Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 357 To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian educational materials, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For- eign 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 finds the following: 7 (1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi 8 Arabia for more than 15 years has made incre- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 357 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 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 357 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, and a waiver of further action has been in 9 place since 2006. 10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 11 It is the sense of Congress that, in spite of some 12 progress, Saudi Arabia has not yet sufficiently met its 13 commitments for eliminating all forms of incitement from 14 its educational materials and curriculum in line with its 15 commitments to combat terrorism and violent extremism. 16 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d), not 18 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 19 this Act and every year thereafter within 90 days of the 20 start of the new school year in Saudi Arabia for the next 21 ten years, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Com- 22 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 23 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 24 a report reviewing educational materials published by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 357 IS Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education that are used in 1 schools both inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at 2 schools throughout the world. 3 (b) CONSULTATION.—Not later than 30 days after 4 the submission of a report under subsection (a), the Sec- 5 retary of State shall consult with the Committee on For- 6 eign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Com- 7 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on the contents 8 of each such report. 9 (c) CONTENTS.—The reports required under sub- 10 section (b) should include the following: 11 (1) A detailed determination regarding whether 12 all intolerant content has been removed from edu- 13 cational materials published by Saudi Arabia’s Min- 14 istry of Education that are used in schools both in- 15 side the Saudi Arabia and at schools throughout the 16 world, including full quotations of all passages that 17 could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance 18 towards adherents of religions other than Islam or 19 towards Muslims who hold dissenting views. 20 (2) A detailed assessment of the global expor- 21 tation of such materials, including the extent to 22 which such materials are used in privately funded 23 educational institutions overseas. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 357 IS (3) A detailed summary of actions the Saudi 1 Government has taken to retrieve and destroy mate- 2 rials with intolerant material. 3 (4) A detailed assessment of the Saudi Govern- 4 ment’s efforts to revise teacher manuals and retrain 5 teachers to reflect changes in educational materials 6 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 furthers the purposes 11 of such Act or is otherwise in the important national 12 security interests of the United States. 13 (d) TERMINATION.— 14 (1) BEFORE TEN YEARS.—If at any time after 15 submission of a report required under subsection (a) 16 but before the expiration of the 10-year period re- 17 ferred to in such subsection, the Secretary of State 18 determines that intolerant religious content has been 19 removed completely from Saudi Arabia’s education 20 materials, the requirement to submit any remaining 21 reports under such subsection shall not apply. 22 (2) AT TEN YEARS.—If at the end of the 10- 23 year period referred to in subsection (a), the Sec- 24 retary of State determines that intolerant religious 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 357 IS content remains in Saudi Arabia’s education mate- 1 rials, the termination of the requirement to submit 2 reports under such subsection shall not apply and 3 such reports shall be submitted for a further five 4 years. 5 (e) FORM.—Reports under this section shall be sub- 6 mitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classi- 7 fied annex. 8 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY. 9 Not later than 60 days after the submission of the 10 annual reports required under section 4, the Secretary of 11 State shall make copies of reviewed Saudi educational ma- 12 terials publicly available on a website of the Department 13 of State. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS