Transnational Repression Policy Act

I ★ 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3654 To address transnational repression by foreign governments against private individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 24, 2023 Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 HR 3654 IH1S Sec. 4. Amendments to annual country reports on human rights practices. Sec. 5. Interagency strategy to address transnational repression in United States and abroad. 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 HR 3654 IH1S (viii) unwarranted passport cancella- 1 tion or control over other identification 2 documents; 3 (ix) INTERPOL abuse; 4 (x) intimidation by diplomatic per- 5 sonnel, government officials, or proxies; 6 (xi) unlawful asset freezes; 7 (xii) digital threats, such as 8 cyberattacks, targeted surveillance and 9 spyware, online harassment, and intimida- 10 tion; 11 (xiii) coercion by proxy, such as har- 12 assment of, or threats or harm to, family 13 and associates of such private individuals 14 who remain in the country of origin; and 15 (xiv) slander and libel to discredit in- 16 dividuals. 17 (2) Governments perpetrating transnational re- 18 pression often pressure host countries, especially— 19 (A) through threats to condition foreign 20 assistance or other pressure campaigns on law- 21 makers in host countries, such as threats— 22 (i) to withdraw foreign students from 23 their universities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 HR 3654 IH1S (ii) to induce them to enact policies 1 that repress emigrant and diaspora com- 2 munities; and 3 (B) by offering financial and material as- 4 sistance to host countries to harass and intimi- 5 date emigrant and diaspora communities. 6 (3) Transnational repression is a threat to indi- 7 viduals, democratic institutions, the exercise of 8 rights and freedoms, and national security and sov- 9 ereignty. 10 (4) Authoritarian governments increasingly rely 11 on transnational repression as their consolidation of 12 control at home pushes dissidents abroad. 13 (5) The spread of digital technologies provides 14 new tools for censoring, surveilling, and targeting in- 15 dividuals deemed to be threats across international 16 borders, especially dissidents pushed abroad who 17 themselves rely on communications technology to 18 amplify their messages, which can often lead to 19 physical attacks and coercion by proxy. 20 (6) Many acts of transnational repression are 21 undertaken through cooperation of, or cooperation 22 with, authorities in the host country, most notably 23 by taking advantage of other states’ concerns about 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 HR 3654 IH1S terrorism to accuse the targeted individual of ter- 1 rorism or extremism. 2 (7) Authoritarian actors routinely attempt to 3 deter and silence the voices of dissident and exile 4 communities at international fora, as documented by 5 the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for 6 Human Rights in the Secretary-General’s annual re- 7 port on reprisals to the United Nations Human 8 Rights Council. 9 (8) The principle of non-refoulement, which is 10 explicitly included in the Convention against Torture 11 and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment 12 or Punishment, done at New York December 10, 13 1984— 14 (A) forms an essential protection under 15 international law; and 16 (B) prohibits countries from expelling or 17 returning an individual to another country 18 where the individual’s life or freedom would be 19 threatened on account of the individual’s race, 20 religion, nationality, membership in a particular 21 social group, or political opinion, or due to sub- 22 stantial grounds for believing that the indi- 23 vidual would be at risk of torture. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 HR 3654 IH1S SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 1 It is the policy of the United States— 2 (1) to protect persons in the United States and 3 United States persons outside of the United States 4 from undue foreign harassment, intimidation, coer- 5 cion, and surveillance in accordance with section 6 6 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2756); 7 (2) to pursue criminal prosecutions, as appro- 8 priate, and carry out other steps, such as facilitating 9 mutual legal assistance and other forms of inter- 10 national cooperation with like-minded partners, in 11 accordance with United States law, to hold foreign 12 governments and individuals accountable when they 13 stalk, publish false narratives online with the intent 14 to unlawfully intimidate, harass, coerce, or assault 15 people in the United States or United States persons 16 outside of the United States or collect information 17 while acting as a foreign agent in the United States 18 without notifying United States authorities; and 19 (3) to prohibit the arrest or seizure of assets of 20 any individual based solely on an INTERPOL Red 21 Notice or Diffusion issued by another INTERPOL 22 member country for such individual because such no- 23 tices do not meet the requirements of the Fourth 24 Amendment to the Constitution of the United 25 States. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 HR 3654 IH1S 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 HR 3654 IH1S 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 the 9 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Com- 10 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on 11 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the 12 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa- 13 tives that contains a United States strategy to promote 14 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 HR 3654 IH1S 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 HR 3654 IH1S (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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11 HR 3654 IH1S 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3654.IH H3654 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12 HR 3654 IH1S (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 Embatt [Text truncated for display. 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