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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Human Rights Information Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The people of the United States consider the national and international protection and promotion of human rights and the rule of law the most important values of any democracy. The founding fathers defined human rights prominently in the Bill of Rights, giving those rights a special priority and protection in the Constitution.

(2) Federal agencies are in possession of documents pertaining to gross human rights violations abroad which are needed by foreign authorities to document, investigate, and subsequently prosecute instances of continued and systematic gross human rights violations, including those directed against citizens of the United States.

(3) The United States will continue to receive requests from foreign authorities for legal assistance regarding human rights violations, including the declassification of documents. In addition to requests by Guatemala and Honduras, a Spanish court magistrate, Baltasar Garzon, recently requested from the United States information on General Augusto Pinochet. Currently, the United States responds to declassification requests by following procedures outlined in Presidential directives and executive orders. The overwhelming interest of the United States in the protection and promotion of human rights nationally and internationally requires a significant strengthening of existing declassification procedures, including section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the `Freedom of Information Act').

(4) The expedient declassification of human rights documents in full compliance with United States security interests according to the procedures outlined in this Act will protect global human rights by strengthening the rule of law internationally, creating a crucial level of accountability of Federal agencies, and will result in significant saving of Government resources.

(5) The commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights and democracy around the world has led the United States to undertake tremendous diplomatic, economic, and military efforts to end systematic gross human rights violations abroad, consistent with the national interests and international leadership role of the United States. In addition, countless humanitarian United States nongovernmental organizations and citizens of the United States promote human rights and democracy in foreign countries. These efforts are thwarted if the cycle of impunity for human rights violations is not broken in those countries, and the likelihood of the need for renewed United States engagements in those areas remains.

(6) The United States therefore has a significant interest that newly established or reestablished democratic societies take credible steps to fully investigate and prosecute human rights violations. These steps can include the creation of a national or international truth commission or tribunal, the appointment of a human rights officer, or official national investigations led by credible sections of the civil society, including churches and nongovernmental organizations.

(7) The United States has long provided international leadership to end impunity for gross human rights violations and to promote the rule of law around the world by establishing and supporting the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal; in addition, the United States has actively participated in, among others, the International War Crimes Tribunals on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

(8) The United States has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which in article 9 obligates parties to `afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal proceedings brought in respect of any [acts of, attempts of, or complicity in acts of torture], including the supply of all evidence at their disposal necessary for the proceedings.' In addition, as a member State of the Organization of American States, the United States should seek to follow the December 8, 1998, recommendation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights `that member States of the Organization of American States adopt legislative and such other measures as may be necessary to effectuate the right of free access to information in files and documents in the power of the State, particularly in cases of investigations to establish criminal responsibility for international crimes and serious violations of human rights.'

(9) The Guatemalan peace accords, which the Government of the United States firmly supports, included as an important and vital component an investigation and a report by the Commission for the Historical Clarification of Human Rights Violations and Acts of Violence which have Caused Suffering to the Guatemalan People (referred to in this Act as the `Clarification Commission'). Despite the conclusion of this investigation, many questions, including the identity of perpetrators of human rights violations as well as the location of bodies of the `disappeared', remain unanswered. The Clarification Commission explicitly recommended that `all available legal and material resources should be utilized [by the Guatemalan Government] to clarify the whereabouts of the disappeared and, in the case of death, to deliver the remains to the relatives.'

(10) Two days after presenting a parallel investigation, `Guatemala: Never Again', by the Historical Memory Recovery Project by the Archbishop of Guatemala, the director of the project, Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, was assassinated.

(11) President Clinton stated in Guatemala on March 10, 1999, that `[f]or the United States, it is important that I state clearly that support for military forces or intelligence units which engaged in violent and widespread repression of the kind described in the report [by the Clarification Commission] was wrong, and the United States must not repeat that mistake. We must, and we will, instead, continue to support the peace and reconciliation process in Guatemala.'

(12) The National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in the Republic of Honduras has been requesting documentation of the United States on human rights violations in Honduras since November 15, 1993. The Commissioner's request has been partly fulfilled, but aspects of it are still pending.

In this Act:

(1) HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD- The term `human rights record' means a record in the possession, custody, or control of the United States Government containing information about gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed after 1944.

(2) AGENCY- The term `agency' means any agency of the United States Government charged with the conduct of foreign policy or foreign intelligence, including, but not limited to, the Department of State, the Agency for International Development, the Department of Defense (and all of its components), the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of Justice (and all of its components), the National Security Council, and the Executive Office of the President.

(3) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS- The term `gross violations of internationally recognized human rights' has the meaning given that term in section 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).

(a) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this Act shall govern the declassification and public disclosure of human rights records by agencies.

(b) IDENTIFICATION OF RECORDS- Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each agency shall identify, review, and organize all human rights records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala and Honduras after 1944 for the purpose of declassifying and disclosing the records to the public. Except as provided in section 5, all records described in the preceding sentence shall be made available to the public not later than 30 days after a review under this section is completed.

(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS- Not later than 150 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall report to Congress regarding each agency's compliance with the provisions of this Act.

