Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2024”.
Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2024
A BILL
To protect individuals who face reprisals for defending human rights and democracy by enhancing the capacity of the United States Government to prevent, mitigate, and respond in such cases, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Around the world, human rights defenders form the backbone of democratic societies and movements, advocating for human rights and political freedoms, protecting the environment, fighting corruption, and supporting good governance, independent media, and labor rights.
Reprisals against human rights defenders are on the rise as autocratic and illiberal regimes increasingly target human rights defenders with fabricated legal charges, threats and violence for exercising civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, often collaborating with transnational criminal organizations, paramilitary groups, private sector actors, and others to carry out such reprisals.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, every year hundreds of human rights defenders are murdered and thousands more are subjected to torture, enforced disappearance, sexual violence, hate crimes, unlawful or arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, unlawful or arbitrary digital surveillance, and forced exile.
The lack of accountability for attacks on human rights defenders engenders further violence and leaves human rights defenders hesitant or unable to continue their work out of fear of retaliation.
Foreign governments are no longer oppressing only individuals within the borders of their countries and are increasingly resorting to transnational repression tactics, both digital and physical, to target human rights defenders outside of their countries of origin, often where such human rights defenders are seeking asylum or temporary refuge.
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.
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 oversight is weak and powerful actors can use corrupt practices and brute force to seize resources with impunity.
Women human rights defenders often face additional grave risks, including gender-based violence, reprisals against their children, use of digital disinformation campaigns against them, and stigmatization from their families, workplaces, and communities.
Many human rights defenders who have been forced into exile desire to continue their advocacy from abroad, yet such human rights defenders lack the legal protections and support they need to continue such advocacy.
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 support, especially at embassies, consulates, and foreign missions of the United States.
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, leading to ad hoc and inconsistent responses, while human rights defenders who are at risk are frequently unaware of how to safely work with United States officials abroad and the resources that are available to human rights defenders.
The United States has neither a coherent strategy to strengthen protections for human rights defenders, nor adequate measures to prevent and respond to cases in which members of foreign security forces, law enforcement, judicial institutions, criminal groups, or private companies contribute to attacks on human rights defenders. The United States also lacks adequate consular resources and authorities to facilitate temporary evacuation of human rights defenders facing immediate lethal danger.
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 protections for human rights defenders.
Given the dramatic increase in attacks on human rights defenders globally, the current approach 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 climate crisis, counter corruption, and combat transnational crime.
Sec. 3 Definitions
In this Act—
Appropriate congressional committees— The term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
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 Fellows Program.
Human rights defender—
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 fundamental freedoms, in a manner consistent with the principles described in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
Inclusions— The term human rights defender may include members of civil society organizations, journalists, activists, lawyers, community leaders, land and environmental defenders, labor leaders and activists, anti-corruption activists, whistleblowers, political prisoners, members of opposition political parties, and any other individual engaging in peaceful advocacy, actions, or political protest.
Reprisal— The term reprisal means an act or omission that—
violates, intends to violate, or encourages a violation of the rights of a human rights defender; or
otherwise prevents a human rights defender from carrying out his or her work.
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 Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 53/144 (1998)), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998.
Sec. 4 Statement of policy
It shall be the policy of the United States—
to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to—
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948;
the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders; and
human rights defenders, who, often at great risk to themselves, work nonviolently to protect and advance human rights and democratic principles;
to integrate support for human rights defenders and democracy advocates and their protection from reprisals as part of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic, development, defense, economic, law enforcement, security assistance, export control, climate, and anti-corruption activities of the United States;
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 Principles on Business and Human Rights published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct;
to work in solidarity with front-line human rights defenders and democracy advocates to integrate 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 organizations in the country of concern;
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;
to end impunity for reprisals against human rights defenders by strengthening accountability for perpetrators, including through appropriate investigations and prosecutions, exercise of sanctions authorities such as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), and support for other mechanisms and measures;
to strengthen access to justice and provide legal representation for human rights defenders;
to affirm that support for human rights defenders and their protection from reprisals is central to the policy interests of the United States; and
to coordinate assistance strategies and direct assistance for human rights defenders with bilateral partners, non-governmental foundations and charities, and other advocates and service providers.
Sec. 5 Global strategy for human rights defenders
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”).
Elements of the strategy— The Strategy shall include detailed information on the following elements:
An assessment of tools and resources available at United States embassies and missions to support human rights defenders, including—
measures to monitor and respond to reprisals against human rights defenders, including human rights defenders located outside of their country, and their immediate family members; and
information on implementation of the training required by subparagraph (E) of section 708(a)(1) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028(a)(1)), as added by section 8.
