§6402 — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

Defines the key words used in the chapter about international religious freedom. "Ambassador at Large" is the top U.S. official for international religious freedom. "Annual Report" is the yearly report on international religious freedom. "Appropriate congressional committees" means the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations Committee, and in some presidential-action cases also the House Banking and Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. "Commensurate action" means actions the President may take in response. "Commission" is the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" are the State Department’s annual human-rights reports to Congress. "Executive Summary" is the short summary that goes with the Annual Report. "Government" or "foreign government" includes any government agency or instrumentality. "Human Rights Reports" means all State Department reports filed under the human-rights reporting laws. "Institution of higher education" uses the federal education law’s definition. "Non-state actor" is a non-government group that controls land or political power, acts outside government control, and often uses violence. "Office" is the Office on International Religious Freedom. "Particularly severe violations of religious freedom" are systematic, ongoing, very serious abuses such as torture, long detention without charges, forced disappearances, or other grave denials of life, liberty, or safety. "Special Adviser" is the President’s Special Adviser on International Religious Freedom. "Special Watch List" is the special list named elsewhere in the law. "Violations of religious freedom" covers breaches of the right to hold and practice beliefs, including bans on peaceful worship, speech, changing or not having a religion, possessing religious literature, raising children in a chosen faith, and violent acts done because of belief such as detention, forced labor, forced conversion, torture, rape, enslavement, murder, and execution.

Title 22, §6402

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In this chapter:

(1)The term “Ambassador at Large” means the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom appointed under section 6411(b) of this title.

(2)The term “Annual Report” means the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom described in section 6412(b) of this title.

(3)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 President 11 So in original. Probably should be “Presidential”. 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.

(4)The term “commensurate action” means action taken by the President under section 6445(b) of this title.

(5)The term “Commission” means the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom established in section 6431(a) of this title.

(6)The term “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” means the annual reports required to be submitted by the Department of State to Congress under section 2151n(d) and 2304(b) of this title.

(7)The term “Executive Summary” means the Executive Summary to the Annual Report, as described in section 6412(b)(1)(F) of this title.

(8)The term “government” or “foreign government” includes any agency or instrumentality of the government.

(9)The term “Human Rights Reports” means all reports submitted by the Department of State to Congress under section 2151n and 2304 of this title.

(10)The term “institution of higher education” has the meaning given that term in section 1001 of title 20.

(11)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.

(12)The term “Office” means the Office on International Religious Freedom established in section 6411(a) of this title.

(13)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.

(14)The term “Special Adviser” means the Special Adviser to the President on International Religious Freedom described in section 3021(i) of title 50.22 See References in Text note below.

(15)The term “Special Watch List” means the Special Watch List described in section 6442(b)(1)(A)(iii) of this title.

(16)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.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 105–292, Oct. 27, 1998, 112 Stat. 2787, known as the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, 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 3021(i) of title 50, referred to in par. (14), was redesignated section 3021(k) by Pub. L. 110–53, title XVIII, § 1841(g)(1), Aug. 3, 2007, 121 Stat. 500.

Amendments

2016—Pars. (10) to (14). Pub. L. 114–281, § 3(2), (3), added pars. (10) and (11) and redesignated former pars. (10) to (12) as (12) to (14), respectively. Former par. (13) redesignated (16). Par. (15). Pub. L. 114–281, § 3(4), added par. (15). Par. (16). Pub. L. 114–281, § 3(1), redesignated par. (13) as (16). Par. (16)(A)(iv) to (vi). Pub. L. 114–281, § 3(5)(A), added cl. (iv) and redesignated former cls. (iv) and (v) as (v) and (vi), respectively. Par. (16)(B). Pub. L. 114–281, § 3(5)(B), inserted “conscience, non-theistic views, or” after “an individual’s” and “forcibly compelling non-believers or non-theists to recant their beliefs or to convert,” after “forced religious conversion,”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on International Relations of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Foreign Affairs of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 6, One Hundred Tenth Congress, Jan. 5, 2007. Committee on Banking and Financial Services of House of Representatives abolished and replaced by Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred from Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001.

§6402 Definitions