Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2024

The Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2024 establishes a comprehensive U.S. strategy to protect global human rights defenders facing violence, threats, and reprisals for their work. It creates a new visa category (101(a)(15)(W)) allowing human rights defenders at urgent risk to enter the U.S. for safety, while requiring the President to develop an annual strategy for U.S. embassies to monitor threats, train diplomats, and coordinate protection efforts. The bill mandates U.S. embassies to identify designated points of contact for human rights defenders, track patterns of reprisals, and integrate protection measures into diplomatic and development activities. It also expands the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program to support democracy advocates at risk and requires annual country reports detailing treatment of human rights defenders worldwide. The legislation directly affects human rights defenders advocating for environmental protection, democracy, women's rights, minority rights, and LGBTQI+ rights who face threats from governments or non-state actors.