Bolstering the ability of United States embassies and missions to prioritize the protection of human rights defenders, including—
ensuring the policy objectives described in section 4 are addressed in each country-specific Integrated Country Strategy of the Department of State;
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;
identifying a designated point of contact at each United States embassy or mission who—
reports directly to the chief of mission; and
shall be responsible for—
conducting regular consultations with human rights defenders, including individuals based outside of major urban areas, individuals who are not members of registered civil society organizations, and individuals in exile, consistent with measures to ensure the protection of such individuals;
tracking patterns of reprisals and managing responses to reprisals, including by assessing the impact of such responses; and
immediately notifying the chief of mission, the head of the relevant regional bureau of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development, the Director of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and the Assistant to the Administrator for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance in the event of any imminent threat to the life or grave threat to the personal safety of a human rights defender;
publishing guidelines in local languages on the website of each United States embassy and mission on how to reach relevant embassy points of contact;
integrating consideration of reprisals against human rights defenders into engagements by United States embassies and missions with the private sector, and foreign governments;
including requests for any additional resources needed to engage with and support human rights defenders in annual Mission Resource Requests;
acknowledging and rewarding efforts by United States diplomatic personnel, including Foreign Service officers from the United States Agency for International Development and the Department of State, to protect human rights defenders as part of annual performance reviews;
strengthening the efforts of host countries to bolster human rights, protect human rights defenders, and prevent human rights abuses and violations; and
identifying additional authorities or capabilities that need to be developed to address the growing threats facing human rights defenders.
Seeking to reduce impunity for reprisals against human rights defenders by strengthening accountability for perpetrators, including—
using diplomatic engagement to encourage foreign governments to investigate and prosecute persons who order, plan, and carry out reprisals;
using diplomatic engagement to respond to patterns of non-lethal reprisals that have an adverse impact on civic space, including the criminalization of nonviolent advocacy, smear campaigns, and illegal surveillance; and
increasing support for multilateral initiatives that seek to curb the misuse of technologies by foreign governments to monitor, harass, or threaten human rights defenders and their families.
How the United States intends to implement the policy objectives under section 4, including—
specific and measurable goals;
metrics to measure progress against such goals; and
a timeline for implementation.
Implementation— In implementing the Strategy, the President shall—
designate an employee of the National Security Council to be responsible for the coordination of the interagency process for implementing the Strategy;
require each relevant Federal agency to provide a specific implementation plan for the Strategy; and
regularly consult with relevant human rights defenders and civil society organizations both in the United States and abroad on the design and implementation of the Strategy.
Form and availability—
Form— The Strategy shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if necessary.
Briefing— Not later than 30 days prior to publication of the Strategy in accordance with paragraph (3), the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, in consultation with the Assistant to the Administrator for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on the Strategy.
Public availability— The unclassified portion of the Strategy shall be made available to the public, including through publication in the Federal Register.
Sec. 6 Nonimmigrant visas for human rights defenders
in paragraph (15)—
in subparagraph (U)(iii), by striking “; or” and inserting a semicolon;
in subparagraph (V)(ii)(II), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(W)
“(i) subject to section 214(t), an alien who—
“(I) demonstrates a credible fear of an urgent threat to his or her physical safety by a state or nonstate actor in the alien’s country of nationality or last habitual residence based on the nature of the alien’s work as a human rights defender, including formal and informal employment and volunteer activities; and
“(II) has not advocated violence or terrorism; and
“(ii) the children and spouse or partner of the alien described in clause (i) if accompanying, or following to join, such alien.”
by adding at the end the following:
“(53) The term urgent threat, with respect to an individual described in paragraph (15)(W)(i)(I), means any action, communication, or threat made against the individual that causes or has the intent to cause physical, legal, financial, psychological, or reputational harm.”
Application for admission— Section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(t)
“(1) In the case of a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W)—
“(A) the Secretary of State shall issue a visa that is valid for 1 or more admissions to the United States during a 3-year period; and
“(B) the Secretary of Homeland Security shall authorize the alien to engage in employment in the United States during the period of authorized admission and shall provide the alien with an “employment authorized” endorsement or other appropriate document signifying authorizing employment.
“(2) In determining whether an alien is eligible to be admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant under section 101(a)(15)(W)(i)—
“(A) a foreign service officer, outside of consular services, including political and economic officers and officers of the United States Agency for International Development, located at the United States Embassy in the country concerned, an official in the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, or an official of Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, may submit a visa referral for the alien to the United States consulate in the country concerned;
“(B) a consular officer, located at the United States Embassy or consulate in the country concerned—
“(i) shall conduct an interview of the alien not later than 72 hours after the alien submits an application for admission as a nonimmigrant under that section;
“(ii) shall make a determination with respect to whether the alien’s fear of an urgent threat is credible within the context of such country; and
“(iii) shall consult with and seek references from relevant national or international human rights organizations or the United Nations with respect to the alien, including references suggested by the alien and the referring human rights officer; and
“(C) the Bureau of Consular Affairs shall carry out all security screening through the appropriate databases.
