Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act of 2011 - Expresses the sense of Congress that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is responsible for directing the commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranian citizens on or after June 12, 2009.
Amends the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 to require the President: (1) upon receipt of credible information that a person may be an official of the government of Iran or acting on behalf of that government who is complicit in the commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranian citizens on or after June 12, 2009, to investigate and determine within 180 days whether the person is such a described individual; and (2) submit a list of such persons to Congress every 180 days or as new information becomes available.
Requires the President: (1) upon receipt of credible information that a person may have transferred to Iran goods or technologies, or provided post-transfer services, that may be used to commit human rights abuses to investigate and determine within 180 days whether the person engaged in such activity; (2) submit a list of such persons to Congress every 180 days or as new information becomes available; and (3) freeze the assets of a listed person.
Amends the Iran Freedom Support Act to: (1) extend the President's authority to provide financial and political assistance to support democracy in Iran through December 31, 2016; and (2) expand the forms of such assistance.
Requires the President to appoint a Special Representative on Human Rights and Democracy in Iran within the Department of State.
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Secretary should support efforts to research and catalogue prisoners of conscience and cases of human rights abuses inside Iran, (2) the U.S. government should offer political asylum to such political prisoners as well as assisting with their relocation to other countries if requested, and (3) the Special Representative and all representatives of the U.S. government should publicly call for the release of Iranian dissidents by name and raise individual cases of Iranian dissidents and prisoners of conscience as appropriate.
Requires the President to submit to Congress a comprehensive strategy to promote Internet freedom and access to information in Iran.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 879 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 879
To promote human rights and democracy in Iran.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 4, 2011
Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote human rights and democracy in Iran.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Iran Human Rights
and Democracy Promotion Act of 2011''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Declaration of policy.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Mandatory investigations to identify persons who are
responsible for or complicit in human
rights abuses committed against citizens of
Iran or their family members after the June
12, 2009, elections in Iran.
Sec. 5. Imposition of sanctions with respect to the transfer of goods
or technologies to Iran that may be used to
commit human rights abuses.
Sec. 6. Iran Freedom Support Act reauthorization.
Sec. 7. Special representative on human rights and democracy in Iran.
Sec. 8. Sense of Congress on political prisoners.
Sec. 9. Comprehensive strategy to promote Internet freedom and access
to information in Iran.
SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that the interests of the United
States and international peace are threatened by the ongoing and
destabilizing actions of the Government of the Islamic Republic of
Iran, including its massive, systematic, and extraordinary violations
of the human rights of its own citizens.
(b) Declaration of Policy.--It shall be the policy of the United
States--
(1) to deny the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
the ability to continue to oppress the people of Iran and to
use violence and executions against pro-democracy protestors
and regime opponents;
(2) to fully and publicly support efforts made by the
people of Iran to promote the establishment of basic freedom,
which build the foundation for the emergence of a freely
elected, open, and democratic political system;
(3) to help the Iranian people produce, access, and share
information freely and safely via the Internet and through
other media; and
(4) to defeat all attempts by the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran to jam or otherwise deny international
satellite broadcast signals.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Admitted; alien.--The terms ``admitted'' and ``alien''
have the meanings given those terms in section 101(a) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the
Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee
on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Financial
Services of the House of Representatives.
(3) United states person.--The term ``United States
person'' has the meaning given that term in section 101(10) of
the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8511(10)).
SEC. 4. MANDATORY INVESTIGATIONS TO IDENTIFY PERSONS WHO ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR OR COMPLICIT IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
COMMITTED AGAINST CITIZENS OF IRAN OR THEIR FAMILY
MEMBERS AFTER THE JUNE 12, 2009, ELECTIONS IN IRAN.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that President
of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as the head of state, is responsible for
ordering, controlling, and otherwise directing the commission of
serious human rights abuses against citizens of Iran on or after June
12, 2009.
(b) Mandatory Investigations.--Section 105 of the Comprehensive
Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C.
8514) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``subsection (b)'' and
inserting ``subsection (b)(2)''; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking ``List''
and inserting ``Identification'';
(B) by striking paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and
inserting the following:
``(1) Investigations; determinations.--
``(A) In general.--Upon receiving credible
information that a person may be a person described in
subparagraph (B), the President shall initiate an
investigation and, not later than 180 days after
initiating the investigation, make a determination with
respect to whether the person is a person described in
subparagraph (B).
``(B) Person described.--A person described in this
subparagraph is a person that--
``(i) is an official of the Government of
Iran or is acting on behalf of that Government
(including a member of a paramilitary
organization such as Ansar-e-Hezbollah and
Basij-e Mostaz'afin); and
``(ii) is responsible for or complicit in,
or responsible for ordering, controlling, or
otherwise directing, the commission of serious
human rights abuses against citizens of Iran or
their family members on or after June 12, 2009,
regardless of whether such abuses occurred in
Iran.
``(2) List.--
``(A) In general.--The President shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a list of each
person the President determines is a person described
in paragraph (1)(B)--
``(i) not later than 210 days after the
date of the enactment of the Iran Human Rights
and Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, and every
180 days thereafter; and
``(ii) as new information becomes
available.
