S.Amdt. 4282

SA 4282. Mr. MENENDEZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed
to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022
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 F of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1054. COMBATING TRAFFICKING OF CUBAN DOCTORS.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Combating Trafficking of Cuban Doctors Act of 2021''.
(b) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Department of State's 2020 Trafficking in Persons
report ranked Cuba in Tier 3 and included evidence regarding
Cuba's foreign medical missions and the Government of Cuba's
longstanding failure to criminalize most forms of forced
labor, specifically noting allegations that Cuban authorities
coerced participants to remain in foreign medical missions
by--
(A) ``withholding their passports and medical
credentials'';
(B) ``using `minders' to conduct surveillance of
participants outside of work'';
(C) ``restricting their movement'';
(D) ``retaliat[ing] against their family members in Cuba if
participants leave the program''; or
(E) ``impos[ing] criminal penalties, exile, and family
separation if participants do not return to Cuba as directed
by government supervisors''.
(2) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early
2020, the Government of Cuba has deployed approximately 1,500
medical personnel to at least 20 countries.
(3) The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary
forms of slavery and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in
their letter to the Government of Cuba on November 6, 2019--
(A) noted reports of coercive labor practices through the
Government of Cuba's foreign medical missions;
(B) highlighted reports by Cuban medical professionals that
they received regular threats from Cuban officials while
working overseas, including sexual harassment of women; and
(C) expressed concern that the practices referred to in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) constitute slavery and trafficking
in persons.
(4) In 2019, the Government of Cuba maintained an estimated
34,000 to 50,000 medical personnel in more than 60 countries
under conditions that represent forced labor, according to
the Department of State.
(5) The Government of Cuba realized profits in excess of
$6,300,000,000 during 2018 from exporting the services of
Cuban professionals, of which foreign medical missions
represent the majority of the services and income.
(6) The term ``severe forms of trafficking in persons'' is
defined under section 103(11)(B) of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11)(B)) as ``the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use
of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to
involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery''.
(c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of Cuba subjects Cuban doctors and other
medical professionals to state-sponsored human trafficking;
and
(2) the Government of Cuba should immediately and
transparently respond to requests for information from the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
slavery and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
(d) Annual Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter until
the date specified in subsection (f), the Secretary of State
shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations
of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the
House of Representatives that--
(1) identifies the countries that are hosting Cuban medical
personnel who are participating in foreign medical missions
for the Government of Cuba;
(2) to the extent feasible, includes an estimate of--
(A) the number of Cuban medical personnel in each country;
and
(B) the value of the financial arrangement between the
Government of Cuba and the host country government;
(3) describes the conditions in each country under which
Cuban medical personnel live and work; and
(4) describes the role of any international organization in
each country hosting Cuban medical personnel.
(e) Determination on Human Trafficking.--In each report
submitted pursuant to subsection (d), the Secretary of State
shall determine whether--
(1) the Cuban medical personnel in each country identified
in the report are subjected to conditions that qualify as
severe forms of trafficking in persons (as defined in section
103(11) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22
U.S.C. 7102(11))); and
(2) Cuba's foreign medical missions program constitutes
proof of failure to make significant efforts to bring the
Government of Cuba into compliance with the minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking in persons (as determined
under section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106)).
(f) Sunset.--The Secretary of State is not required to
submit the report otherwise required under subsection (d)
after the date on which the Secretary submits a second
consecutive annual report under such paragraph that includes
a determination under subsection (e) that Cuban medical
personnel are no longer subjected to trafficking in persons.
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