[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12999-S13001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT

 Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, on October 9, 1998, the Senate, by 
a vote of 98-0, passed the International Religious Freedom Act. As the 
sponsor of the International Religious Freedom Act, I am providing this 
statement which gives some guidance as to what I tried to accomplish in 
crafting this Act.

                               Background

       With enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act, 
     there will be a major increase in the amount of information 
     on the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom 
     in foreign countries, in the actions taken by the U.S. 
     government in response to those violations and in the 
     scrutiny of the steps taken by the U.S. government to combat 
     them. Sadly, events around the world demonstrate the need for 
     the International Religious Freedom Act.
       It has been reported that more than half of the world's 
     population lives under governments that place restrictions or 
     outright prohibitions on the ability to practice one's 
     religion. While the end of the Cold War saw a significant 
     increase in religious freedom in many countries, in others 
     there has been no change. Totalitarian governments either 
     continue to stamp out religion or subject it to state 
     controls through arrest, torture, beatings, imprisonment and 
     unemployment.
       One such government has used massacre, starvation, and 
     forced resettlement as a tool in the effort to crush 
     resistance in its mostly Christian region. There have been 
     reports of the crucifixion of Christians, although these 
     reports cannot be confirmed. What has been confirmed is the 
     revival of slavery, abduction and mutilation. Displaced 
     refugees have been confronted with forced conversion or 
     starvation.
       In other countries, reports abound of attacks by extremists 
     or by government forces on Christians, and on their homes, 
     businesses, and churches. Converts to Christianity are 
     imprisoned and tortured. In several countries no overt 
     practice of any religion but the state religion is permitted, 
     and conversion is illegal. These prohibitions affect 
     virtually every religion around the world.

                The International Religious Freedom Act

       This is the backdrop which led to the International 
     Religious Freedom Act. The International Religious Freedom 
     Act was crafted with four core principles. First, the 
     International Religious Freedom Act is comprehensive both in 
     the scope of covered violations, and in the full range of 
     tools it provides to address the violations. By crafting a 
     definition of violations of religious freedom that focuses on 
     the most common types of violations as well as the most 
     egregious, the Act attempts to resolve the problem before 
     these violations escalate into torture, imprisonment and even 
     death.
       Second, the International Religious Freedom Act was crafted 
     to require action while preserving necessary flexibility for 
     the President. The International Religious Freedom Act 
     contains a menu of options, including eight diplomatic and 
     seven economic measures, from which the President must choose 
     for each country that engages in violations of religious 
     freedom. The Act also allows the President to calibrate any 
     economic measure. The President can, for instance, suspend or 
     limit foreign assistance, rather than cut it off entirely. 
     The Act gives the President an additional option of taking 
     commensurate action for any of the 15 options if the 
     President determines that by doing so he can further the 
     policy of the United States set forth in this Act. Finally,

[[Page S13000]]

     the President can exercise a waiver if important national 
     interests require it, or if it would be harmful to those the 
     Act seeks to help.
       The provisions of the International Religious Freedom Act 
     give the President economic and diplomatic tools to use that 
     will best fit the situation and most appropriately deal with 
     the problem. These tools can be modified based on the level 
     of persecution in the country, the country engaging in the 
     persecution and our relationship with that country. This 
     flexibility ensures that the International Religious Freedom 
     Act will be more effective. The goal of the International 
     Religious Freedom Act is not to punish countries but to 
     change behavior.
       Third, the International Religious Freedom Act promotes 
     long-term change through several means, including 
     comprehensive human rights and religious freedom training for 
     U.S. officials and representatives, both in the Foreign 
     Service and in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 
     The Act authorizes U.S. assistance for the development of 
     legal protections abroad, broadcasting and scholarly 
     exchanges to promote religious freedom, and awards for 
     meritorious Foreign Service Officers.
       Fourth, the International Religious Freedom Act establishes 
     several positions to ensure a permanent profile on and 
     attention to religious freedom. It establishes an Ambassador 
     at Large for International Religious Freedom which is a 
     permanent diplomatic position to spearhead U.S. advocacy for 
     religious freedom internationally. The Act also establishes a 
     Commission for International Religious Freedom to ensure 
     accountability, and to provide independent policy 
     recommendations as the Act is implemented. The Annual Report 
     further provides accountability by reporting the actions of 
     the U.S. government.

  The following is a commentary on several sections of the 
International Religious Freedom Act.

       Section 101. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Liberty: 
     This section creates a high-profile diplomat under the 
     Secretary of State, vested with the authority to continually 
     and forcefully raise the issue of religious persecution in 
     bilateral and multilateral forums. The Ambassador is 
     responsible for ensuring advocacy for, and high-quality 
     reporting on, religious freedom by American Embassies around 
     the world. The Ambassador also is to make policy 
     recommendations to the President and the Secretary of State 
     to advance the right to religious freedom abroad.
       Section 102. Reporting: This section strengthens existing 
     reporting requirements. The Ambassador is to assist in the 
     preparation of the sections on religious freedom in the State 
     Department Human Rights Country Reports, and embassy 
     personnel are directed to seek out and investigate reports of 
     violations of religious freedom.
       This section also creates an Annual Report on International 
     Religious Freedom. This report details the status of 
     religious freedom in each country around the world, and 
     provides a comprehensive accounting of the violations of 
     religious freedom, how severe they are and where they occur. 
     The report is to give an indication of trends towards 
     improvements in protecting religious liberty, and trends 
     toward the deterioration of that protection. The report will 
     also include information regarding U.S. government actions 
     taken to promote religious freedom abroad. The U.S. 
     government, when compiling this report, must work with non-
     governmental organizations (NGOs), when appropriate, to 
     ensure that each report contains the most accurate 
     information.
       The Annual Report must also include information on the 
     forced conversion of minor U.S. citizens living abroad. It 
     has come to my attention that our government has done little 
     to resolve cases of the victimization of minors who have been 
     taken to a foreign land, subjected to forced religious 
     conversion, and prevented under the laws of those nations 
     from returning to the United States where they would enjoy 
     religious freedom.
       In some cases, especially for girls, this amounts to a life 
     sentence of living abroad. In some countries, women may not 
     travel abroad without the permission of their father or 
     husband. The State Department should work to secure the 
     rights of its citizens--including those living abroad, and 
     the Commission on International Religious Freedom should 
     monitor these cases.
       Each year, the Secretary of State, working with the 
     Ambassador, must present this report to Congress by September 
     1. An Executive Summary highlighting the countries of 
     greatest concern with regard to religious freedom and 
     countries demonstrating significant improvement in the 
     protection of that right is to accompany the report. A 
     classified, more detailed addendum may be provided to 
     Congress.
       Section 103. Internet Site for Religious Liberty: To assist 
     NGOs around the world, the Act establishes a State Department 
     Internet site posting the Annual Report, the Executive 
     Summary and other international documents on religious 
     freedom.
       Section 104. Religious Freedom Training: To ensure 
     awareness by Foreign Service officers of the nature and scope 
     of violations of religious freedom, the Act amends the 
     Foreign Service Act of 1980 to require training in human 
     rights, including violations of religious freedom, as 
     standard training for Foreign Service officers. Training is 
     mandatory for officers with reporting responsibilities and 
     for Chiefs of Mission.
       Section 105 & 106. Contacts with NGOs: Embassies are 
     required to seek out religious NGOs and meet with imprisoned 
     religious leaders where appropriate and beneficial. These 
     contacts will not only help our government gather the facts 
     accurately as it prepares the Annual Report, but also will 
