[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7058-S7059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 5176. Mr. PORTMAN (for Mr. Corker) proposed an amendment to
amendment SA 5175 proposed by Mr. Portman (for Mr. Corker) to the bill
H.R. 1150, to amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to
improve the ability of the United States to advance religious freedom
globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and
foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible
political responses to religious freedom violations and violent
extremism worldwide, and for other purposes; as follows:
Beginning on page 13, strike line 12 and all that follows
through page 16, line 20, and insert the following:
[[Page S7059]]
(a) Amendments to Foreign Service Act of 1980.--Section 708
of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;
(B) by striking ``(a) The Secretary of State'' and
inserting the following:
``(a) Human Rights, Religious Freedom, and Human
Trafficking Training.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary of State''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Religious freedom training.--
``(A) In general.--In carrying out the training required
under paragraph (1)(B), the Director of the George P. Shultz
National Foreign Affairs Training Center shall, not later
than the one year after the date of the enactment of the
Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, conduct
training on religious freedom for all Foreign Service
officers, including all entry level officers, all officers
prior to departure for posting outside the United States, and
all outgoing deputy chiefs of mission and ambassadors. Such
training shall be included in--
``(i) the A-100 course attended by all Foreign Service
officers;
``(ii) the courses required of every Foreign Service
officer prior to a posting outside the United States, with
segments tailored to the particular religious demography,
religious freedom conditions, and United States strategies
for advancing religious freedom, in each receiving country;
and
``(iii) the courses required of all outgoing deputy chiefs
of mission and ambassadors.
``(B) Development of curriculum.--In carrying out the
training required under paragraph (1)(B), the Ambassador at
Large for International Religious Freedom, in coordination
with the Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign
Affairs Training Center and other Federal officials, as
appropriate, and in consultation with the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom established
under section 201(a) of the International Religious Freedom
Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(a)), shall make recommendations
to the Secretary of State regarding a curriculum for the
training of United States Foreign Service officers under
paragraph (1)(B) on the scope and strategic value of
international religious freedom, how violations of
international religious freedom harm fundamental United
States interests, how the advancement of international
religious freedom can advance such interests, how United
States international religious freedom policy should be
carried out in practice by United States diplomats and other
Foreign Service officers, and the relevance and relationship
of international religious freedom to United States defense,
diplomacy, development, and public affairs efforts. The
Secretary of State should ensure the availability of
sufficient resources to develop and implement such
curriculum.
``(C) Information sharing.--The curriculum and training
materials developed under this paragraph shall be shared with
the United States Armed Forces and other Federal departments
and agencies with personnel who are stationed overseas, as
appropriate, to provide training on--
``(i) United States religious freedom policies;
``(ii) religious traditions;
``(iii) religious engagement strategies;
``(iv) religious and cultural issues; and
``(v) efforts to counter violent religious extremism.'';
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ``The Secretary of
State'' and inserting ``Refugees.--The Secretary of State'';
and
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ``The Secretary of
State'' and inserting ``Child Soldiers.--The Secretary of
State''.
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