[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 162 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 162

Reaffirming the commitment of the United States to promoting religious 
                    freedom, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2017

  Mr. Lankford (for himself, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Rubio) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Reaffirming the commitment of the United States to promoting religious 
                    freedom, and for other purposes.

Whereas the United States Congress has a proud history of promoting 
        internationally recognized human rights;
Whereas religious freedom is a fundamental human right of all people;
Whereas the free exercise of religion must stand for the right to practice any 
        faith or to choose no faith at all;
Whereas every individual's rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and 
        religion is guaranteed under the United Nations Universal Declaration of 
        Human Rights, adopted at Paris December 10, 1948, and the International 
        Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted at New York December 16, 
        1966, which recognize, ``Everyone 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.'';
Whereas, during his 1941 State of the Union address, President Franklin D. 
        Roosevelt noted the ``Four Freedoms'' that the world should be founded 
        upon, including the ``freedom of every person to worship God in his own 
        way--everywhere in the world'';
Whereas, according to the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom (USCIRF), abuses committed by governments and non-state actors 
        has increased and the incarceration of prisoners of conscience remains 
        widespread;
Whereas, according to the latest Pew Research Center's Study of Global 
        Restrictions on Religion, which surveyed 2015, an estimated 79 percent 
        of the world's population lives in countries where freedom of religion 
        and conscience is highly restricted, either by the government or social 
        groups;
Whereas the 2017 report produced by USCIRF recommended that the Department of 
        State designate the following countries as Countries of Particular 
        Concern: Burma, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, 
        North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, 
        Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam;
Whereas, in the same report, USCIRF categorized as Tier 2 violators, meaning 
        violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are serious and 
        characterized by at least one of the elements of the `systematic, 
        ongoing, and egregious' Country of Particular Concern standard, 
        Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, 
        Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, and Turkey;
Whereas USCIRF also recommended that the Department of State designate the 
        following non-state actors as entities of particular concern: the 
        Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Taliban in Afghanistan, and 
        al-Shabaab in Somalia;
Whereas, according to the Pew Research Center Study, the two geographic regions 
        with the highest government restrictions continue to be the Middle East-
        North Africa and the Asia-Pacific;
Whereas Congress has recognized that Christians, Yezidis, Shi'a, Turkmen, 
        Shabak, Sabean-Mandeans, Kaka'i, and other religious and ethnic 
        minorities in Iraq and Syria have faced genocide and other crimes 
        against humanity perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
        (ISIL), and that ISIL seeks to eradicate the communities of these 
        minorities;
Whereas Egyptian Coptic Christians have been repeatedly targeted and their 
        aggressors have gone unprosecuted, including two suicide bombings 
        conducted by ISIL that killed 44 people at Coptic churches on Palm 
        Sunday 2017 and an attack in December 2016 that killed 29 and injured 
        numerous other Coptic worshipers, many of whom were women and children;
Whereas, according to USCIRF, Rohingya Muslims and other religious and ethnic 
        minorities, including Christians, in Burma have faced ongoing 
        persecution from state and non-state actors for decades, including 
        incidents of intimidation and violence; the forced relocation and 
        destruction of religious sites; violent attacks by mobs and the 
        military; sexual violence and trafficking in persons, and an ongoing 
        campaign of coerced conversion to Buddhism;
Whereas, according to USCIRF's most recent annual report, conditions for freedom 
        of religion or belief in China continue to decline, with authorities 
        targeting anyone considered a threat to the state, including religious 
        believers, and Chinese authorities arrested Christians for displaying 
        the cross in their homes and printing religious materials, threatened 
        parents for bringing their children to church, and blocked them from 
        holding certain religious activities;
Whereas, according to USCIRF, the Government of Eritrea continues to target 
        Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses, 
        suppresses the religious activities of Muslims, dominates the internal 
        affairs of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Eritrea, and has engaged in the 
        torture of religious prisoners;
Whereas apostasy and blasphemy laws are routinely used across the Middle East 
        and North Africa to intimidate and punish minority faiths and those who 
        would leave Islam;
Whereas, according to Human Rights Watch, in Pakistan, Christians, Hindus, and 
        Ahmadis are often the victims of violent extremists; forced conversion 
        and marriage of Christian and Hindu girls and young women remains a 
        systemic problem; and blasphemy laws are often used as an excuse to 
        settle personal scores or stir up religious animosity against 
        marginalized religious minorities, resulting in a climate of fear and a 
        chilling effect on religious expression;
Whereas, according to the Department of State's 2015 International Religious 