     prove valuable as our government seeks to formulate 
     policies to promote religious freedom around the world, as 
     described in section 403. A Sense of the Congress directs 
     embassies to craft a strategy for the promotion of 
     religious liberty.
       Section 107. Equal Access to U.S. Embassies: The Act grants 
     access to U.S. citizens (and, at the embassy's discretion, to 
     nationals) to U.S. missions abroad for religious activities 
     on a basis no less favorable than for other nongovernmental 
     activities unrelated to the conduct of the diplomatic 
     mission. For instance, it is inconsistent that permission be 
     granted by U.S. missions to allow the dispensing and social 
     consumption of alcoholic beverages and the serving of pork 
     products, contrary to local law, while discouraging such 
     permission for holding religious services. The fact that 
     several other foreign consulates afford access to worship for 
     their citizens disproves the suggestion that diplomatic 
     interests preclude similar provision for Americans by the 
     State Department. Many other social and American community 
     activities without discernable diplomatic purpose will no 
     doubt continue, and in most cases should continue. Religious 
     service access requests under section 107 may receive no less 
     consideration than these other activities occurring on U.S. 
     mission premises.
       Section 108. Prisoner Database and Issue Briefs: To prompt 
     advocacy at every possible opportunity, the bill directs the 
     State Department to maintain country-specific lists of 
     religious prisoners and issue briefs on policies restricting 
     religious liberty, to be provided to executive branch and 
     Congressional leaders for use in meetings with foreign 
     dignitaries. In compiling these lists, the Act gives the 
     Secretary of State the discretion to decide whether including 
     a name on the list harms or helps the prisoner.
       Sections 201 to 206. The International Religious Freedom 
     Act establishes a United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom. This Commission, which is bipartisan in 
     composition and will include both presidential and 
     Congressional appointees, will ensure that the President and 
     the Congress receive independent recommendations--and where 
     necessary, criticism--of American policy in support of 
     international religious freedom.
       The Commission consists of 10 persons (including the 
     Ambassador at Large, who sits as an ex officio, non-voting 
     member), chosen for a period of two years; the Commission 
     sunsets in four years unless reauthorized. The innovative 
     appointment structure established in this Act ensures that 
     five commissioners will be selected by the President's 
     political party and four commissioners by the other political 
     party, no matter which political party controls the White 
     House or either house of Congress. While this Act 
     appropriately defers to the President's constitutional 
     authority in conducting policy toward foreign states, it is 
     the intent of Congress that the Commission hold policy makers 
     accountable to the purposes of this Act, and, thus, ensure 
     the Act's effectiveness.
       The Commission will review the ongoing facts and 
     circumstances of violations of religious freedom (both from 
     government reports and from other sources) and make policy 
     recommendations. While the Commission's annual report on May 
     1 will stand as its main formal duty under the sequence of 
     requirements established by the Act, it is the intent of 
     Congress that the Commission be diligent in monitoring 
     violations of religious freedom on an ongoing basis and 
     make its policy recommendations on a timely basis and with 
     an urgency and specificity appropriate to circumstances.
       Section 301. This section is a Sense of the Congress that 
     there should be at the National Security Council a Special 
     Advisor on International Religious Freedom, who monitors 
     persecution and serves as a resource and policy advisor for 
     executive branch officials.


