118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 5917
AN ACT
To amend the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defense-
less Shields Act to modify and extend that Act, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 5917 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Tools 2
to Counter the Use of Human Shields Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 4
It shall be the policy of the United States to fully 5
implement and enforce sanctions against terrorist organi-6
zations and other malign actors that use innocent civilians 7
as human shields. 8
SEC. 3. MODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF SANCTIONING 9
THE USE OF CIVILIANS AS DEFENSELESS 10
SHIELDS ACT. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 3 of the Sanctioning the 12
Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act (Public Law 13
115–348; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (b)— 15
(A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 16
paragraph (4); and 17
(B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 18
following: 19
‘‘(3) Each foreign person that the President de-20
termines, on or after the date of the enactment of 21
the Strengthening Tools to Counter the Use of 22
Human Shields Act— 23
‘‘(A) is a member of Palestine Islamic 24
Jihad or is knowingly acting on behalf of Pal-25
estine Islamic Jihad; and 26 3
•HR 5917 EH
‘‘(B) knowingly orders, controls, or other-1
wise directs the use of civilians protected as 2
such by the law of war to shield military objec-3
tives from attack.’’; 4
(2) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), 5
(h), and (i) as subsections (f), (g), (h), (i), and (j), 6
respectively; and 7
(3) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-8
lowing: 9
‘‘(e) C
ONGRESSIONAL REQUESTS.—Not later than 10
120 days after receiving a request from the chairman and 11
ranking member of one of the appropriate congressional 12
committees with respect to whether a foreign person meets 13
the criteria of a person described in subsection (b) or (c), 14
the President shall— 15
‘‘(1) determine if the person meets such cri-16
teria; and 17
‘‘(2) submit a written justification to the chair-18
man and ranking member detailing whether or not 19
the President imposed or intends to impose sanc-20
tions described in subsection (b) or (c) with respect 21
to such person.’’. 22
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—Section 4 of the Sanctioning the 23
Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act (Public Law 24
115–348; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended— 25 4
•HR 5917 EH
(1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as para-1
graph (8); and 2
(2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(7) P
ALESTINE ISLAMIC JIHAD .—The term 5
‘Palestine Islamic Jihad’ means— 6
‘‘(A) the entity known as Palestine Islamic 7
Jihad and designated by the Secretary of State 8
as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to 9
section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality 10
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); or 11
‘‘(B) any person identified as an agent or 12
instrumentality of Palestine Islamic Jihad on 13
the list of specially designated nationals and 14
blocked persons maintained by the Office of 15
Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the 16
Treasury, the property or interests in property 17
of which are blocked pursuant to the Inter-18
national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 19
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).’’. 20
(c) S
UNSET.—Section 5 of the Sanctioning the Use 21
of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act (Public Law 115– 22
348; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended by striking ‘‘De-23
cember 31, 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2030’’. 24 5
•HR 5917 EH
(d) SEVERABILITY.—The Sanctioning the Use of Ci-1
vilians as Defenseless Shields Act (Public Law 115–348; 2
50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended by adding at the end 3
the following: 4
‘‘SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 5
‘‘If any provision of this Act, or the application of 6
such provision to any person or circumstance, is found to 7
be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the ap-8
plication of that provision to other persons or cir-9
cumstances, shall not be affected.’’. 10
SEC. 4. REPORT ON COUNTERING THE USE OF HUMAN 11
SHIELDS. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 13
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 14
shall submit to the congressional defense committees, the 15
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa-16
tives, and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-17
ate a report that contains the following: 18
(1) A description of the lessons learned from 19
the United States and its allies and partners in ad-20
dressing the use of human shields by terrorist orga-21
nizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestine Is-22
lamic Jihad, and any other organization as deter-23
mined by the Secretary of Defense. 24 6
•HR 5917 EH
(2) A description of a specific plan and actions 1
being taken by the Department of Defense to incor-2
porate the lessons learned as identified in paragraph 3
(1) into Department of Defense operating guidance, 4
relevant capabilities, and tactics, techniques, and 5
procedures to deter, counter, and address the chal-6
lenge posed by the use of human shields and hold 7
accountable terrorist organizations for the use of 8
human shields. 9
(3) A description of specific measures being de-10
veloped and implemented by the United States Gov-11
ernment to mobilize and leverage allied nations, in-12
cluding member nations of the North Atlantic Trea-13
ty Organization (NATO), to deter, counter, and hold 14
accountable terrorist organizations for the use of 15
human shields. 16
(4) The current status of joint exercises, doc-17
trine development, education, and training on coun-18
tering the use of human shields in multinational cen-19
ters of excellence. 20
(5) The current status of participation of mem-21
bers of the Armed Forces and Department of De-22
fense civilian personnel in any multinational center 23
of excellence for the purposes of countering the use 24
of human shields. 25 7
•HR 5917 EH
(6) The feasibility and advisability of beginning 1
or continuing participation of members of the Armed 2
Forces and Department of Defense civilian per-3
sonnel to promote the integration of joint exercises, 4
doctrine development, education, and training on 5
countering the use of human shields into multi-6
national centers of excellence. 7
(b) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘multi-8
national center of excellence’’ has the meaning given that 9
term in section 344 of title 10, United States Code. 10
Passed the House of Representatives April 16, 2024.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 5917
AN ACT
To amend the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as
Defenseless Shields Act to modify and extend
that Act, and for other purposes.