S.Amdt. 1959

SA 1959. Mr. MENENDEZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title XII, insert the
following:

SEC. 1287. SENSE OF SENATE ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
ENGAGEMENT ON INDIVIDUALS DETAINED FOR PEACEFUL
EXPRESSION.

It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) United States diplomatic and security relationships
with countries around the world cannot realize their full
potential in the absence of respect for human rights and the
rule of law;
(2) the practice by some countries of detaining individuals
for peacefully expressing their views violates such
individuals' human rights, and should be condemned;
(3) prisoners throughout the world are particularly
vulnerable to COVID-19 due to crowded conditions and strains
on medical care, making the need to release individuals
detained for peacefully expressing their views more urgent;
(4) the Senate--
(A) supports the release of individuals held for peaceful
expressions of activism; and
(B) affirms that a government should never detain its
citizens for exercising their rights of freedom of assembly,
association, and speech;
(5) in the interactions with foreign governments that
detain individuals for peacefully expressing their views,
Department of Defense officials should coordinate with the
Department of State to encourage such governments to release
individuals detained for peaceful expression of views and end
the practice of detaining individuals who engage in acts of
peaceful expression; and
(6) the encouragement described in paragraph (5) would
further a principal foreign policy goal of the United States,
as articulated in section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304) (relating to the provision of
defense articles and defense services): ``a principal goal of
the foreign policy of the United States shall be to promote
the increased observance of internationally recognized human
rights by all countries''.
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