[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2142 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2142
To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian
educational materials, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 21, 2021
Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian
educational materials, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Saudi Educational Transparency and
Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more
than 15 years has made incremental progress in removing
intolerant content in state-published textbooks.
(2) Saudi Arabia has committed to educational reforms
through its Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program,
and is an important partner of the United States in combating
terrorism and violent extremism.
(3) The 2006 ``confirmation of policies'' negotiated by the
United States and Saudi Arabia stated that textbooks would be
revised within one or two years ``to remove remaining
intolerant references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or
that promote hatred toward other religions or religious
groups''.
(4) According to the Department of State's August 2017
International Religious Freedom Report, ``[t]he government
continued to distribute revised textbooks, although some
intolerant material remained in circulation, particularly at
the high school level, including content justifying the
execution of `sorcerers''' and social exclusion of non-Muslims.
(5) Saudi textbooks have been exported internationally,
including to countries in the Middle East, Africa, South,
Central, and South East Asia, and parts of Europe and North
America.
(6) The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
requires the President to designate countries in which
violations of religious freedom are ``systematic, ongoing,
[and] egregious'' as countries of particular concern.
(7) The President has designated Saudi Arabia as a country
of particular concern since 2004, pursuant to the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), and a
waiver of further action has been in place since 2006.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, in spite of some progress, the
Government of Saudi Arabia has not yet sufficiently met its commitments
for eliminating all forms of incitement from its educational materials
and curriculum in line with its commitments to combat terrorism and
violent extremism.
SEC. 4. REPORTS.
(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (d), not later than 120 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for
10 years within 90 days of the start of the new school year in Saudi
Arabia, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the
House of Representatives a report reviewing educational materials
published by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education that are used in
schools both inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at schools
throughout the world.
(b) Consultation.--Not later than 30 days after the submission of a
report under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall consult with
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on the contents of each
such report.
(c) Contents.--The reports required under subsection (b) should
include the following elements:
(1) A detailed determination regarding whether all
intolerant content has been removed from educational materials
published by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education that are used
in schools both inside the Saudi Arabia and at schools
throughout the world, including full quotations of all passages
that could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance
towards adherents of religions other than Islam or towards
Muslims who hold dissenting views.
(2) A detailed assessment of the global exportation of such
materials, including the extent to which such materials are
used in privately funded educational institutions overseas.
(3) A detailed summary of actions the Government of Saudi
Arabia has taken to retrieve and destroy materials with
intolerant material.
(4) A detailed assessment of the Government of Saudi
Arabia's efforts to revise teacher manuals and retrain teachers
to reflect changes in educational materials and promote
tolerance.
(5) A detailed determination regarding whether issuing a
waiver regarding Saudi Arabia as a country of particular
concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) furthers the purposes of such Act or
is otherwise in the important national security interests of
the United States.
(d) Termination or Extension of Reporting Requirement.--
(1) Termination before ten years.--If at any time after
submission of a report required under subsection (a) but before
the expiration of the 10-year period referred to in such
subsection, the Secretary of State determines that intolerant
religious content has been removed completely from Saudi
Arabia's education materials, the requirement to submit any
remaining reports under such subsection shall not apply.
(2) Five-year extension of requirement.--If at the end of
the 10-year period referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary
of State determines that intolerant religious content remains
in Saudi Arabia's education materials, the termination of the
requirement to submit reports under such subsection shall not
apply and the requirement shall be extended an additional five
years.
(e) Form.--Reports under this section shall be submitted in an
unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex.
SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY.
Not later than 60 days after the submission of an annual report
under section 4, the Secretary of State shall make copies of reviewed
Saudi educational materials publicly available on a website of the
Department of State.
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