After almost 20 years, a landmark religious freedom bill may finally be getting a big upgrade.
And it wouldn’t come too soon, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.),
co-sponsor of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act.
“From China and Vietnam to Syria and Nigeria, we are witnessing a
tragic, global crisis in religious persecution, violence and terrorism,
with dire consequences for religious believers and for U.S. national
security,” he said.
“Ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria are on the verge of
extinction, and other religious minorities in the Middle East face a
constant assault from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”
The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act passed the
House on Tuesday afternoon and will be heading to the president’s desk
to be signed. It is bipartisan, with Rep. Smith, chair of the House
Global Human Rights subcommittee, and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) as the
co-sponsors.
The legislation upgrades the original 1998 International Religious
Freedom Act, which helped make promotion of religious freedom a larger
part of stated U.S. foreign policy.
Former Congressman Frank Wolf – “a tireless champion for the rights
of the poor and the persecuted globally,” Rep. Smith called him –
sponsored that bill, and is now honored in the new one.
“18 years ago, he had the foresight to make advancing the right to
religious freedom a high U.S. foreign policy priority. It is largely
because of his efforts that religious freedom is taken seriously as a
foreign policy issue,” Rep. Smith said.
The original law created the office of Ambassador at-Large for
International Religious Freedom at the State Department to push other
countries to honor freedom of religion, and monitor human rights abuses
that are related to religious freedom. The new bill ensures that the
ambassador reports directly to the Secretary of State.
The State Department since then has also published an annual report
on the state of religious freedom by country. It deems certain countries
“countries of particular concern,” (CPC) where the worst abuses of
religious freedom are perpetrated by the government or without the
government stopping them.
The new bill adds to this CPC list, creating a lower-tier “Special
Watch List” for countries with poor records on respecting religious
freedom.
Also, given that recent reports have emphasized the rise of
“non-state actors” like terrorist groups, they get a special designation
“Entity of Particular Concern.”
The new bill also mandates creation of a “comprehensive religious prisoners list.”
Globally, the state of religious freedom is dire and deserves special
attention by the U.S., Rep. Smith insisted. “The freedom to practice a
religion without persecution is a precious right for everyone, of
whatever race, sex, or location on earth,” he said.
“This human right is enshrined in our own founding documents, in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has been a bedrock principle
of open and democratic societies for centuries.”