What This Bill Does
This bill directs the federal government to address transnational repression, which happens when foreign governments target people living outside their home countries to silence dissent and control exile communities. The bill creates strategies, training programs, and sanctions to combat these tactics both inside the United States and globally.
##
Who It Affects
- Private individuals and diaspora communities targeted by foreign governments
- U.S. diplomats and foreign service officers
- Federal law enforcement agencies (FBI, DHS, DOJ)
- Intelligence agencies
- Congressional staff
- Technology companies exporting surveillance tools
- Foreign individuals and governments engaged in transnational repression
##
Key Provisions
- The Secretary of State must submit a comprehensive strategy within 270 days addressing transnational repression through diplomacy, assistance programs, law enforcement coordination, and policy recommendations (Sec. 5)
- Annual reports on human rights must now describe transnational repression incidents, identify countries where repression occurs, document tactics used including digital surveillance and harassment, and identify the host government's role in enabling or preventing such acts (Sec. 4)
- The federal government must establish a staffed tip line for victims and witnesses of transnational repression that protects confidentiality and includes people who speak diaspora community languages (Sec. 8)
- The President must impose sanctions including property blocking and visa denial against foreign persons determined to have engaged in transnational repression, with limited exceptions for intelligence activities and international obligations (Sec. 9)
- Federal agencies must provide training to diplomats, law enforcement, and other officials on recognizing and combating transnational repression tactics (Sec. 6)
##
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, the federal government would create new reporting requirements on transnational repression in annual human rights reports. The State Department would develop and implement a governmentwide strategy to address transnational repression. Federal agencies would establish training programs and a dedicated tip line for victims. The President would gain authority to sanction foreign persons engaged in transnational repression through property freezes and visa denials. Intelligence agencies would prioritize identifying networks used for transnational repression against U.S. communities.
##
Important Definitions
**Transnational repression:** Actions by a foreign government or its agents that cross national borders through physical, digital, or other means to intimidate, silence, coerce, harass, or harm diaspora and exile communities to prevent them from exercising human rights.
**Forms of transnational repression listed include:** extrajudicial killings (killings without legal process), physical assaults, unlawful detention, forced deportation, unexplained disappearances, surveillance, passport cancellation, misuse of INTERPOL notices, intimidation by government officials, asset freezes, cyberattacks, spyware, online harassment, threats to family members, and spreading false information to damage reputations.
**Diaspora:** People and communities living outside their countries of origin, including exiles and emigrants.
**Non-refoulement:** A principle in international law that prohibits sending someone to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened based on race, religion, nationality, group membership, or political opinions, or where they face risk of torture.
##
Effective Date
The bill does not specify when it would take effect. Various provisions require actions within 180 to 270 days after enactment. Sanctions authorization expires 5 years after the bill becomes law.
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 831
To address transnational repression by foreign governments against private
individuals, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 16, 2023
Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. HAGERTY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To address transnational repression by foreign governments
against private individuals, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
4
‘‘Transnational Repression Policy Act’’.
5
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
6
this Act is as follows:
7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Statement of policy.
Sec. 4. Amendments to annual country reports on human rights practices.
Sec. 5. Interagency strategy to address transnational repression in United
States and abroad.
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Sec. 6. Training.
Sec. 7. Intelligence gathering.
Sec. 8. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice initia-
tives to combat transnational repression in the United States.
Sec. 9. Imposition of sanctions relating to transnational repression.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds the following:
2
(1) Transnational repression against individuals
3
who live outside their countries of origin, prominent
4
or vocal anti-regime figures, and persons who pro-
5
vide aid and support to dissidents—
6
(A) is a human rights violation that seeks
7
to stifle dissent and enhance control over exile,
8
activist, emigrant, and diaspora communities;
9
and
10
(B) can take the form of—
11
(i) extrajudicial killings;
12
(ii) physical assaults and intimidation;
13
(iii) unlawful detentions;
14
(iv) unlawful renditions;
15
(v) unlawful deportations;
16
(vi) unexplained or enforced dis-
17
appearances;
18
(vii) physical or online surveillance or
19
stalking;
20
(viii) unwarranted passport cancella-
21
tion or control over other identification
22
documents;
23
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(ix) INTERPOL abuse;
1
(x) intimidation by diplomatic per-
2
sonnel, government officials, or proxies;
3
(xi) unlawful asset freezes;
4
(xii)
digital
threats,
such
as
5
cyberattacks, targeted surveillance and
6
spyware, online harassment, and intimida-
7
tion;
8
(xiii) coercion by proxy, such as har-
9
assment of, or threats or harm to, family
10
and associates of such private individuals
11
who remain in the country of origin; and
12
(xiv) slander and libel to discredit in-
13
dividuals.