``(B) Form of report; public availability.--
``(i) Form.--The list required by
subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in
unclassified form but may contain a classified
annex.
``(ii) Public availability.--The
unclassified portion of the list required by
subparagraph (A) shall be made available to the
public and posted on the Web sites of the
Department of the Treasury and the Department
of State.'';
(C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph
(3); and
(D) in paragraph (3), as redesignated, by striking
``In preparing the list required by paragraph (1)'' and
inserting ``For purposes of initiating investigations
and making determinations under paragraph (1)''.
SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE TRANSFER OF GOODS
OR TECHNOLOGIES TO IRAN THAT MAY BE USED TO COMMIT HUMAN
RIGHTS ABUSES.
(a) Investigations; Determinations.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), upon
receiving credible information that a person may have engaged
in an activity described in paragraph (2), the President shall
initiate an investigation and, not later than 180 days after
initiating the investigation, make a determination with respect
to whether that person engaged in that activity.
(2) Activity described.--
(A) In general.--A person engages in an activity
described in this subparagraph if the person, on or
after the date of the enactment of this Act--
(i) transfers, or facilitates the transfer
of, goods or technologies described in
subparagraph (C) to Iran; or
(ii) provides services with respect to
goods or technologies described in subparagraph
(C) after such goods or technologies are
transferred to Iran.
(B) Applicability to contracts and other
agreements.--A person engages in an activity described
in subparagraph (A) without regard to whether the
activity is carried out pursuant to a contract or other
agreement entered into before, on, or after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
(C) Goods or technologies described.--Goods or
technologies described in this subparagraph are--
(i) firearms or ammunition (as those terms
are defined in section 921 of title 18, United
States Code), accessories for firearms, rubber
bullets, clubs, batons, police sticks, mace,
stun grenades, tasers or other electroshock
weapons, tear gas, water cannons, motorcycles,
or surveillance technology;
(ii) sensitive technology (as defined in
section 106(c) of the Comprehensive Iran
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act
of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8515(c)); and
(iii) other goods or technologies that the
President determines may be used by the
Government of Iran to commit human rights
abuses against the people of Iran.
(3) Special rule to allow for termination of sanctionable
activity.--The President shall not be required to initiate an
investigation, and may terminate an investigation, under this
subsection if the President certifies in writing to the
appropriate congressional committees that--
(A) the person whose activity was the basis for the
investigation is no longer engaging in the activity or
has taken significant verifiable steps toward stopping
the activity; and
(B) the President has received reliable assurances
that the person will not knowingly engage in an
activity described in paragraph (2) in the future.
(b) List.--
(1) In general.--The President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a list of each person the
President determines has engaged in an activity described in
subsection (a)(2)--
(A) not later than 210 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter;
and
(B) as new information becomes available.
(2) Form of list.--The list required by paragraph (1) shall
be submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified
annex.
(c) Asset Freeze.--The President shall freeze and prohibit all
transactions in all property and interests in property of a person on
the list required by subsection (b) if such property and interests in
property are in the United States, come within the United States, or
are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(d) Waiver Authority.--The President may waive the application of
this section with respect to a person if the President--
(1) determines that such a waiver is in the national
interest of the United States; and
(2) submits to the appropriate congressional committees a
report describing the reasons for the waiver.
(e) Termination.--The provisions of this section shall terminate on
the date described in section 105(d) of the Comprehensive Iran
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C.
8514(d)).
SEC. 6. IRAN FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT REAUTHORIZATION.
(a) Additional Forms of Assistance.--Section 302(a)(1) of the Iran
Freedom Support Act (Public Law 109-293; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) is
amended by adding at the end the following: ``Such assistance may also
include the award of grants and the formation of public-private
partnerships to facilitate or subsidize the enrollment in or directly
provide Internet-based Farsi- or English-language higher education
courses for people in Iran denied access to higher education solely on
the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, language, sexual
orientation, belief, or lifestyle.''.
(b) Use of Near East Regional Democracy Funds.--Section 302(c)(1)
of such Act is amended by striking ``and the Human Rights and Democracy
Fund'' and inserting ``the Human Rights and Democracy Fund, and the
Near East Regional Democracy program''.
(c) Reauthorization.--Section 302(f) of such Act is amended by
striking ``2011'' and inserting ``2016''.
SEC. 7. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN IRAN.
(a) Appointment.--The President shall appoint a Special
Representative on Human Rights and Democracy in Iran (in this Act
referred to as the ``Special Representative'') within the Department of
State.
(b) Qualifications.--The Special Representative should be a person
of recognized distinction in the field of human rights and democracy
promotion who shall have the rank of ambassador and shall hold the
office at the pleasure of the President.
(c) Duties.--The Special Representative shall carry out the
following duties:
(1) Coordinate United States Government-wide activities
that promote human rights, democracy, political freedom, and
religious freedom inside Iran.
(2) Coordinate United States Government-wide activities
that promote human rights, political freedom, and religious
freedom for Iranian refugees and asylees living outside Iran.
