[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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