14
(2) Governments perpetrating transnational re-
15
pression often pressure host countries, especially—
16
(A) through threats to condition foreign
17
assistance or other pressure campaigns on law-
18
makers in host countries, such as threats—
19
(i) to withdraw foreign students from
20
their universities; and
21
(ii) to induce them to enact policies
22
that repress emigrant and diaspora com-
23
munities; and
24
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(B) by offering financial and material as-
1
sistance to host countries to harass and intimi-
2
date emigrant and diaspora communities.
3
(3) Transnational repression is a threat to indi-
4
viduals, democratic institutions, the exercise of
5
rights and freedoms, and national security and sov-
6
ereignty.
7
(4) Authoritarian governments increasingly rely
8
on transnational repression as their consolidation of
9
control at home pushes dissidents abroad.
10
(5) The spread of digital technologies provides
11
new tools for censoring, surveilling, and targeting in-
12
dividuals deemed to be threats across international
13
borders, especially dissidents pushed abroad who
14
themselves rely on communications technology to
15
amplify their messages, which can often lead to
16
physical attacks and coercion by proxy.
17
(6) Many acts of transnational repression are
18
undertaken through cooperation of, or cooperation
19
with, authorities in the host country, most notably
20
by taking advantage of other States’ concerns about
21
terrorism to accuse the targeted individual of ter-
22
rorism or extremism.
23
(7) Authoritarian actors routinely attempt to
24
deter and silence the voices of dissident and exile
25
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communities at international fora, as documented by
1
the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for
2
Human Rights in the Secretary-General’s annual re-
3
port on reprisals to the United Nations Human
4
Rights Council.
5
(8) The principle of non-refoulement, which is
6
explicitly included in the Convention against Torture
7
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
8
or Punishment, done at New York December 10,
9
1984—
10
(A) forms an essential protection under
11
international law; and
12
(B) prohibits countries from expelling or
13
returning an individual to another country
14
where the individual’s life or freedom would be
15
threatened on account of the individual’s race,
16
religion, nationality, membership in a particular
17
social group, or political opinion, or due to sub-
18
stantial grounds for believing that the indi-
19
vidual would be at risk of torture.
20
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
21
It is the policy of the United States—
22
(1) to protect persons in the United States and
23
United States persons outside of the United States
24
from undue foreign harassment, intimidation, coer-
25
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•S 831 IS
cion, and surveillance in accordance with section 6
1
of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2756);
2
(2) to pursue criminal prosecutions, as appro-
3
priate, and carry out other steps, such as facilitating
4
mutual legal assistance and other forms of inter-
5
national cooperation with like-minded partners, in
6
accordance with United States law, to hold foreign
7
governments and individuals accountable when they
8
stalk, publish false narratives online with the intent
9
to unlawfully intimidate, harass, coerce, or assault
10
people in the United States or United States persons
11
outside of the United States or collect information
12
while acting as a foreign agent in the United States
13
without notifying United States authorities; and
14
(3) to prohibit the arrest or seizure of assets of
15
any individual based solely on an INTERPOL Red
16
Notice or Diffusion issued by another INTERPOL
17
member country for such individual because such no-
18
tices do not meet the requirements of the Fourth
19
Amendment to the Constitution of the United
20
States.
21
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•S 831 IS
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON
1
HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.
2
Section 116 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
3
(22 U.S.C. 2151n) is amended by adding at the end the
4
following:
5
‘‘(h) USE OF TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.—The
6
country reports required under subsection (d) shall, as ap-
7
plicable—
8
‘‘(1) describe incidents in which a government
9
has harassed, intimidated, or killed individuals out-
10
side of their internationally recognized borders and
11
document patterns of such repression among repeat
12
offenders;
13
‘‘(2) identify the countries in which such repres-
14
sion occurs and the roles of the host government in
15
enabling, preventing, mitigating, and responding to
16
such acts;
17
‘‘(3) describe the tactics used by the countries
18
identified pursuant to paragraph (2), including the
19
actions identified in section 2(1) and any new tech-
20
niques observed; and
21
‘‘(4) in the case of digital surveillance and har-
22
assment, specify the type of technology or platform,
23
including social media, smart city technology, health
24
tracking systems, general surveillance technology,
25
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•S 831 IS
and data access, transfer, and storage procedures,
1
used by the countries for such actions.’’.