(3) Ensure the comprehensive investigation and designation
of Iranian human rights abusers in accordance with section 105
of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act of 2011 (22 U.S.C. 8514).
(4) Coordinate the documentation and publicity of political
dissidents and cases of human rights abuse inside Iran.
(5) Coordinate multilateral efforts to build international
support for the promotion of human rights, democracy, political
freedom, and religious freedom in Iran, including broadcasting,
Internet access, and dissemination of information.
(6) Encourage the United Nations, multilateral
organizations, and human rights nongovernmental organizations
to more robustly investigate and report on human rights abuses
in Iran.
(7) Encourage foreign governments to downgrade or sever
diplomatic relations with the Government of Iran, enact
economic sanctions, and assist Iranian dissidents in response
to the Government of Iran's continued violations of human
rights.
(8) Encourage foreign governments to expel the Islamic
Republic of Iran from international forums and organizations
with a human rights component, including the United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United
Nations Children's Fund, and the International Labour
Organisation.
(9) Coordinate all programs funded under the Iran Freedom
Support Act (Public Law 109-293; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note).
(d) Authority.--
(1) Coordination of activities.--The Special Representative
shall coordinate all activities related to Iran carried out by
the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration of the Department of State, the Ambassador at
Large for International Religious Freedom, the Special Envoy to
Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, the United States Commission
on International Religious Freedom, the National Endowment for
Democracy, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
(2) Coordination of use of funds.--The Special
Representative shall coordinate and oversee the obligation and
expenditure of funds related to human rights, democracy,
Internet freedom, and broadcasting activities in Iran,
including funds made available for such purposes to the Middle
East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the Broader Middle East,
and North Africa Initiative, the Human Rights and Democracy
Fund, and Near Eastern Regional Democracy.
(e) Diplomatic Representation.--Subject to the direction of the
President and the Secretary of State, the Special Representative is
authorized to represent the United States in matters and cases relevant
to the promotion of human rights, democracy, political freedom, and
religious freedom in Iran in--
(1) contacts with foreign governments, intergovernmental
organizations, and specialized agencies of the United Nations,
the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, and
other international organizations of which the United States is
a member; and
(2) multilateral conferences and meetings relevant to the
promotion of human rights, democracy, political freedom, and
religious freedom in Iran.
(f) Consultations.--The Special Representative shall consult with
domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, unions,
multilateral organizations and institutions as the Special
Representative considers appropriate to fulfill the purposes of this
Act.
(g) Funding.--Of prior year funds made available for ``Near East
Regional Democracy'', the Secretary of State shall provide to the
Special Representative such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year
2012 for the hiring of staff, for the conduct of investigations, and
for necessary travel to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON POLITICAL PRISONERS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Secretary of State should support efforts to
research and catalogue prisoners of conscience and cases of
human rights abuses inside Iran;
(2) the United States Government should offer political
asylum in the United States to such political prisoners if
requested, and offer to assist, through the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, with the relocation of such
political prisoners to other countries if requested, as
appropriate and with due consideration for United States
national security interests;
(3) the Special Representative for Democracy and Human
Rights in Iran and all representatives of the United States
Government should publicly call for the release of Iranian
dissidents by name and raise individual cases of Iranian
dissidents and prisoners of conscience as appropriate; and
(4) the Special Representative for Democracy and Human
Rights in Iran should be included in all diplomatic meetings
conducted with representatives of the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
SEC. 9. COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO PROMOTE INTERNET FREEDOM AND ACCESS
TO INFORMATION IN IRAN.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the President, in coordination with the Special Representative on Human
Rights and Democracy in Iran, shall submit to the Committees on
Appropriations and Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and
the Committees on Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate a
comprehensive strategy developed in consultation with the Department of
State, other Federal agencies, the National Endowment for Democracy,
the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and nongovernmental organizations,
including current implementers and unions, as appropriate, to--
(1) help the people of Iran produce, access, and share
information freely and safely via the Internet, including in
Farsi and regional languages;
(2) support the development of counter-censorship
technologies that enable the citizens of Iran to undertake
Internet activities without interference from their government;
(3) increase the capabilities and availability of secure
mobile communications among human rights and democracy
activists in Iran;
(4) provide resources for digital safety training for
media, unions, and academic and civil society organizations in
Iran;
(5) increase the amount of accurate Internet content in
local languages in Iran;
(6) increase emergency resources for the most vulnerable
human rights advocates seeking to organize, share information,
and support human rights in Iran;
(7) expand surrogate radio, television, live stream, and
social network communications inside Iran and improve Voice of
America's Persian News Network and Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty's Radio Farda to provide 24/7 hourly live news update
and breaking news coverage capability;
(8) expand activities to safely assist and train human
rights, civil society, and union activists in Iran to operate
effectively and securely;
(9) defeat all attempts by the Government of Iran to jam or
otherwise deny international satellite broadcasting signals;
and
(10) expand worldwide United States embassy and consulate
programming for and outreach to Iranian dissident communities.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line