Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act

II 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saudi Educational 4 Transparency and Reform Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 (1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi 8 Arabia for more than 15 years has made incre- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2142 IS mental progress in removing intolerant content in 1 state-published textbooks. 2 (2) Saudi Arabia has committed to educational 3 reforms through its Vision 2030 and National 4 Transformation Program, and is an important part- 5 ner of the United States in combating terrorism and 6 violent extremism. 7 (3) The 2006 ‘‘confirmation of policies’’ nego- 8 tiated by the United States and Saudi Arabia stated 9 that textbooks would be revised within one or two 10 years ‘‘to remove remaining intolerant references 11 that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that pro- 12 mote hatred toward other religions or religious 13 groups’’. 14 (4) According to the Department of State’s Au- 15 gust 2017 International Religious Freedom Report, 16 ‘‘[t]he government continued to distribute revised 17 textbooks, although some intolerant material re- 18 mained in circulation, particularly at the high school 19 level, including content justifying the execution of 20 ‘sorcerers’ ’’ and social exclusion of non-Muslims. 21 (5) Saudi textbooks have been exported inter- 22 nationally, including to countries in the Middle East, 23 Africa, South, Central, and South East Asia, and 24 parts of Europe and North America. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2142 IS (6) The International Religious Freedom Act of 1 1998 requires the President to designate countries 2 in which violations of religious freedom are ‘‘system- 3 atic, ongoing, [and] egregious’’ as countries of par- 4 ticular concern. 5 (7) The President has designated Saudi Arabia 6 as a country of particular concern since 2004, pur- 7 suant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 8 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), and a waiver of fur- 9 ther action has been in place since 2006. 10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 11 It is the sense of Congress that, in spite of some 12 progress, the Government of Saudi Arabia has not yet suf- 13 ficiently met its commitments for eliminating all forms of 14 incitement from its educational materials and curriculum 15 in line with its commitments to combat terrorism and vio- 16 lent extremism. 17 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d), not 19 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 20 this Act and annually thereafter for 10 years within 90 21 days of the start of the new school year in Saudi Arabia, 22 the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 23 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 24 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2142 IS reviewing educational materials published by Saudi Ara- 1 bia’s Ministry of Education that are used in schools both 2 inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at schools 3 throughout the world. 4 (b) CONSULTATION.—Not later than 30 days after 5 the submission of a report under subsection (a), the Sec- 6 retary of State shall consult with the Committee on For- 7 eign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on For- 8 eign Affairs of the House of Representatives on the con- 9 tents of each such report. 10 (c) CONTENTS.—The reports required under sub- 11 section (b) should include the following elements: 12 (1) A detailed determination regarding whether 13 all intolerant content has been removed from edu- 14 cational materials published by Saudi Arabia’s Min- 15 istry of Education that are used in schools both in- 16 side the Saudi Arabia and at schools throughout the 17 world, including full quotations of all passages that 18 could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance 19 towards adherents of religions other than Islam or 20 towards Muslims who hold dissenting views. 21 (2) A detailed assessment of the global expor- 22 tation of such materials, including the extent to 23 which such materials are used in privately funded 24 educational institutions overseas. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2142 IS (3) A detailed summary of actions the Govern- 1 ment of Saudi Arabia has taken to retrieve and de- 2 stroy materials with intolerant material. 3 (4) A detailed assessment of the Government of 4 Saudi Arabia’s efforts to revise teacher manuals and 5 retrain teachers to reflect changes in educational 6 materials and promote tolerance. 7 (5) A detailed determination regarding whether 8 issuing a waiver regarding Saudi Arabia as a coun- 9 try of particular concern under the International Re- 10 ligious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et 11 seq.) furthers the purposes of such Act or is other- 12 wise in the important national security interests of 13 the United States. 14 (d) TERMINATION OR EXTENSION OF REPORTING 15 REQUIREMENT.— 16 (1) TERMINATION BEFORE TEN YEARS.—If at 17 any time after submission of a report required under 18 subsection (a) but before the expiration of the 10- 19 year period referred to in such subsection, the Sec- 20 retary of State determines that intolerant religious 21 content has been removed completely from Saudi 22 Arabia’s education materials, the requirement to 23 submit any remaining reports under such subsection 24 shall not apply. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2142 IS (2) FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION OF REQUIRE- 1 MENT.—If at the end of the 10-year period referred 2 to in subsection (a), the Secretary of State deter- 3 mines that intolerant religious content remains in 4 Saudi Arabia’s education materials, the termination 5 of the requirement to submit reports under such 6 subsection shall not apply and the requirement shall 7 be extended an additional five years. 8 (e) FORM.—Reports under this section shall be sub- 9 mitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classi- 10 fied annex. 11 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY. 12 Not later than 60 days after the submission of an 13 annual report under section 4, the Secretary of State shall 14 make copies of reviewed Saudi educational materials pub- 15 licly available on a website of the Department of State. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS