
        directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident 
        activities, including those that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or 
        harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents 
        for their work;
Whereas the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without 
        Borders, warns that the COVID-19 pandemic ``illustrates the negative 
        factors threatening the right to reliable information'' and amplifies 
        the many crises that threaten media freedom and pluralism;
Whereas the Freedom in the World 2021 report, published by Freedom House, noted 
        that 2020 was an especially hazardous year for democracy, during which 
        ``less than 20 percent of the world's population [then lived] in a Free 
        country, the smallest proportion since 1995'';
Whereas, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists--

    (1) at least 30 journalists were killed in 2020, 21 of whom were 
singled out in retaliation for their work, an increase from 10 murders in 
2019;

    (2) Mexico, Afghanistan, and the Philippines had the most retaliatory 
killings in 2020;

    (3) at least 274 journalists were behind bars in relation to their work 
on December 1, 2020, marking the fifth consecutive year that at least 250 
journalists were imprisoned globally;

    (4) China, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were responsible for nearly 
half of all jailed journalists worldwide;

    (5) journalists around the world have been targeted by sophisticated 
spyware products that pose a severe risk to their safety and the safety of 
their sources; and

    (6) the world's most censored countries include Eritrea, North Korea, 
Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, 
Belarus, and Cuba;

Whereas the Government of China has unleashed an onslaught of attacks on press 
        freedom in China and Hong Kong, including through--

    (1) state-sponsored censorship and disinformation campaigns limiting 
access to information about the novel coronavirus, including through its 
censorship of virus-related keywords on social media platforms;

    (2) attacks on press freedom in Hong Kong, including the passage of the 
National Security Law, which poses an existential threat to the city's 
tradition of press freedom, and the arrest and subsequent conviction of 
Jimmy Lai, owner of Hong Kong's largest media outlet, Apple Daily, and an 
outspoken democracy advocate;

    (3) arrests or other repressive actions against independent journalists 
and others in mainland China attempting to share uncensored news or opinion 
about the COVID-19 outbreak, including the detention of citizen journalist 
Chen Qiushi, who remains incommunicado; and

    (4) the detention of journalists critical of the Government of China, 
including Chen Jieren, who was sentenced to 15 years in 2020, following 2 
years of incommunicado detention, after blogging about allegations of 
corrupt local officials;

Whereas Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, 
        with--

    (1) militant groups targeting at least 4 journalists for murder in 
retaliation for their work in 2020; and

    (2) at least 4 media workers killed in early 2021;

Whereas Belarus has witnessed sweeping attacks against the press since Alexander 
        Lukashenka's fraudulent election in August 2020, where since the 
        beginning of 2020, nearly 550 journalists and media workers have been 
        harassed, assaulted, imprisoned, or otherwise retaliated against for 
        their work, including--

    (1) Katsiaryna Barysevich, a physician, and Artsyom Sarokin, a 
journalist, who were respectively charged with 6 months and 2 years in a 
penal colony (on charges of disclosing medical data and instigating a 
crime, respectively) for disclosing information about a protestor who was 
killed during a crackdown on demonstrations against President Lukashenka;

    (2) Katerina Borisevich, a journalist charged with 6 months in prison 
after contradicting official statements about the cause of death of a 
protester; and

    (3) Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova, journalists sentenced to 
2 years in prison (on charges of violating public order) for filming live 
coverage of the violent dispersal of a protest against President 
Lukashenka;

Whereas Reporters Without Borders asserts that ``press freedom in [Burma] has 
        been set back ten years in ten days'' after the February 2021 military 
        coup, during which--

    (1) at least 40 journalists were arrested, including BBC journalist 
Aung Thura and Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw;

    (2) media workers were forced into hiding and confronted censorship, 
harassment, internet blocks, beatings, interrogations, threats, and 
injuries at the hands of the military; and

    (3) multiple independent media outlets had to cease operations or close 
altogether or had their licenses revoked by the military;

Whereas Cuba remains a highly restricted environment for independent media, 
        marked by internet restrictions and constant harassment of journalists 
        and news outlets, including--

