[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 539 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 539
Urging the President to strengthen efforts of the United States to
combat religious freedom violations in Eurasia, especially the use of
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,
prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of
persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons, and
other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of
persons.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 11, 2018
Mr. Wicker (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Tillis, Mr.
Gardner, and Mr. Boozman) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging the President to strengthen efforts of the United States to
combat religious freedom violations in Eurasia, especially the use of
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,
prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of
persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons, and
other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of
persons.
Whereas the National Security Strategy of the United States issued in 2017
stated that ``[t]he United States also remains committed to supporting
and advancing religious freedom . . . Our Founders understood religious
freedom not as the state's creation, but as the gift of God to every
person and a fundamental right for our flourishing society,'' and
national security strategies issued in 2015, 2006, 2002, 2000, 1999,
1998, and 1997, likewise committed the United States to promoting
international religious freedom to advance the security, economic, and
other national interests of the people of the United States;
Whereas religious freedom is the first freedom enumerated in the Constitution of
the United States, enshrined as a non-derogable freedom in international
law, enumerated in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which the United States voted for, enumerated in Article 18 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the
United States ratified, committed to as part of comprehensive security
by the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, including in the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the
Madrid Concluding Document of 1983, the Vienna Concluding Document of
1989, the CSCE/OSCE Copenhagen Document of 1990, the Charter of Paris
for a New Europe of 1990, the Budapest Document of 1994, and the
Istanbul Document of 1999, and affirmed in specific decisions of the
Ministerial Council in 2002 to 2007, and 2013;
Whereas the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.)
defines particularly severe violations of religious freedom as ``torture
or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged
detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the
abduction or clandestine detention of those persons, other flagrant
denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons,''
requires the President to ``designate each country the government of
which has engaged in or tolerated [particularly severe violations of
religious freedom in that country during the preceding 12 months or
since the date of the last review of that country] . . . as a country of
particular concern for religious freedom,'' and requires the United
States as a matter of policy 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'';
Whereas the Secretary of State designated as CPC OSCE participating States
Uzbekistan in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2017, Turkmenistan in
2014, 2016, and 2017, and Tajikistan in 2016 and 2017;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
recommended for CPC designation OSCE participating States Turkmenistan
from 2000 to 2018, Uzbekistan from 2005 to 2018, Tajikistan from 2012 to
2019, Russia from 2017 to 2018, and Turkey in 2012;
Whereas the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-
281) requires the President to ``designate each country that engaged in
or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom during the previous
year, but does not meet, in the opinion of the President at the time of
publication of the Annual Report, all of the criteria . . . for
designation'' as a CPC as ``being placed on a `Special Watch List',''
and the Secretary of State designated no OSCE participating States as a
Special Watch List country when designating countries of particular
concern and one Special Watch List country on December 22, 2017;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has
included on its annual Tier Two list or Watch List countries in which
the government has engaged in or tolerated serious violations of
religious freedom, Azerbaijan from 2013 to 2018, Kazakhstan from 2013 to
2018, Turkey from 2009 to 2011 and 2014 to 2018, Russia from 2009 to
2016, Belarus from 2004 to 2012, Tajikistan from 2009 to 2011,
Uzbekistan from 2003 to 2004, and Georgia in 2004;
Whereas, on July 17, 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld a
ban against Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist group, enforcing
extremism laws that violate religious freedom, including July 7, 2016,
amendments to the prohibitive 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Associations that further restrict missionary activities of
Russians and foreigners in Russia, restrict or ban online and printed
religious materials, impose fines, confiscate assets and property,
prohibit public and private religious assembly and expression,
criminalize and ban religious activities and groups as extremist without
legally defining extremism to include the threat or use of violence, and
put religious minorities such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims,
Protestant Christians, and Mormons, especially at risk of severe and
particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
Whereas, since forces of the Government of the Russian Federation invaded
Crimea, Ukraine, in February 2014, they have forcibly and illegally
occupied the territory, and as the occupying power are required under
international law such as the Geneva Conventions to protect the
religious freedom of the inhabitants of the occupied territory, are
responsible for violations of religious freedom in Crimea for the
duration of their occupation, and there have been violations, including
abduction, detention and imprisonment, forced psychiatric
hospitalizations, fines, restrictions on missionary activities,
confiscations of property including churches and meeting halls,
expulsions and obstructions to reentry, denying registration of
religious groups, vandalism, fines, and banning peaceful religious
groups, and targeted groups have included Muslim Crimean Tatars, the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church, and Protestant Christians, as reported in
International Religious Freedom Reports and by the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation-led separatist forces have
effectively controlled the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since April
2014, are therefore required under international law to protect the
religious freedom of the inhabitants of the territory they control, are
responsible for violations of religious freedom in the Donbas for the
duration of their control, proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic and
the Luhansk People's Republic, established illegal entities to govern
the territory, and religious freedom violations in the region have