“(3) An unmarried alien who seeks to accompany or follow to join a parent granted status under section 101(a)(15)(W)(i), and who was under 21 years of age on the date on which such parent applied for such status, shall continue to be classified as a child for purposes of section 101(a)(15)(W)(ii), if the alien attains 21 years of age after such parent’s application was filed, but while it was pending.
“(4)
“(A) The number of aliens who may be issued visas or otherwise provided status as nonimmigrants under section 101(a) (15)(W) in any fiscal year shall not exceed 500.
“(B) The numerical limitation in subparagraph (A) shall only apply to principal aliens described in section 101(a)(15)(W)(i) and not to the children or spouses or partners of such aliens.”
Sec. 7 Human rights officers
Sense of Congress— It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should—
increase the number of Foreign Service officer positions dedicated to democracy and human rights graded at mid-level rank levels and posted to missions in countries facing complex democracy and human rights crises, including countries facing high levels of violence against human rights defenders; and
increase the number of democracy, human rights, and labor positions graded at mid-level rank levels at overseas posts, incorporating recommendations from the Director of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor regarding scope of work and the location of posts.
Reclassification to mid-Level—
Recommendation— Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a recommendation to the appropriate congressional committees to reclassify not less than 10 human rights officers to the FS–3, –2, or –1 level.
Reclassification— Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, not less than 10 human rights officers shall be reclassified in accordance with this section.
Increased human rights officers at posts—
In general— Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall increase the number of personnel who are responsible for democracy and human rights issues, with the goal of having at least one officer dedicated to democracy and human rights at every mission.
Responsibility— The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor shall lead selection and placement of such officers at diplomatic missions, consulting with regional bureaus.
Democracy and governance training— Democracy, human rights, and governance should be a core competency course for foreign service officers at each level of required training, including those at the entry (A–100), mid, and Senior Foreign Service levels.
Sec. 8 Protecting human rights defenders at multilateral and regional bodies
The Secretary of State and the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations shall use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United Nations, international financial institutions, regional bodies, and other multilateral bodies—
to promote full participation and oppose efforts that prevent the full participation of human rights defenders or block the accreditation of bona fide human rights organizations seeking consultative status at such institutions and bodies;
to ensure that such institutions and bodies bolster the protection and safe participation of human rights defenders who are subject to transnational repression, state harassment, and reprisals;
to increase monitoring and reporting to identify and track reprisals against human rights defenders, including human rights defenders who engage with such institutions and bodies;
to urge member states to engage with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (referred to in this section as the “Special Rapporteur”), to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur, and to take steps to implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur; and
to support the use of targeted sanctions, censure of member states, and all diplomatic tools available to hold responsible persons that engage in reprisals against human rights defenders.
Sec. 9 Support for democracy advocates at-risk
In general— Congress—
recognizes the importance of democracy advocates at risk who support democracy, human rights, transparency and the rule of law; and
remains gravely concerned about concerted efforts by state and non-state actors to constrain the activities of democracy advocates at risk through reprisals that are intended to frustrate or halt legitimate activities.
Fellowships for democracy advocates at risk— The National Endowment for Democracy is authorized to expand the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program to provide additional fellowships, including in partnership with other institutions and organizations, to support democracy advocates at risk.
Sec. 10 Annual country reports on human rights practices
Section 116(f)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(f)(1)) is amended—
by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (E); and
by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
“(C) A description of the treatment of human rights defenders (as defined in section 3 of the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2024) in each foreign country, including patterns of reprisals (as defined in such section) against human rights defenders residing in-country, including information on the underlying types of activities targeted and the types of tactics being used and descriptions of specific cases in which the relevant human rights defender or family member of such human rights defender has provided prior consent.
“(D) When feasible, details on the total number of investigations opened into reprisals against human rights defenders, including, for such reprisals, the number of prosecutions, the details of the individuals sentenced, and the percentage of individuals acquitted.”
Sec. 11 Training
Section 708(a)(1) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028(a)(1)) is amended—
in subparagraph (C), by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(E) for Foreign Service Officers and Presidential appointees, including chiefs of mission, in missions abroad who work on political, economic, public diplomacy, security, or development issues, a dedicated module of instruction on support for human rights defenders, including human rights defenders who are informally organized outside of registered civil society organizations; and”
Sec. 12 Authorization of appropriations
Strategy and training— There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out—
the Strategy described in section 5;
reporting requirements described in subsections (C) and (D) of section 116(f)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(f)(1)), as added by section 14; and
the training required by section 708(a)(1)(E) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028(a)(1)), as added by section 14.
Human rights officers— There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 to 2028 to carry out section 7.
Support of democracy advocates at-risk— There is authorized to be appropriated to the National Endowment for Democracy $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 for the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program for additional fellowships for democracy advocates at risk.