[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3145 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3145

   To promote greater cooperation between the United States and its 
     European allies toward religious tolerance and to require the 
     imposition of punitive measures with respect to entities that 
discriminate against individuals or groups on the basis of religion or 
                                belief.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 16, 2001

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself and Mr. Gilman) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, 
and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Ways and Means, 
 for a period subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To promote greater cooperation between the United States and its 
     European allies toward religious tolerance and to require the 
     imposition of punitive measures with respect to entities that 
discriminate against individuals or groups on the basis of religion or 
                                belief.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Trans-Atlantic Religious Protection 
Act (TARPA) of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
        states that ``[e]veryone has the right to freedom of thought, 
        conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change 
        his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in 
        community with others and in public or private, to manifest his 
        religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and 
        observance''.
            (2) Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights states that ``[n]o one shall be subject to 
        coercion which would impair his freedom to have or adopt a 
        religion or belief of his choice''.
            (3) The member countries of the Organization for Security 
        and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have undertaken a series of 
        specific commitments designed to ensure the freedom of the 
        individual to profess and practice religion or belief, 
        including a commitment by those countries to ensure the full 
        and effective exercise of the freedom of thought, conscience, 
        religion, or belief, in their laws and regulations.
            (4) Principle VII of the Helsinki Final Act commits the 
        OSCE member countries to ``recognize and respect the freedom of 
        the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community 
        with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the 
        dictates of his own conscience''.
            (5) The 1989 Vienna Concluding Document commits the OSCE 
        member countries to ``take effective measures to prevent and 
        eliminate discrimination against individuals or communities on 
        the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise 
        and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all 
        fields of civil, political, economic, social and cultural 
        life''.
            (6) In the 1991 Moscow Document, the OSCE member countries 
        ``categorically and irrevocably declare that the commitments 
        undertaken in the field of the human dimension . . . are 
        matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating 
        States and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of 
        the State concerned''.
            (7) Freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief is 
        inextricably linked to the exercise of other rights, including 
        the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the 
        right to freedom of association with others, and the right to 
        freedom of expression, and the recognition that all persons are 
        equal before the law and are entitled without any 
        discrimination to the equal protection of the law, including in 
        employment.
            (8) The United States Department of State's annual reports 
        on religious freedom and human rights have documented numerous 
        instances of government discrimination in Western Europe based 
        on religion or belief, including discriminatory acts against 
        American members of several different religious denominations 
        and beliefs.
            (9) Both the Office of the United States Trade 
        Representative and the Department of State have objected to the 
        use of discriminatory procurement practices by German Federal, 
        state and local governmental agencies and private entities 
        which have the potential to discriminate against United States 
        firms in procurement decisions by permitting agencies and firms 
        to reject bids and terminate contracts with firms that do not 
        attest that the firm and its employees are not affiliated with 
        certain religious beliefs.
            (10) In France, Federal and local governmental agencies, as 
        well as private businesses responding to French Government 
        actions, have terminated contracts with a United States-owned 
        software firm solely because of the religious beliefs of the 
        firm's founder.
            (11) A law enacted by the French Parliament on May 30, 
        2001, contains repressive measures which would have a chilling 
        effect on the freedom religion and belief, including the 
        dissolution of targeted religious associations, the 
        imprisonment of members of such groups, and infringement upon 
        freedom of speech, including speech intended to persuade 
        another person to a particular point of view, whether 
        philosophical or religious.
            (12) His Holiness Pope John Paul II has spoken out against 
        the new French law as potentially devastating. While formally 
        accepting the credentials of the new French Ambassador to the 
        Holy See, the Pope reminded the ambassador that ``religious 
        liberty in the full sense of the term, is the first human right 
        . . . [t]his means a liberty which is not reduced to the 
        private sphere only . . . [t]o discriminate [against] religious 
        beliefs, or to discredit one or another form of religious 
        practices is a form of exclusion contrary to the respect of 
        fundamental human values and will eventually destabilize 
        society, where a pluralism of thought and action should exist, 
        as well as a benevolent and brotherly attitude . . . 
[t]his will necessarily create a climate of tension, intolerance, 
opposition and suspect, not conducive to social peace''.
