S.Amdt. 3324

The Transnational Repression Policy Act is an amendment proposed by Mr. Merkley to be added to bill S. 2296. Its purpose is to establish a United States policy to protect people within the U.S. and U.S. nationals abroad from foreign governments (or people acting for them) who violate human rights through transnational repression.

The amendment defines "transnational repression" as tactics used by foreign governments or their agents to reach across borders to harm, coerce, harass, silence, or intimidate individuals, including journalists, activists, political dissidents, international students, ethnic and religious minority groups, and members of exile and diaspora communities.

Key Changes and Additions

The amendment aims to add the following to the bill:

• Interagency Strategy: It requires the Secretary of State to create a strategy to increase international awareness of transnational repression, hold offending governments accountable, and collaborate with allies. This strategy must cover diplomacy, funding for civil society and NGOs, and law enforcement updates.

• Law Enforcement Actions: The strategy must consider updating U.S. laws to criminalize gathering information on diaspora and exile communities for foreign governments and expanding the definition of foreign agents. It also calls for reviewing the legality of overseas police service stations established by foreign governments.

• Training Programs: It authorizes funding and requires training for Department of State personnel and domestic officials (such as the DOJ, DHS, and local law enforcement) on the tactics and tools, including digital surveillance, used in transnational repression.

• Victim Support and Resources: The Attorney General must publish a toolkit describing Federal resources for targeted individuals and conduct outreach to these communities.

• Data and Technology Oversight: The amendment requires an assessment of how governments use purchased data and dual-use spyware technology to commit human rights abuses.