    (1) independent journalist Yoel Suarez, who was summoned to a police 
station in March 2021 for the second time in 2 months as a result of his 
work;

    (2) Iliana Hernandez, who was charged with illegally possessing 
journalistic equipment in January 2020;

    (3) Luz Escobar, a journalist who was repeatedly barred by security 
forces from leaving her home;

    (4) an official notice from the Cuban Ministry of Labor and Social 
Security in February reiterating the longstanding government policy that 
bars independent ``journalists activities'' and the independent publishing 
of ``edition of newspapers, tabloids and magazines in any format''; and

    (5) a March 2020 raid on the office of the Instituto Cubano por la 
Libertad de Expression y Prensa (ICLEP) publication Paginas Villarenas, 
during which Cuban Government authorities confiscated equipment and 
detained multiple journalists;

Whereas Egypt's restrictions on the media have accelerated under President Abdel 
        Fattah el-Sisi since 2013, with at least 27 journalists imprisoned 
        during 2020, including--

    (1) Esraa Abdelfattah, who has attempted multiple hunger strikes to 
protest her torture and mistreatment while detained;

    (2) Shimaa Samy, who was detained on charges of joining a terrorist 
organization, spreading false news, and misusing social media for his work;

    (3) Hisham Abdel Aziz, an Al Jazeera journalist on the verge of losing 
his eyesight following untreated glaucoma while in prison; and

    (4) Mahmoud Abou Zeid, who was released after 5 years in prison, but 
remains subject to a 5-year probation term that requires him to spend the 
hours of 6:00 p.m. through 6:00 a.m. at a police station every night;

Whereas assaults on press freedom in El Salvador imperil its fragile democracy 
        and include both verbal attacks on journalists by political leaders and 
        use of state power to intimidate independent media, such as--

    (1) the ongoing criminal investigation against outlet El Faro, which 
was launched after it reported damaging information about the 
administration; and

    (2) the online attacks and threats to journalists from the outlet 
Revista Factum, which has been banned from press conferences at the 
presidential residence;

Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House, Indian 
        authorities have recently imposed internet and communication blackouts, 
        detained and charged journalists covering political demonstrations, and 
        called for the temporary blockage of journalists and media accounts on 
        Twitter;
Whereas Iran remains a hostile environment for the press, where media workers 
        are subjected to summons, arrests, and unjust sentences, including--

    (1) investigative journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed on December 
4, 2020, after being disappeared in October 2019 and charged with 
``corruption on earth'' for his reporting;

    (2) freelance journalist Fariborz Kalantari, who was sentenced on 
February 7, 2021, to 7 years in prison and 74 lashes for using his telegram 
channel to circulate articles about corruption charges brought against the 
ex-Vice President's brother; and

    (3) editor of weekly Agrin Rozh, Mahmoud Mahmoudi, who was arrested by 
agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj after issuing an open 
letter calling for the release of detained Kurdish activists;

Whereas Reporters Without Borders reported that Mexico was the world's deadliest 
        country for journalists outside of a war zone in 2020, where reporters 
        covering stories on political corruption and organized crime are 
        frequently assaulted and murdered, including--

    (1) Ruben Pat, a local news website editor who was gunned down on the 
street after requesting urgent protection when one of his reporters, Jose 
Guadalupe Chan Dzib, was murdered; and

    (2) Mario Leonel Gomez Sanchez, a journalist who was murdered in the 
southern state of Chiapas after covering cases of increased violence and 
alleged corruption implicating municipal officials;

Whereas, on March 1, 2021, the Day of the Journalist in Nicaragua, 470 
        journalists from around the world signed a letter denouncing years of 
        persecution of journalists in Nicaragua, which has included news outlets 
        forced to close and individual journalists being threatened, harassed, 
        sued, surveilled, jailed, and forced into exile, including--

    (1) Miguel Angel Gahona, who was shot in April 2018 while filming 
riots; and

    (2) Miguel Mora, Director of 100% Noticias, and journalist Lucia 
Pineda, who were arrested in April 2018 and subsequently tortured;