                                title iv

       This title requires that the President take action to 
     address violations of religious freedom each year in each 
     country around the world where these violations take place.
       Section 401. If a country engages in violations of 
     religious freedom as defined in the bill, then the President 
     must, at least once a year, choose one or more of the options 
     listed in the menu of options found in section 405. If the 
     President decides to take one of options 9 through 15, then 
     the President must fulfill the requirements of section 403 
     and 404, which provide appropriate scrutiny and review of 
     potential sanctions.
       Section 402. The President must, at least once a year, make 
     a determination as to which countries around the world are 
     engaged in particularly severe violations of religious 
     freedom. The President may make those determinations any time 
     during the year, providing the flexibility to respond quickly 
     and appropriately to occurrences of religious persecution.
       If the President finds a country to be engaged in 
     particularly severe violations of religious freedom, then the 
     President is required to select one or more of options 9 
     through 15 or take commensurate action as found in section 
     405.

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       Once the President makes such a determination, the 
     President is to identify the government agency or 
     instrumentality and the specific officials responsible for 
     the persecution so that sanctions are as narrowly targeted as 
     possible to those entities responsible for the persecution.
       Any economic action taken pursuant to a determination made 
     under this section cannot be taken until the provisions of 
     section 403 and 404 have been satisfied. However, in keeping 
     with the Act's purpose of changing behavior, the President 
     must first make every reasonable effort to conclude a binding 
     agreement with the foreign country to cease the violations. 
     If such an agreement is concluded, the President is not 
     required to impose a sanction on that particular country for 
     that particular year.
       The Congress also recognizes that once sanctions are 
     imposed under the International Religious Freedom Act, 
     implementing sanctions the following year could be 
     counterproductive. Accordingly, the Act provides that in such 
     cases, or if a comprehensive sanctions regime is already in 
     place in significant part because of human rights abuses, 
     the President may designate those sanctions as fulfilling 
     the purposes of the Act.
       It is the intent of Congress that this Act require action 
     abroad specifically and recognizably in response to 
     violations of religious freedom, and that no provisions of 
     the Act exempt the Department of State from recognizing that 
     violations of religious freedom have occurred and taking 
     action in response to those violations.
       This section includes a provision that any determination 
     made under this Act, or any amendment to this Act, shall not 
     trigger any termination of assistance or activities as 
     outlined in sections 116 and 502B of the Foreign Assistance 
     Act of 1961.
       Section 403. The consultations outlined in this section are 
     necessary to achieve a coordinated international policy, to 
     adequately ensure the safety of persecuted individuals or 
     communities and to ensure that the economic interests of the 
     United States are considered before our government takes 
     economic action.
       Many NGOs have operations in the very countries where 
     persecution is ongoing and these organizations can provide 
     valuable insight as to how the problem of violations of 
     religious freedom can best be alleviated, and can help our 
     government better understand specific situations in the 
     country of concern or the potential harm any punitive action 
     might have on their organization or persecuted communities. 
     It is the intent of the Congress that these consultations be 
     the norm.


                                title v

       This title seeks to promote religious freedom through 
     authorizing assistance for legal protections of religious 
     freedom abroad, international exchanges, international 
     broadcasting to promote religious freedom and through 
     incentives and awards to our diplomatic community to promote 
     religious freedom.
       Section 601. Use of Annual Report: This section provides 
     that the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 
     serve as a resource for U.S. officials adjudicating asylum 
     and refugee applications involving claims of religious 
     persecution. U.S. officials may not deny a claim solely 
     because conditions described by an applicant are not 
     referenced by the Annual Report.
       Section 602. Reform of Refugee Policy: U.S. officials are 
     assisted in processing potential refugees around the world by 
     personnel hired abroad. Unfortunately, such personnel are 
     sometimes influenced by unfairly prejudicial biases that 
     affect their screening and processing of potential refugees. 
     United States refugee policy should not be compromised by 
     local prejudices based on religion, race, nationality, 
     membership in a particular social group, or political 
     opinion. To lessen the possibility of unfair discrimination 
     by personnel hired abroad, and to provide greater oversight 
     of U.S. hiring polices, section 602 requires the Attorney 
     General and the Secretary of State to develop and 
     implement anti-bias guidelines, and to develop guidelines 
     for entering into agreement with local refugee processing 
     organizations.
       The Act also requires all U.S. refugee-processing officers 
     to receive the same level of training as U.S. asylum 
     officers, who currently receive more comprehensive training. 
     This training includes instruction on the nature and extent 
     of religious persecution abroad. The Act also requires 
     Foreign Service officers who might have refugee-processing 
     responsibilities to receive adequate training in refugee law 
     and in the nature of religious persecution abroad.
       Section 603. Reform of Asylum Policy: U.S. officials are 
     assisted in processing potential asylees by interpreters, and 
     other non-U.S. personnel who may be influenced by unfairly 
     prejudicial biases that may affect such processing. To lessen 
     the possibility of unfair discrimination by such personnel, 
     section 603 requires the Attorney General and the Secretary 
     of State to develop and implement anti-bias guidelines. 
     Personnel of airlines owned by foreign governments known to 
     engage in persecution are prohibited from employment as 
     interpreters. The Act requires training for all immigration 
     inspectors, asylum officers and immigration judges in the 
     nature and extent of religious persecution abroad.
       Section 604. Inadmissibility of Foreign Government 
     Officials Who Have Been Engaged in Severe Violations of 
     Religious Freedom: Section 604 provides that foreign 
     government officials responsible for particularly severe 
     violations of religious freedom in the last two years, and 
     their families, shall not be admitted to the United States.
       Section 605. Studies on the Effect of Expedited Removal for 
     Asylum Claims: Under section 605, the Commission on 
     International Religious Freedom may invite outside experts to 
     cooperate with the U.S. General Accounting Office in studying 
     and reporting on the effect of the expedited removal process 
     on potential asylees.
       Section 701. The Act recognizes that transnational 
     corporations play an increasing role as agents for change 
     around the world and have a great potential for positive 
     leadership abroad in human rights. The Act states the Sense 
     of the Congress that U.S. transnational corporations should 
     adopt codes of conduct upholding the religious rights of 
     their employees.

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