Specifically, the committee-reported bill includes $15 million to
implement a U.S. interagency strategy, led by the Assistant Secretary
of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, to
support and protect civil society activists, including human rights and
environmental defenders and independent journalists, in countries where
such activists have been threatened or killed for peacefully exercising
their rights of free expression, association, and assembly. Nearly 1,000 violations were reported against human rights defenders
in 2016, including killings, detentions, judicial prosecutions,
physical attacks, and other threats and harassments. Civil society
activists are targeted by both state and nonstate actors, including
private companies and investors, seeking to obstruct the rights of
voters, minorities, landowners, environmentalists, indigenous peoples,
and refugees, among other vulnerable groups. These attacks are not
limited to a particular region or a handful of countries--they are
common in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East--nor are
they limited to countries with authoritarian governments, such as
Cambodia, Rwanda, Eritrea, Egypt, and Russia. Democratically elected
governments are also culpable, such as Honduras, Philippines, Kenya,
Ecuador, and Turkey.
Keywords matched
refugees