A resolution recognizing widening threats to freedom of the press and free expression around the world, reaffirming the vital role that a free and independent press plays in combating the growing threats of authoritarianism, misinformation, and disinformation, and reaffirming freedom of the press as a priority of the United States Government in promoting democracy, human rights, and good governance in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2023.

III 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 191 Recognizing widening threats to freedom of the press and free expression around the world, reaffirming the vital role that a free and independent press plays in combating the growing threats of authoritarianism, misin- formation, and disinformation, and reaffirming freedom of the press as a priority of the United States Government in promoting democracy, human rights, and good governance in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2023. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 3, 2023 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. KAINE, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) 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, reaffirming the vital role that a free and independent press plays in combating the growing threats of authoritarianism, misinformation, and disinformation, and reaffirming freedom of the press as a priority of the United States Government in pro- moting democracy, human rights, and good governance in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2023. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •SRES 191 IS Whereas the First Amendment to the United States Constitu- tion and various State constitutions protect freedom of the press in the United States; Whereas Thomas Jefferson, who championed the necessity of a free press for a thriving democratic society, wisely de- clared, ‘‘Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.’’; Whereas article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declara- tion of Human Rights, adopted in Paris on December 10, 1948, states, ‘‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opin- ion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and im- part information and ideas through any media and re- gardless of frontiers.’’; Whereas, in 1993, the United Nations General Assembly pro- claimed the third day of May of each year to be ‘‘World Press Freedom Day’’— (1) to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; (2) to evaluate press freedom around the world; (3) to defend the media against attacks on its inde- pendence; and (4) to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while working in their profession; Whereas the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–166) expanded the examination of the freedom of the press around the world in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the Department of State; Whereas, on December 18, 2013, and December 18, 2019, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •SRES 191 IS 68/163 and Resolution 74/157, respectively, on the safety of journalists and the problem of impunity by unequivo- cally condemning all attacks on, and violence against, journalists and media workers, including torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, arbitrary de- tention, and intimidation and harassment in conflict and non-conflict situations; 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 sanctions 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 in February 2021, announced the Khashoggi Ban, a new policy allowing the Department of State to impose visa restrictions on indi- viduals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including ac- tivities that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dis- sidents for their work; Whereas Reporters Without Borders, in their compiled data from 2022, provide alarming indications about growing divisions resulting from the spread of disinformation with the potential to weaken democratic societies; Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders, a record total of 533 journalists were in prison as of December 1, 2022, and the annual number of women journalists in prison has recently risen by nearly 30 percent; VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •SRES 191 IS Whereas Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2023 re- port marked the 17th consecutive year of decline in glob- al freedom, with an estimated 39 percent of the global population living in countries deemed ‘‘Not Free’’; Whereas worsening media freedom has been one of the key drivers of declines in global freedom, including attacks and prosecutions against journalists, pressure on media outlets, repressive regulatory and legal frameworks, inter- net shutdowns, and blocks on online sources of informa- tion; Whereas journalists and media staff are being murdered, at- tacked, harassed and imprisoned around the world and the Committee to Protect Journalists has reported that— (1) at least 67 journalists and media workers were killed around the world in 2022, representing a rise com- pared to the previous year of almost 50 percent; (2) the vast majority of murders of journalists occur with impunity, with nearly 80 percent of the perpetrators of 263 murders of journalists from September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2022, facing no punishment; (3) Iran, China, Burma, Turkey, and Belarus were responsible for nearly 60 percent of all imprisoned jour- nalists; and (4) journalists and media outlets around the world have been targeted by government actors with sophisti- cated spyware products that pose a severe risk to their security and the security of their sources and families; Whereas, according to PEN America, at least 311 writers and public intellectuals, including columnists and edi- torial journalists, were imprisoned across 36 different countries during 2022; VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •SRES 191 IS Whereas, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Reporters Without Borders has documented attacks directly targeting journalists, in- cluding— (1) the killing of 8 journalists and media workers; (2) the torture by electric shock, beatings, and mock executions of journalists working for the international press; (3) the targeted kidnappings of journalists and their families in occupied regions of Ukraine to put pressure on their reporting; and (4) the deliberate attacks targeting media facilities; Whereas, in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Ukrainian journalists and bloggers have repeatedly been threatened, arbitrarily arrested, and tortured for resisting Russian occupation, such as the detentions of Vladyslav Yesypenko Iryna Danylovych, Amet Suleimanov, Asan Akhmetov, Marlen Asanov, Nariman Celal, Oleksiy Bessarabov, Osman