included detention and imprisonment, confiscation of property, including
churches and meeting halls, physical assaults and threats of violence,
vandalism, fines, restrictions on missionary activities, religious
services, ceremonies, gatherings, and literature, and banning of
peaceful religious groups, and targeted groups have included the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, Jehovah's Witnesses, the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Protestant Christians, as reported
in International Religious Freedom Reports and by the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom;
Whereas the draft ``Law Introducing Amendments and Additions to Laws on
Questions of Religious Activity and Religious Associations'' would amend
the already restrictive religion law of Kazakhstan to further control
and punish people who communicate religious teachings the government has
not approved, restrict sharing religious beliefs, confiscate religious
literature that does not pass mandatory state censorship, make it easier
to permanently ban religious organizations for violating the Religion
Law, and double some fines for exercising religious freedom;
Whereas, since the second President and the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan assumed
office on December 14, 2016, the Government of Uzbekistan has taken
steps towards improvement on religious freedom, including the release of
some religious prisoners and the ``road map'' resolution issued on May
4, 2018, by the Legislative Chamber and the Senate instructing
government offices to implement the recommendations in the February 22,
2018, ``Report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief on His Mission to Uzbekistan'' within a year, and the Government
has shown openness to the recommendations of the United States
Government regarding religious freedom;
Whereas the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act includes a sense of
Congress that ``ongoing and persistent waivers of the application of any
of the actions . . . (or commensurate substitute action) . . . with
respect to a country do not fulfill the purposes of'' the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and ``because the promotion of religious
freedom is an important interest of United States foreign policy, the
President, the Secretary of State, and other executive branch officials,
in consultation with Congress, should seek to find ways to address
existing violations, on a case-by-case basis, through the actions . . .
or other commensurate substitute action'' in the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998;
Whereas section 212(a)(2)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1182(a)(2)(G)) provides that ``[a]ny alien who, while serving as a
foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried
out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom,
as defined in section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act (22
U.S.C. 6402) is inadmissible'' to the United States;
Whereas the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of
title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) authorizes the
President to take actions based on credible evidence that a foreign
person is ``responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other
gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed
against individuals in any foreign country who seek . . . to obtain,
exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and
freedoms, such as the freedoms of religion, expression, association, and
assembly, and the rights to a fair trial and democratic elections,''
including denying entry to the United States, or revoking the United
States visa, and ``blocking . . . all transactions in all property and
interests in property . . . if such property and interests in property
are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come
within the possession or control of a United States person'' of any such
foreign person or foreign person who acted as an agent of or on behalf
of such a foreign person; and
Whereas the Government of Turkey has detained Pastor Andrew Brunson, a United
States citizen, since October 7, 2016, on false charges of membership in
an armed terrorist group, espionage, and attempting to overthrow the
state, provided no credible evidence, and denied him timely and credible
due process: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate urges the President--
(1) to redesignate Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
as countries of particular concern, grant a waiver on the one
or more actions or commensurate action the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 requires the President to take
toward them as CPCs, condition the waiver on the governments of
these countries ceasing, or taking substantial and verifiable
steps to cease, particularly severe violations of religious
freedom within 180 days of the designation, and revoke the
waiver and take the statutorily required action or commensurate
action if these governments do not take such steps;
(2) to designate Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey as special
watch list countries, urge the Government of Kazakhstan to
refrain from adopting amendments that would make the religion
law more restrictive, and if the Government of Kazakhstan
adopts such restrictions, to designate Kazakhstan as a special
watch list country for that year;
(3) to instruct the Ambassador-at-Large for International
Religious Freedom, under statute the principal adviser to the
President on international religious freedom, to develop and
transmit to Congress a one-time inter-agency strategy to
advance religious freedom in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, and parts
of Ukraine occupied by Government of the Russian Federation
forces or controlled by Government of the Russian Federation-
led separatist forces, and that this strategy shall--
(A) emphasize the value of adopting religious
freedom as a means of enhancing economic growth and
undermining religion-related violence and terrorism;
(B) include details on how resources from Federal
departments and agencies, including the United States
Agency for International Development, will be used to
implement the strategy;
(C) be developed in consultation with advice from
the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom, governments, private sector and civil society
entities; and
(D) prioritize supporting ongoing reforms in
Uzbekistan; and
(4) to apply visa, entry into the United States, and
property blocking sanctions targeting any foreign person found
to engage in or be complicit in severe violations of religious
freedom in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine, including government
authorities of Russia or persons appointed by the Government of
the Russian Federation effectively governing or otherwise
exercising control of occupied Crimea, Ukraine, and Government
of the Russian Federation-led separatist forces in the Donbas
region of eastern Ukraine, and including officials, agents, or
others acting on behalf of the Government of Turkey responsible
for the wrongful detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, actions
authorized by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), the Global Magnitsky Human Rights
Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-
328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note), or other applicable laws.
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