Whereas Honduras remains one of the Western Hemisphere's deadliest countries for 
        journalists, where those working for opposition media or who are 
        outspoken critics of the government are subjected to harassment, 
        intimidation, and death threats by the country's security forces and its 
        affiliates, including--

    (1) freelance journalist Luis Alonzo Almendares, who was killed by 2 
unidentified individuals in Comayagua in September 2020; and

    (2) radio journalist Pedro Arcangel Canelas, who was shot and killed in 
the rural department of Olancho in December 2020;

Whereas media workers face heightened dangers in Russia, where more than 210 
        rights infractions took place during protests following the arrest of 
        opposition leader Alexander Navalny in January and February 2021, and 
        wide-spread harassment, censorship, and state-driven retaliation are 
        commonplace, including in the cases of--

    (1) Sergei Smirnov, who was sentenced to 25 days in jail after sharing 
a joke on Twitter that called for ``rallies in support of Navalny'';

    (2) Dmitry Nikitin, who was detained while covering a protest;

    (3) Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist detained after covering a protest 
in Sochi;

    (4) Ivan Kleimenov, a freelance photographer who was severely beaten by 
police with a stun gun while covering a protest, and consequently sentenced 
to 10 days in jail;

    (5) Ivan Safronov, a former investigative journalist arrested in July 
2020 on politically motivated charges of treason; and

    (6) Svetlana Prokopieva, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio 
Liberty and Echo of Moscow, who was found guilty of ``inciting terrorism'' 
and fined 500,000 rubles after reporting on the suicide of a 17-year-old 
inside a Federal Security Service building;

Whereas in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Ukrainian journalists and bloggers 
        have repeatedly been threatened, arrested, and tortured for resisting 
        Russian occupation, such as the detention of Crimean journalist 
        Vladyslav Yesipenko and Crimean Tatar journalists Osman Arifmemetov, 
        Rustem Sheikhaliev, and Remzi Bekirov;
Whereas the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has concluded that 
        the murder of Washington Post journalist and American resident Jamal 
        Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018 was approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed 
        bin Salman;
Whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia maintains an especially hostile environment 
        towards journalists through systematic and arbitrary arrests, torture 
        and inhumane or degrading treatment, lengthy pre-trial detentions, 
        political persecution, and conditional release restrictions, which 
        inhibit reporters and columnists from traveling or returning to their 
        professional work post-detention, including--

    (1) Maha Al-Rafidi Al-Qahtani, a journalist and writer arrested in 
September 2019, held in solitary confinement, and physically abused while 
in prison;

    (2) Redha Al-Boori, a writer and journalist detained for almost 2 years 
in an unknown location;

    (3) Khadija Al-Harbi, a Saudi feminist writer and online commentator 
arrested alongside her husband, journalist and blogger Thumar Al-Marzouqi, 
while in the late stages of pregnancy; and

    (4) Saleh Al-Shehi, a noted anti-corruption columnist sentenced to 5 
years in prison in 2018 for ``insulting the royal court'', who died 3 weeks 
after his release from prison;

Whereas the battle for a free press continues to be fought in Southeast Asia, 
        where-

    (1) Bangladeshi journalists have repeatedly been arrested and charged 
under the Digital Security Act, some of whom have been subjected to torture 
and one of whom died in custody;

    (2) Steven Gan, the Editor-in-Chief of the news organization 
Malaysiakini, was interrogated after readers left comments criticizing 
Malaysia's judiciary on a Mayalysiakini article reporting on a court's 
lifting of a coronavirus lockdown;

    (3) Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa has been targeted by the 
Filipino Government's aggressive campaign against independent media after 
her reporting on President Duterte's ``war on drugs'';

    (4) Thum Ping Tjin, founder and director of New Naratif, a democracy-
focused media organization, was detained by Singaporean police after being 
accused of publishing unauthorized and ``illegal'' paid advertisements on 
Facebook during the July election campaign; and

    (5) Vietnamese journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le Huu 
Minh Tuan were each sentenced to more than 10 years in prison;

Whereas press freedom continues to face challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, 
        including in--

    (1) Ethiopia, where journalist Lucy Kassa was questioned by 
unidentified men on her reporting of the Government of Ethiopia's armed 
conflict with the Tigray People's Liberation Front and whose house was 
ransacked;