Arifmemetov, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleimanov, Rustem Sheikhaliev, Server Mustafayev, Seyran Saliev, Timur Ibragimov, and Vilen Temeryanov; Whereas media workers face heightened dangers in Russia, such as harassment, repression, censorship, and impris- onment, with 22 journalists imprisoned as of April 17, 2023, of whom 10 were arrested after the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, including— (1) Evan Gershkovich, a United States reporter with the Wall Street Journal, who was wrongfully detained on baseless espionage charges in March and faces up to 20 years in jail; (2) Ivan Safronov, a correspondent with Russian business dailies Kommersant and Vedomosti, who was VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •SRES 191 IS sentenced to 22 years in jail on treason charges in Sep- tember 2022; (3) Maria Ponomarenko, a correspondent with the RusNews independent news website, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian military on February 15, 2023; (4) Sergey Mikhaylov, publisher of independent newspaper Listok, who was arrested for spreading false information about the Russian military in April 2022; (5) Mikhail Afanasyev, editor-in-chief of the online magazine Novy Fokus, who was arrested and charged with spreading false information about the Russian mili- tary in April 2022; (6) Novaya Gazeta, a landmark independent news- paper founded in 1993, which— (A) suspended operations in Russia in March 2022 after receiving warnings from the authorities citing the country’s foreign agents law; and (B) was stripped of its print and online media licenses in September 2022; and (7) Meduza, a leading independent bilingual news website based outside of Russia, which— (A) was designated by Russian authorities in January 2023 as an ‘‘undesirable organization’’ under the 2015 Undesirable Organization Law; and (B) was banned from operating in the Russian Federation; Whereas, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Government of the People’s Republic of China had detained at least 43 journalists, as of December 1, 2022, and has unleashed an onslaught of attacks on press free- dom in China and Hong Kong, including through— VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •SRES 191 IS (1) state-sponsored censorship and disinformation campaigns limiting access to information about any dis- sent, including recent protests against then-imposed COVID–19 restrictions, and by censoring protest-related keywords on social media platforms; (2) attacks on press freedom in Hong Kong, includ- ing 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 inde- pendent journalists and others in mainland China at- tempting to share uncensored news or opinion about cur- rent affairs, including Sophia Huang Xueqin, who has written about women’s rights and the protests in Hong Kong, and has been arbitrarily detained for more than 500 days; (4) the detention of journalists critical of the Gov- ernment of China, including Ruan Xiaohuan, who, after blogging about programming and politics, was sentenced to a 7-year term of imprisonment in early 2023, following 21 months of incommunicado detention; and (5) the continued detention of Uyghur journalists, who account for nearly 50 percent of imprisoned journal- ists in China, including Ilham Tohti, founder of the news website Uighurbiz, who was detained in 2014 and is serv- ing a life sentence; Whereas Afghanistan, under the control of the Taliban, re- mains one of the most repressive countries for journal- ists, with journalists in Afghanistan being subject to ar- rest, beatings, and arbitrary restrictions on their work, including journalists Mortaza Behboudi and Khairullah VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •SRES 191 IS Parhar, who have been detained by the Taliban since January 2023; Whereas Belarus has witnessed sweeping attacks against the press since Alexander Lukashenka’s fraudulent election in August 2020, with journalists and media workers har- assed, assaulted, imprisoned, or otherwise retaliated against for their work, including— (1) Katsiaryna Andreyeva, a correspondent with Po- land-based independent broadcaster Belsat TV, who, while serving a 2-year prison term for filming a live broadcast of the violent dispersal of a protest against Lukashenko in November 2020, was sentenced to 8 addi- tional years in prison on treason charges in July 2022; (2) Ksenia Lutskina, a former correspondent for the state broadcaster Belteleradio, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of conspiring to seize state power in September 2022, and who is not receiving ap- propriate medical care despite having a preexisting brain tumor that has grown during her detention; (3) Maryna Zolatava, chief editor of independent news website Tut.by, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of incitement to hatred and distrib- uting materials calling for actions aimed at harming na- tional security in March 2023; (4) Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist who, while work- ing for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained in November 2021, and sentenced in June 2022 to 6 years in prison on charges of forming an extremist group; and (5) Ihar Losik, another Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist who was arrested in June 2020, and sentenced in December 2021 to 15 years in jail on bogus charges of preparation of actions that violate public VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR191.IS SR191 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •SRES 191 IS order, who attempted suicide in March 2023, and whose wife Darya was sentenced in January 2023 to 2 years in prison on a charge of facilitating extremist activity; Whereas Reporters Without Borders asserts that due to op- pression by the military junta, ‘‘press freedom in [Burma] has been set back ten years in ten days’’ after the February 1, 2021, military coup, including through— (1) media workers forced into hiding and con- fronting censorship, harassment, internet blocks, beat- ings, interrogations, threats, and injuries at the hands of the military; (2) multiple independent media outlets had forced to cease operations or close altogether or had their licenses revoked by the military; and (3) journalists being detained at alarming rates, with 75 journalists in prison as of April 17, 2023; Whereas Cuba remains a highly restricted environment for independent media, marked by internet restrictions and constant harassment of journalists and news outlets, in- cluding journalist La´zaro Yuri Valle Roca who was sen- tenced to 5 years in prison for ‘‘enemy propaganda and resistance’’ in July 2022, a clear sign that the Cuban re- gime continues using the extreme measure of jailing jour [Text truncated for display. 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