        Freedom Report, the Government of Iran continues to repress religious 
        minorities, including Baha'is, Christians, Sunnis, Sufis, Yarsanis, and 
        Zoroastrians, by raiding religious gatherings services, arresting and 
        imprisoning worshipers and religious leaders, imprisoning educators, 
        confiscating properties, and executing dissidents;
Whereas, according to the Department of State's 2015 International Religious 
        Freedom Report, the Government of Sudan has systematically targeted the 
        Christian community, prosecuting Christian pastors on trumped-up 
        charges, confiscating Christian-owned properties, banning the 
        construction of new Christian houses of worship, destroying numerous 
        religious facilities throughout the country, and targeting human rights 
        defenders for legally representing the Christian community;
Whereas, according to the February 2014 report of the United Nations Commission 
        of Inquiry on the Human Rights Situation of the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea (DPRK), there is ``an almost complete denial of the 
        right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,'' and the 
        Government of the DPRK ``considers the spread of Christianity a 
        particularly serious threat'' and enforces severe punishments for the 
        practice of Christianity;
Whereas the global religious freedom crisis we are experiencing today has 
        created millions of victims and undermines liberty, prosperity, and 
        peace in places vital to United States national interests--posing direct 
        challenges to United States interests in the Middle East, Russia, China, 
        and sub-Saharan Africa;
Whereas the absence of fundamental human rights, including religious freedom, 
        contributes to persecution of minorities, religious extremism, 
        terrorism, and instability;
Whereas there is greater peace, political and social stability, economic 
        development, democratization, and women's empowerment when human rights, 
        including religious freedom, are protected and advanced; and
Whereas Congress recently recognized, with broad bipartisan support, in the 
        Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281), 
        enacted on December 16, 2016, that because the promotion of 
        international religious freedom protects human rights, advances 
        democracy abroad, and advances United States interests in stability, 
        security, and development globally, the promotion of international 
        religious freedom requires new and evolving policies, and diplomatic 
        responses that are drawn from the expertise of the national security 
        agencies, the diplomatic services, and other governmental agencies and 
        nongovernmental organizations, and are coordinated across and carried 
        out by the entire range of Federal agencies: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
        promoting religious freedom as a fundamental human right and 
        calls on the President and the Secretary of State, in 
        accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
        (Public Law 105-292), as amended by the Frank R. Wolf 
        International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281), to 
        strengthen United States foreign policy on behalf of 
        individuals persecuted in foreign countries on account of 
        religion;
            (2) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, and the 
        Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom to 
        develop an action plan on international religious freedom and 
        to integrate that plan into United States diplomatic, 
        development, and national security strategies;
            (3) in accordance with section 106 of the International 
        Religious Freedom Act (22 U.S.C. 6415), calls on the President, 
        in collaboration with the Secretary of State, the Ambassador at 
        Large for International Religious Freedom, and the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development, to develop a strategic plan to direct grants 
        funded by the United States Government towards civil society 
        that are implementing innovated programs in key countries to 
        train and work with local religious leaders of all religious 
        communities, including minorities, on the importance of 
        pluralistic societies, rights guaranteed under international 
        law, and reporting mechanisms available to them within 
        international institutions;
            (4) urges the Secretary of State to implement the 
        requirements of section 103 of the Frank Wolf International 
        Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281) and develop a 
        training curriculum for all American diplomats in international 
        religious freedom policy;
            (5) urges the President, the Secretary of State, the 
        Secretary of Defense, and other relevant agencies to develop a 
        comprehensive response to protect the victims of genocide, 
        crimes against humanity, and war crimes and to provide 
        humanitarian, stabilization and recovery assistance to all 
        individuals from religious and ethnic groups so effected in 
        Iraq and Syria;
            (6) calls on the President and the Secretary of State to 
        reestablish the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group 
        within the Department of State's Federal Advisory Committee 
        established by the previous administration, bringing together 
        experts from government, universities, religious and other 
        nongovernmental organizations to develop an effective multiyear 
        plan to address religious persecution globally and protect and 
        promote international religious freedom; and
            (7) calls on the President, the Secretary of State and the 
        United States Trade Representative to ensure that trade 
        negotiations include religious freedom conditions as mandated 
        by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and 
        Accountability Act of 2015 (title I of Public Law 114-26).
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