    (2) Cameroon, where journalist Samuel Wazizi was arrested for his 
reporting and held incommunicado for nearly one year before the government 
announced that he had died in custody;

    (3) Ghana, where Manasseh Azure Awuni received death threats as a 
result of his reporting on the Ghanaian election;

    (4) Nigeria, where the press faces a ``climate of permanent violence'' 
and journalists, including Omoyele Sowore, have been ``spied on, attacked, 
arbitrarily arrested, or even killed'';

    (5) South Sudan, where reporter Bullen Alexander was detained without 
cause for 4 days while covering the University of Juba's student protests 
and Christopher Allen was killed with impunity and without investigation 
while reporting on the civil war; and

    (6) Zimbabwe, where journalist and filmmaker Hopewell Chin'ono was 
abducted from his home and sentenced 45 days with an iron leg chain for his 
live-streaming of protests and investigative reporting;

Whereas the Turkish Journalists' Association reported that--

    (1) in 2020--

    G    (A) 1 out of every 4 Turkish journalists was subjected to physical 
violence;

    G    (B) 1 out of every 2 Turkish journalists were threatened; and

    G    (C) 1 out of every 5 Turkish journalists faced trial (often on 
fabricated terrorism charges); and

    (2) Turkey is maintaining its standing as--

    G    (A) 1 of the world's most oppressive environments for press 
freedom; and

    G    (B) 1 of the world's leading jailers of journalists;

Whereas the Government of Venezuela continues to target independent media 
        outlets, attacking freedom of expression and severely limiting 
        Venezuelan access to accurate information with at least 7 different 
        media outlets targeted in 2021, including an incident in January 2021 
        where government officials entered the studio of the independent news 
        station Venezolanos por la Informacion in Caracas without a warrant, 
        seized their work equipment, and threatened the journalists with arrest 
        if they continued to report;
Whereas, under the auspices of the United States Agency for Global Media, the 
        United States Government provides financial assistance to several 
        editorially independent media outlets, including Voice of America, Radio 
        Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba 
        Broadcasting, and the Middle East Broadcast Networks--

    (1) which report and broadcast news, information, and analysis in 
critical regions around the world; and

    (2) whose journalists regularly face harassment, fines, and 
imprisonment for their work; and

Whereas the freedom of the press--

    (1) is a key component of democratic governance, activism in civil 
society, and socioeconomic development; and

    (2) enhances public accountability, transparency, and participation in 
civil society and democratic governance: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) declares that a free press--
                    (A) is a central component of free societies, 
                democratic governance, and contributes to an informed 
                civil society, and government accountability;
                    (B) helps expose corruption, and enhances public 
                accountability and transparency of governments at all 
                levels; and
                    (C) disseminates information essential to improving 
                public health and safety;
            (2) expresses concerns about threats to press freedom and 
        freedom of expression around the world;
            (3) recognizes and commends journalism's role in providing 
        trusted, accurate, and timely information and in holding 
        governments and leaders accountable to citizens;
            (4) is dismayed that, under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, 
        many governments have restricted the work of journalists 
        reporting on the public health crisis and on peaceful protests 
        on a variety of issues;
            (5) pays tribute to journalists who made tremendous 
        sacrifices, including the loss of their lives, in the pursuit 
        of truth and justice;
            (6) condemns all actions around the world that suppress 
        freedom of the press;
            (7) calls for the unconditional and immediate release of 
        all imprisoned journalists;
            (8) reaffirms the centrality of freedom of the press to 
        efforts of the United States Government to support democracy, 
        mitigate conflict, and promote good governance domestically and 
        around the world; and
            (9) calls on the President and the Secretary of State--
                    (A) to preserve and build upon the leadership of 
                the United States on issues relating to freedom of the 
                press, on the basis of the protections afforded the 
                American people under the First Amendment to the 
                Constitution of the United States;
                    (B) to transparently investigate and bring to 
                justice the perpetrators of attacks against 
                journalists; and
                    (C) to promote the respect and protection of 
                freedom of the press around the world.
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