(a) IN GENERAL- An agency may postpone public disclosure of a human rights record or particular information in a human rights record only if the agency determines that there is clear and convincing evidence that--
(1) the threat to the military defense, intelligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of the United States raised by public disclosure of the human rights record is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest, and such public disclosure would reveal--
(A) an intelligence agent whose identity currently requires protection;

(B) an intelligence source or method--

(i) which is being utilized, or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the United States Government;
(ii) which has not been officially disclosed; and
(iii) the disclosure of which would interfere with the conduct of intelligence activities; or

(C) any other matter currently relating to the military defense, intelligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of the United States, the disclosure of which would demonstrably impair the national security of the United States;

(2) the public disclosure of the human rights record would reveal the name or identity of a living individual who provided confidential information to the United States and would pose a substantial risk of harm to that individual;

(3) the public disclosure of the human rights record could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that invasion of privacy is so substantial that it outweighs the public interest; or

(4) the public disclosure of the human rights record would compromise the existence of an understanding of confidentiality currently requiring protection between a Government agent and a cooperating individual or a foreign government, and public disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest.

(b) SPECIAL TREATMENT OF CERTAIN INFORMATION- It shall not be grounds for postponement of disclosure of a human rights record that an individual named in the human rights record was an intelligence asset of the United States Government, although the existence of such relationship may be withheld if the criteria set forth in subsection (a) are met. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term an `intelligence asset' means a covert agent as defined in section 606(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 426(4)).

In the event that an agency of the United States receives a request for human rights records from an entity created by the United Nations, the Organization of American States or a similar entity, a national truth commission or entity of similar nature, or from the principal justice or human rights official of a country that is investigating a pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, the agency shall conduct a review of records as described in section 4 and shall declassify and publicly disclose such records in accordance with the standards and procedures set forth in this Act.

(a) DUTIES OF THE APPEALS PANEL- The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel or any other entity subsequently established by law or Executive order and charged with carrying out the functions currently carried out by such Panel (referred to in this Act as the `Appeals Panel') shall review all determinations by an agency to postpone public disclosure of any human rights record.

(b) DETERMINATIONS OF THE APPEALS PANEL-

(1) IN GENERAL- The Appeals Panel shall direct that all human rights records be disclosed to the public, unless the Appeals Panel determines that there is clear and convincing evidence that--

(A) the record is not a human rights record; or

(B) the human rights record or particular information in the human rights record qualifies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to section 5.

(2) TREATMENT IN CASES OF NONDISCLOSURE- If the Appeals Panel concurs with an agency decision to postpone disclosure of a human rights record, the Appeals Panel shall determine, in consultation with the originating agency and consistent with the standards set forth in this Act, which, if any, of the alternative forms of disclosure described in paragraph (3) shall be made by the agency.

(3) ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DISCLOSURE- The forms of disclosure described in this paragraph are as follows:

(A) Disclosure of any reasonably segregable portion of the human rights record after deletion of the portions described in paragraph (1).

(B) Disclosure of a record that is a substitute for information which is not disclosed.

(C) Disclosure of a summary of the information contained in the human rights record.

(4) NOTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION-
(A) IN GENERAL- Upon completion of its review, the Appeals Panel shall notify the head of the agency in control or possession of the human rights record that was the subject of the review of its determination and shall, not later than 14 days after the determination, publish the determination in the Federal Register.

(B) NOTICE TO PRESIDENT- The Appeals Panel shall notify the President of its determination. The notice shall contain a written unclassified justification for its determination, including an explanation of the application of the standards contained in section 5.

(5) GENERAL PROCEDURES- The Appeals Panel shall publish in the Federal Register guidelines regarding its policy and procedures for adjudicating appeals.

(c) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY OVER APPEALS PANEL DETERMINATION-

(1) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OR POSTPONEMENT OF DISCLOSURE- The President shall have the sole and nondelegable authority to review any determination of the Appeals Panel under this Act, and such review shall be based on the standards set forth in section 5. Not later than 30 days after the Appeals Panel's determination and notification to the agency pursuant to subsection (b)(4), the President shall provide the Appeals Panel with an unclassified written certification specifying the President's decision and stating the reasons for the decision, including in the case of a determination to postpone disclosure, the standards set forth in section 5 which are the basis for the President's determination.

(2) RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL POSTPONEMENT- The Appeals Panel shall, upon receipt of the President's determination, publish in the Federal Register a copy of any unclassified written certification, statement, and other materials transmitted by or on behalf of the President with regard to the postponement of disclosure of a human rights record.

Upon completion of the review and disclosure of the human rights records relating to Guatemala and Honduras, the Information Security Policy Advisory Council, established pursuant to Executive Order No. 12958, shall report to Congress on the desirability and feasibility of declassification of human rights records relating to other countries. The report shall be available to the public.

(a) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit any right to file a request with any executive agency or seek judicial review of a decision pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States Code.

(b) JUDICIAL REVIEW- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or required to be taken under this Act.

For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Act, there shall be 2 additional positions in the Appeals Panel. The President shall appoint individuals who are not employees of the United States who have demonstrated substantial human rights expertise and who are able to meet the security requirements for the positions. The President shall seek recommendations with respect to such positions from nongovernmental human rights organizations.

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