Public Law 104-319

Human Rights Restoration Act of 1996

Summary

Title I: Foreign Relations Provisions
Title II: Foreign Assistance Provisions
Title III: Claiborne Pell Institute for International Relations and Public Policy
Title IV: George Bush School of Government and Public Service
Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions

Human Rights, Refugee, and Other Foreign Relations Provisions Act of 1996 -

Title I: Foreign Relations Provisions - Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to revise provisions authorizing the charging of fees for processing machine readable nonimmigrant visas and machine readable combined border crossing identification cards and nonimmigrant visas to require such fees, for FY 1996 and 1997, to be deposited as an offsetting collection to any Department of State appropriation to recover the costs of the Department's border security program. (Currently, such fees are used to recover the costs for providing consular services.) Eliminates the prohibition on such fees being charged to a citizen of a country that is a signatory to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Directs the President to semiannually report to the appropriate congressional committees on methods employed by Cuba to enforce the United States-Cuba agreement of September 1994 to restrict Cuban immigration to the United States, and the treatment of such people by Cuba who have returned there pursuant to the United States-Cuba agreement of 1995.

Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 1997 the special allocation of 1,000 admissions into the United States per year of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania who have been persecuted for participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches.

Extends through FY 1997 the period for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to be paroled into the United States after denial of refugee status for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status to permanent resident.

(Sec. 102) Requires the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) to take steps to provide opportunities for participation in educational and cultural exchange programs to human rights and democracy leaders of countries whose people do not enjoy freedom and democracy, including but not limited to China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Tibet, and Burma.

(Sec. 103) Directs the USIA Director to establish educational and cultural exchange programs between the United States and Tibet. Specifies the number of scholarships to be made available during FY 1997 to Tibetan and Burmese students and professionals who are outside their respective countries.

(Sec. 104) Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project, especially in the reach between the Percha Diversion Dam in New Mexico and the American Diversion Dam in El Paso, Texas.

Title II: Foreign Assistance Provisions - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require a certain human rights report to include: (1) the votes of each member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on all country-specific and thematic resolutions voted on at the Commission's annual session; and (2) the extent to which each country has extended protection to refugees, including the provision of first asylum and resettlement.

(Sec. 202) Prohibits the President from providing economic or military assistance or arms transfers to the Government of Mauritania unless he certifies to the Congress that such government has taken action to eliminate chattel slavery, including the enactment and enforcement of anti-slavery laws that provide appropriate punishment for violators.

Title III: Claiborne Pell Institute For International Relations and Public Policy - Claiborne Pell Institute for International Relations and Public Policy Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education, in recognition of the public service of Senator Claiborne Pell, to award a grant to assist in the establishment of the Claiborne Pell Institute for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island. Authorizes appropriation for FY 1997.

Title IV: George Bush School of Government and Public Service - George Bush School of Government and Public Service Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education, in recognition of the public service of President George Bush, to make a grant to assist in the establishment of the George Bush Fellowship Program at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service of the Texas A & M University. Authorizes appropriations.

Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary of Education, in recognition of the public service of Senator and Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, to award a grant to assist in the establishment of the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation, in Washington, D.C.

Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make a grant to the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. Authorizes appropriations.