[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5974 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5974

    To require the Secretary of State to submit an annual report to 
 Congress regarding efforts to restore or repair Christian property in 
   the Arab Republic of Egypt that was burned, damaged, or otherwise 
 destroyed during the sectarian violence in August 2013, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 8, 2016

  Mr. Trott introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Secretary of State to submit an annual report to 
 Congress regarding efforts to restore or repair Christian property in 
   the Arab Republic of Egypt that was burned, damaged, or otherwise 
 destroyed during the sectarian violence in August 2013, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Coptic Churches Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In August 2013, Islamist-led mobs, burned and destroyed 
        various Christian religious properties and properties owned by 
        Christians in the Arab Republic of Egypt, following the removal 
        of the government led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
            (2) The succeeding government announced that the army would 
        rebuild the churches damaged during that sectarian violence at 
        government expense. President Sisi, then the Minister of 
        Defense of Egypt, ordered the engineering department of the 
        Egyptian armed forces ``to swiftly repair all the affected 
        churches, in recognition of the historical and national role 
        played by our Coptic brothers'' during that period of sectarian 
        violence.
            (3) In January 2015, President Sisi was the first Egyptian 
        President to make an appearance at a Coptic Christian Christmas 
        liturgy.
            (4) On January 6, 2016, President Sisi, speaking at St. 
        Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, while attending the Christmas 
        liturgy, said, referring to the August 2013 sectarian violence, 
        ``We have taken too long to fix and renovate the churches that 
        were burned . . . this year everything will be fixed. Please 
        accept our apologies for what happened . . . God willing . . . 
        by next year there won't be a single house or church that is 
        not restored. We will never forget the honorable, respectful, 
        and great stance you and the Pope took during this period.''.
            (5) The Egyptian military has restored 26 of the 78 
        churches and other Christian buildings damaged during the 
        August 2013 sectarian violence. Private citizens have restored 
        an additional 23 damaged buildings. A total of 29 buildings in 
        24 locations have yet to be restored as of September 6, 2016.
            (6) In August 2016, Egypt passed a new law with respect to 
        church construction that imposes significant burdens on the 
        ability to build a church.
            (7) In general, government approval for building or 
        repairing churches has served as a justification for sectarian 
        violence targeting Christians in Egypt.
            (8) In El-`Our, Minya, on March 27, 2015, dozens of 
        villagers protested the building of the new church in honor of 
        the Egyptian Christians beheaded by Da'esh militants in Libya 
        in February 2015. President Sisi had approved the construction 
        of that church in response to calls by Coptic Orthodox Church 
        leaders. A Coptic Orthodox clergyman from the region stated 
        that protestors besieged the existing village church with the 
        pastor and some of his family inside. According to a prominent 
        human rights group, the protestors were armed, threw Molotov 
        cocktails at the church, and set fire to a Christian-owned 
        vehicle. Protestors also threw bricks at the house of another 
        Christian victim.
            (9) Egyptian government officials frequently participate in 
        informal reconciliation sessions to address such incidents of 
        sectarian violence or tension, saying that such sessions 
        prevented further violence. According to human rights groups, 
        however, the sessions have regularly led to outcomes 
        unfavorable to religious minorities and precluded recourse to 
        the judicial system by such minorities.
            (10) St. Mark brought Christianity to Egypt, where the 
        Coptic Christians have been the indigenous people of Egypt for 
        over 2,000 years.
            (11) The Coptic Church represents the largest Christian 
        community in the Middle East.
            (12) United States diplomatic leadership contributes 
        meaningfully and materially to the international protection of 
        religious minorities and their faith-based practices and places 
        of worship.
            (13) The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
        U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) states that ``it shall be the policy of 
        the United States to condemn violations of religious freedom, 
        and to promote, and to assist other governments in the 
        promotion of, the fundamental right to freedom of religion.''.
            (14) Religious freedom is an essential cornerstone of 
        democracy that promotes respect for individual liberty and 
        contributes to greater stability, and is a priority value for 
        the United States to promote in its engagement with other 
        countries.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    (a) Report on Progress of Restoration.--Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 
until 2021, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate a report describing--
            (1) the progress made in restoring or repairing burned, 
        damaged, or otherwise destroyed Christian religious property 
        and properties owned by Christians in the Arab Republic of 
        Egypt during the sectarian violence in August 2013, including a 
        description of any discussion between officials of the 
        Department of State and representatives of Egypt, occurring on 
        or after the date of the submission of the most recent report, 
        regarding the restoration or repair of such Christian religious 
        property or property owned by Christians;
            (2) the implementation of the law described in section 
        2(6), including the number of permits issued for the 
        construction of Christian churches pursuant to such law; and
            (3) the nature and extent of Egyptian laws and policies 
        regarding the construction of Christian churches or places of 
        worship.
    (b) Inclusion of Information in Annual Country Reports on Human 
Rights Practices and International Religious Freedom Reports.--The 
Secretary of State shall ensure that each Country Report on Human 
Rights Practices for Egypt required under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) 
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d) and 2304(b)) 
and each Report on International Religious Freedom required under 
section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
U.S.C. 6412(b)) submitted after the date of the enactment of this Act 
contains--
            (1) a summary of the information described in subsection 
        (a)(1); and
            (2) a list of each Christian church, place of worship, or 
        other Christian religious property (such as a monastery, 
        Christian school or hospital, monument, relic, or holy site) 
        and each item of property (such as artwork, manuscripts, 
        vestments, vessels, or other artifacts) belonging to a 
        Christian church that was burned, damaged, or otherwise 
        destroyed during the sectarian violence in August 2013.
                                 <all>