programs, and relevant laws and processes that lead to independent, merit-based selection processes. (B) National legislatures and their capacity to conduct oversight of executive branch functions. (C) The reform and strengthening of political party and campaign finance laws and electoral tribunals. (D) Local governments and their capacity to provide critical safety, education, health, and sanitation services to citizens. (4) Defending human rights by providing support for: (A) Human rights ombudsman offices. (B) Government protection programs that provide physical protection and security to human rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, whistleblowers, and civil society activists at risk. (C) Civil society organizations that promote and defend human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, labor rights, environmental protection, and the rights of individuals with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities. (D) Civil society organizations that address sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence, and that protect victims of such violence. 105. Combating criminal violence and improving citizen security There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to counter the violence and crime perpetrated by armed criminal gangs, illicit trafficking organizations, and human smuggling networks in Central American countries through the following activities: (1) Countering criminal activity by providing assistance to civilian law enforcement, including support for— (A) the execution and management of complex, multi-actor criminal cases