            (13) United States Department of State officials testifying 
        on the new French law before the Senate Foreign Relations 
        Committee on May 1, 2001, and the House Committee on 
        International Relations on July 11, 2001, underscored that 
        ``[t]he United States is concerned that such policies are 
        becoming institutionalized in some parts of Europe and are 
        having the effect of appearing to justify restrictive laws 
        elsewhere such as Russia, Central Asia, and even China''.
            (14) A 1996 French National Assembly report listed 173 
        organizations as suspect, including independent evangelical 
        Christian churches, Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and 
        Unificationists and this report has been used by both private 
        and official entities to harass, intimidate, deny employment, 
        and deny commercial loans to listed groups, and members of 
        other religious groups, such as Southern Baptists, Seventh Day 
        Adventists, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, Opus 
        Dei, and the Society of Jesus, have also been subject to recent 
        discrimination and harassment at the hands of the French 
        Government.
            (15) The Parliament of Austria passed a law in 1997 which 
        codified a tiered system of government recognition and 
        preferential treatment and which requires religious groups 
        seeking recognition to undergo government surveillance for at 
        least 10, or up to 20, years to prove legitimacy to government 
        officials.
            (16) The Austrian law on religion is cited as justification 
        for more repressive laws being proposed in nascent democracies 
        further east, such as Hungary and Romania, and has been cited 
        by Russian officials as justification for an oppressive 1997 
        Russian religion law.
            (17) The Government of Austria has instituted a ``sect'' 
        office which disseminates official propaganda on religious 
        groups not recognized by the government and leading to a 
        chilling effect on religious liberty.
            (18) The Parliament of Belgium issued a report in 1997 on 
        ``sects'' with a widely circulated informal appendix listing 
        189 groups as suspect, including many Protestant and Catholic 
        groups, Quakers, Hasidic Jews, Buddhists, and members of the 
        Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), based on rumor and 
        speculation found in police files, and implicitly warning the 
        public to avoid such ``dangerous'' groups.
            (19) The Parliament of Belgium has established a government 
        Center for Information and Advice on Harmful Sectarian 
        Organizations which disseminates official views on groups 
        considered ``sects'' as defined by the list in the appendix to 
        the 1997 Belgian Parliament report.
            (20) On April 29, 1998, the Italian Ministry of Internal 
        Affairs sent a report to the lower house of the Italian 
        Parliament entitled ``Cults and New Magical Movements in 
        Italy''. This report mentions that the Ministry of Internal 
        Affairs monitors 137 groups--76 of which are categorized as 
        ``new religions'' and 61 as ``new magical movements''. This 
        report, according to Dr. Massimo Introvigne of CESNUR in Italy, 
        notes that ``the real danger is that, because of the media 
        event created around the report, respectable and law-abiding 
        citizens who happen to be members of movements mentioned, but 
        explicitly exonerated from any charge in the report may be 
        discriminated against or maligned''.
            (21) Some evangelical and charismatic Christian churches 
        have been targeted in parliamentary investigations in France, 
        Belgium, and Germany.
            (22) Jehovah's Witnesses have been subjected in France to 
        various forms of harassment, have been informed by German state 
        tax authorities that the long-standing exemption from property 
        taxation for their houses of worship may be canceled in the 
        near future, continue to suffer from employment discrimination 
        in Austria, France, and Germany, and have been discriminated 
        against in foster parent proceedings in Germany and in some 
        child custody matters in Belgium.
            (23) Muslims have been subjected to harassment, including 
        police brutality and attacks by extremist groups, particularly 
        in Germany and France, and Muslim women are subject to frequent 
        discrimination and other forms of abuse and harassment because 
        they wear a head covering.
            (24) Adherents to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
        Saints have been subject to continued acts of harassment, 
        including confiscation of religious materials, and are 
        prevented from freely sharing their beliefs in several 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
        member countries.
            (25) Members of the Church of Scientology have been subject 
        to pervasive civil, political, and economic discrimination, 
        harassment, surveillance, and orchestrated boycotts in Germany, 
        France, Belgium, and Austria.
            (26) The Law of Sects in Spain, passed in 1989, authorizes 
        the police to investigate ``sects'' with a ``destructive'' 
        character. As a result, a special unit was created within the 
        police to investigate these allegedly dangerous sects.
            (27) The Government of the Canary Islands, one of Spain's 
        17 regions, has refused to grant permission to the Salvation 
        Army to open a center for needy children on the grounds that 
        the Salvation Army is categorized as a ``destructive sect''.
            (28) Actions by Western European governments have 
        contributed to intolerance by public and private actors who 
        have discriminated in hiring practices or terminated employment 
        based on an individual's religious affiliation.
            (29) The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the 
        United States have intensified fears of infringement and 
        violations of religious freedom, with experts cautioning 
against the use of the antiterrorism effort as an excuse for arbitrary 
abuses and proliferation of anti-sect laws and lists such as those used 
by European countries to monitor or restrict particular religious 
groups.