2
SEC.
5.
INTERAGENCY
STRATEGY
TO
ADDRESS
3
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION IN UNITED
4
STATES AND ABROAD.
5
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the
6
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State,
7
in coordination with the heads of other appropriate Fed-
8
eral departments and agencies, shall submit a report to
9
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the
10
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee
11
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and
12
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
13
resentatives that contains a United States strategy to pro-
14
mote initiatives that will—
15
(1)
enhance
international
awareness
of
16
transnational repression;
17
(2) address transnational repression, including
18
through raising the costs of such activities for perpe-
19
trating governments and protecting targeted individ-
20
uals and groups;
21
(3) conduct regular outreach (whether through
22
government agencies or civil society organizations)
23
with diaspora communities and other people who
24
have been targeted by foreign governments regard-
25
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•S 831 IS
ing the transnational threats they face within the
1
United States and around the world and the re-
2
sources available to them without putting them at
3
further risk; and
4
(4) develop policy and programmatic-related re-
5
sponses based on input from the communities and
6
people referred to in paragraph (3) and regularly
7
seek and consider credible information obtained by
8
nongovernmental organizations working on issues of
9
transnational repression.
10
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—
11
(1) DIPLOMACY.—The strategy required under
12
subsection (a) shall include—
13
(A) a plan developed in consultation with
14
like-minded partner governments, civil society,
15
the business community, and other entities for
16
advancing and promoting—
17
(i) the rule of law and human rights
18
globally with respect to the use of surveil-
19
lance technology and export licensing pol-
20
icy regarding such technology; and
21
(ii) safeguards to prevent the access,
22
use, and storage of personal digital data by
23
governments and technology companies for
24
the purposes of transnational repression;
25
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•S 831 IS
(B) public affairs, public diplomacy, and
1
counter-messaging efforts, including through
2
the use of the voice, vote, and influence of the
3
United States at international bodies—
4
(i) to promote awareness;
5
(ii) to develop a common under-
6
standing; and
7
(iii) to draw critical attention to and
8
oppose acts of transnational repression;
9
(C) a plan for establishing or strength-
10
ening regional and international coalitions—
11
(i) to monitor cases of transnational
12
repression, including reprisals when human
13
rights defenders and other activists face
14
reprisals for engaging at multilateral orga-
15
nizations, such as the United Nations; and
16
(ii) to create or strengthen emergency
17
alert mechanisms for key stakeholders
18
within the international community that
19
can engage in public or private diplomacy
20
to
address
emergency
cases
of
21
transnational repression, including cases
22
involving individuals and their family mem-
23
bers who are at serious risk of rendition,
24
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•S 831 IS
disappearance,
unlawful
deportation,
1
refoulement, or other actions;
2
(D) an analysis of the advantages and dis-
3
advantages of working with partners and allies
4
to push for the establishment of a special
5
rapporteur for transnational repression at the
6
United Nations; and
7
(E) a plan for engaging with diplomats
8
and consular officials who abuse their positions
9
by intimidating, threatening, attacking, or oth-
10
erwise undermining the human rights and fun-
11
damental freedoms of exiles and members of
12
diasporas in the United States.
13
(2) ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMING.—The strategy
14
required under subsection (a) shall include—
15
(A) ways in which the United States Gov-
16
ernment has previously and will continue to
17
provide support to civil society organizations in
18
the United States and in countries in which
19
transnational repression occurs—
20
(i) to improve the documentation, in-
21
vestigation, and research of cases, trends,
22
and tactics of transnational repression, in-
23
cluding—
24
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•S 831 IS
(I) any potential for misusing se-
1
curity tools to target individual dis-
2
sidents, activists, or journalists; and
3
(II)
ramifications
of
4
transnational repression in under-
5
mining United States policy or assist-
6
ance efforts to promote internationally
7
recognized human rights and democ-
8
racy overseas; and
9
(ii) to promote the transparency of
10
the host country decision-making proc-
11
esses, including instances in which law en-
12
forcement
actions
against
victims
of
13
transnational repression occurred because
14
of INTERPOL red notices or extradition
15
treaties; and
16
(B) a description of new or existing emer-
17
gency assistance mechanisms, including the
18
Fundamental Freedoms Fund and the Lifeline
19
Embattled CSO Assistance Fund, to aid at-risk
20
groups, communities, and individuals, and vic-
21
tims of transnational repression in the United
22
States and in countries in which transnational
23
repression occurs to address—
24
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