Sec. 3. Sense of Congress
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It is the sense of Congress that— the 20th anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter is an important hallmark in inter-American relations, and democracies in the Western Hemisphere should continue to uphold the democratic electoral norms and standards, principles, and commitments enshrined in the Charter; member states of the Organization of American States should continuously work to strengthen democratic institutions and practices, as well as economic and political institutions that enable integral development, including by promoting transparency and combating corruption; free, fair, and transparent elections are the foundation of representative democracy in the Americas; the separation of powers and the defense of human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press remain fundamental democratic principles in the Americas that must be respected; member states of the Organization of American States should— strengthen processes for holding free, fair, and transparent elections; defend the right of all of their citizens to peacefully assemble, campaign, participate, and vote in democratic elections; and actively promote the dissemination of fact-based public information while cooperating with private media to identify and discourage the propagation of misinformation and disinformation surrounding civic life; and the Secretary of State should work with the Organization of American States and member states of the Organization of American States— to strengthen the integrity of electoral processes in the Americas, including by modernizing electoral observation methodologies to better address the challenges posed by digital election interference; to promote quality independent journalism and media while strengthening institutional capacity in the Americas to monitor and address disinformation and misinformation and the threats they pose to democratic governance, especially by the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, and Iran, as well as Cuba and the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela; to address the challenges posed to democratic governance and multilateral institutions in the Americas by the activities of non-democratic, nonmember states of the Organization of American States, including the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, Iran, and Cuba; to augment efforts to combat corruption and organized criminal activity, including by using digital tools to increase transparency in public administration, tax collection, and customs management; to support the modernization of judicial systems critical to combating corruption in the Americas and efforts to strengthen the transparency, integrity, and independence of those systems; to advance initiatives to strengthen the harmonization of regulatory mechanisms to facilitate increased investment and digital governance throughout the Americas; and to uphold the positive advances that member states of the Organization of American States have made to strengthen the integrity of electoral processes, promote free and independent journalism, combat corruption, and modernize judicial systems, and to encourage those member states to share their experience with other member states of the Organization of American States through formal and informal mechanisms, including through the forum for democratically elected national legislatures of members states called for in section 4(a)(2) of the Organization of American States Legislative Engagement Act of 2020 ( 22 U.S.C. 290q note;
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