SEC. 3. DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS.

    (a) General Efforts.--The President and the Secretary of State--
            (1) shall raise violations of freedom of thought, 
        conscience, religion, or belief at every appropriate level with 
        representatives of European countries that have failed to 
        implement their international commitments and obligations in 
        this regard;
            (2) shall make full use of existing meetings and structures 
        of international organizations and multilateral fora to raise 
        violations by Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
        Europe (OSCE) member countries of freely undertaken 
        international commitments both to protect and to provide for 
        the full and effective exercise of the freedom of thought, 
        conscience, religion, or belief under their respective 
        jurisdictions; and
            (3) to the maximum extent practicable, shall appoint 
        experts on religious liberty to United States delegations to 
        appropriate meetings of international organizations.
    (b) United States-EU Inter-Parliamentary Meetings.--United States 
representatives to the United States-European Union Inter-Parliamentary 
meetings, should raise at such meetings the issue of laws, regulations, 
and other practices in the members countries which infringe upon 
freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and take concrete 
steps to address these violations.

SEC. 4. ACTIONS BY DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

    (a) Diversity and Tolerance Exchanges.--The Secretary of State, 
through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Exchange, shall promote 
educational and cultural workshops and forums among academics, 
religious leaders, and human rights organizations in the United States 
and their European counterparts in an effort to promote a better 
understanding of religious and philosophical diversity and a tolerant 
society.
    (b) Human Rights Monitors.--The Secretary of State, through the 
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the Bureau of 
Diplomatic and Consular Affairs, shall train United States human rights 
monitors stationed at European posts to identify, investigate, and 
monitor persecution and discrimination on the basis of religion or 
belief.
    (c) Denial of Visas.--The Secretary of State may not issue a visa 
to, and the Attorney General shall exclude from the United States, any 
alien who the Secretary of State determines is a high-ranking official 
of the government of a country, or a commercial or other entity of a 
government, which is in violation of international obligations to 
guarantee and ensure the full and effective exercise of freedom of 
thought, conscience, religion, or belief.
    (d) Travel Advisories.--The Secretary of State shall issue travel 
advisories on countries which discriminate on the basis of religion or 
belief advising Americans of the potential dangers faced by individuals 
who are members of targeted groups.

SEC. 5. ACTIONS BY UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.

    The President shall, in accordance with section 301(a)(1) of the 
Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411(a)(1)), direct the United States 
Trade Representative--
            (1) to take all appropriate action authorized under section 
        301(c) of such Act against each European country the government 
        of which engages in or tolerates violations of religious 
        freedom (as determined under section 401 of the International 
        Religious Freedom Act of 1998), including the imposition of 
        duties or other import restrictions on goods of such country 
        that are similar to the goods of a United States individual or 
        United States business (or its subsidiary) that is subject to 
        such violations of religious freedom; and
            (2) to initiate appropriate action at the World Trade 
        Organization against each European country described in 
        paragraph (1).

SEC. 6. ACTIONS BY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

    The President shall direct the Secretary of Commerce--
            (1) to incorporate into the programs and assistance of the 
        International Trade Administration guidelines and warnings 
        regarding the discriminatory practices of European countries 
        against United States products or businesses (and their 
        subsidiaries) on the basis of religion or belief; and
            (2) to make it a priority to advocate on behalf of United 
        States businesses being discriminated against by European 
        countries on the basis of religion or belief to ensure full 
        market access and achieve full compliance by such countries 
        with international trade agreements and accords entered into 
        with the United States.

SEC. 7. PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER.

    (a) Waiver.--Subject to subsection (b), the President may waive any 
provision of this Act with respect to a country if the President 
determines and so reports to Congress that--
            (1) the government of the country has ceased the violations 
        giving rise to the action under this Act;
            (2) the exercise of the waiver would further the purposes 
        of this Act; or
            (3) it is important to the national interests of the United 
        States to do so.
    (b) Congressional Notification.--Prior to exercising his authority 
to waive any provision of this Act pursuant to subsection (a), the 
President shall notify Congress of the waiver together with a detailed 
justification thereof.
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