An Act To amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the desecration of cemeteries among the many forms of violations of the right to religious freedom.   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa­tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.  Congress finds the following:(1) Cemeteries are sacred sites that are of great spiritual, cultural, and historical significance to many religious and ethnic groups.(2) Congress is committed to protecting and preserving the heritage and sacred sites of national, religious, and ethnic groups, which includes cemeteries in the United States and abroad.(3) Cemeteries around the world have and continue to be defaced or destroyed as a direct result of their affiliation with a particular religious or spiritual group.(4) Such attacks constitute an assault on the fundamental right to freedom of religion, and are especially egregious when sponsored or tolerated by the local or national governments in the countries in which such offenses occur.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT OF 1998.  Section 2(a)(4) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401(a)(4)) is amended in the fourth sentence by inserting “desecration of cemeteries,” after “confiscations of property,”.