“A bill to establish a Special Envoy for Humanitarian Aid Workers, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes in the Department of State a Special Envoy for Humanitarian Aid Workers (i.e., individuals providing humanitarian assistance outside the United States), appointed by the President with the rank and status of ambassador and reporting to the Secretary of State. The Special Envoy must (1) inquire into the death, fatal injury, or detention of any such aid worker during a U.S.-supported humanitarian mission; (2) advocate for coordination and deconfliction between U.S.-supported missions, international bodies, and foreign security forces; (3) promote foreign adoption of aid worker security best practices to enable NGO delivery of humanitarian aid; (4) develop and advocate, with the Secretary, best practices for foreign countries to collaborate with humanitarian NGOs and civil society; and (5) support other NGO aid efforts free from foreign security interference. Not later than one year after enactment, and annually thereafter, the Special Envoy must submit to specified congressional committees (i.e., Senate and House Appropriations and Foreign Relations/Foreign Affairs Committees) a report on the working environment for aid workers in U.S.-supported conflict-area missions—including NGO security challenges, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) deconfliction effectiveness, prior-year U.S. aid distributed, and policy recommendations—and a separate report, with the Secretary, assessing OCHA's coordination and deconfliction efforts with NGOs and foreign countries.
This section adds a new section 620N to chapter 1 of part III of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 prohibiting security assistance (as defined in section 502B(d)(2) of such Act) and defense articles or services subject to section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act from being furnished to any foreign country if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that such country has unlawfully killed or fatally injured humanitarian aid workers (i.e., individuals participating in active humanitarian aid missions, defined as organized efforts outside the United States to address nonpolitical, nonmilitary crises) or refused reasonable information requests, unless the Secretary also certifies sufficient investigative, corrective, and protective actions (with certifications required not later than 15 days before taking effect). The section further requires the President to establish, not later than 60 days after appointment of the Special Envoy for Humanitarian Aid Workers under 22 U.S.C. 2651a(b)(2)(A), the Aid Worker Independent Inquiry Group—led by the Special Envoy with representatives from the Departments of Justice and State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other appropriate agencies—to assess post-enactment deaths or detentions of aid workers. Finally, the section directs the Special Envoy, in coordination with the Group, to submit incident reports to Congress not later than 90 days after such death or detention (or 45 days if the victim is a U.S. citizen) detailing causes, circumstances (including any U.S.-origin defense articles), foreign government cooperation, and consistency with international law, host country law, and the Department of Defense Law of War Manual.