22 U.S.C. § 6442a

Current through P.L. 118-106 (published on www.congress.gov on 10/04/2024)

Section 6442a - Non-state actor designations

(a) In general

The President, concurrent with the annual foreign country review required under section 402(b)(1)(A) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)), shall-

(1) review and identify any non-state actors operating in any such reviewed country or surrounding region that have engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom; and

(2) designate, in a manner consistent with such Act [22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.], each such non-state actor as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom.

(b) Report

Whenever the President designates a non-state actor under subsection (a) as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom, the President, as soon as practicable after the designation is made, shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that describes the reasons for such designation.

(c) Actions

The President should take specific actions, when practicable, to address severe violations of religious freedom of non-state actors that are designated under subsection (a)(2).

(d) Department of State annual report

The Secretary of State should include information detailing the reasons the President designated a non-state actor as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom under subsection (a) in the Annual Report required under section 102(b)(1) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)).

(e) Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that-

(1) the Secretary of State should work with Congress and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom-

(A) to create new political, financial, and diplomatic tools to address severe violations of religious freedom by non-state actors; and

(B) to update the actions the President can take under section 405 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6445);

(2) governments must ultimately be held accountable for the abuses that occur in their territories; and

(3) any actions the President takes after designating a non-state actor as an entity of particular concern should also involve high-level diplomacy with the government of the country in which the non-state actor is operating.

(f) Determinations of responsible parties

In order to appropriately target Presidential actions under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), the President, with respect to each non-state actor designated as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom under subsection (a), shall seek to determine, to the extent practicable, the specific officials or members that are responsible for the particularly severe violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by such non-state actor.

(g) Definitions

In this section, the terms "appropriate congressional committees", "non-state actor", and "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" have the meanings given such terms in section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6402), as amended by section 3 of this Act.

22 U.S.C. § 6442a

Pub. L. 114-281, title III, §301, Dec. 16, 2016, 130 Stat. 1433.

EDITORIAL NOTES

REFERENCES IN TEXTThe International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, referred to in subsecs. (a)(2) and (f), is Pub. L. 105-292, 112 Stat. 2787, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 6401 of this title and Tables. Section 3 of this Act, referred to in subsec. (g), means section 3 of Pub. L. 114-281 which amended section 6402 of this title.

CODIFICATIONSection was enacted as part of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, and not as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 which comprises this chapter.

EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS

DELEGATION OF RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER THE FRANK R. WOLF INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT OF 2016 Memorandum of President of the United States, Jan. 9, 2018, 83 F.R. 3935, provided: Memorandum for the Secretary of StateBy the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 301 of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281) (the "Act") [22 U.S.C. 6442a] .This memorandum's reference to the Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the Act as amended from time to time.You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.Donald J. Trump.

Annual Report: The term "Annual Report" means the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom described in section 6412(b) of this title.
Commission: The term "Commission" means the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom established in section 6431(a) of this title.
appropriate congressional committees: The term "appropriate congressional committees" means-(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives; and(B) in the case of any determination made with respect to the taking of President1 action under paragraphs (9) through (15) of section 6445(a) of this title, the term includes the committees described in subparagraph (A) and, where appropriate, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.
non-state actor: The term "non-state actor" means a nonsovereign entity that-(A) exercises significant political power and territorial control;(B) is outside the control of a sovereign government; and(C) often employs violence in pursuit of its objectives.
particularly severe violations of religious freedom: The term "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" means systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, including violations such as-(A) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;(B) prolonged detention without charges;(C) causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or(D) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.
violations of religious freedom: The term "violations of religious freedom" means violations of the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion and religious belief and practice, as set forth in the international instruments referred to in section 6401(a)(2) of this title and as described in section 6401(a)(3) of this title, including violations such as-(A) arbitrary prohibitions on, restrictions of, or punishment for-(i) assembling for peaceful religious activities such as worship, preaching, and prayer, including arbitrary registration requirements;(ii) speaking freely about one's religious beliefs;(iii) changing one's religious beliefs and affiliation;(iv) not professing a particular religion, or any religion;(v) possession and distribution of religious literature, including Bibles; or(vi) raising one's children in the religious teachings and practices of one's choice; or(B) any of the following acts if committed on account of an individual's conscience, non-theistic views, or religious belief or practice: detention, interrogation, imposition of an onerous financial penalty, forced labor, forced mass resettlement, imprisonment, forced religious conversion, forcibly compelling non-believers or non-theists to recant their beliefs or to convert, beating, torture, mutilation, rape, enslavement, murder, and execution.1So in original. Probably should be "Presidential".2See References in Text note below.