Combating International Islamophobia Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1916 To establish in the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2023 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To establish in the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, 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 ‘‘Combating Inter- 4 national Islamophobia Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE 6 TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA. 7 Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 8 of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding 9 at the end the following new section: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1916 IS ‘‘SEC. 64. MONITORING AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA. 1 ‘‘(a) OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 2 ISLAMOPHOBIA.— 3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 4 days after the date of the enactment of this section, 5 the Secretary of State shall establish within the De- 6 partment of State an Office to Monitor and Combat 7 Islamophobia (in this section referred to as the ‘Of- 8 fice’). 9 ‘‘(2) HEAD OF OFFICE.— 10 ‘‘(A) SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MONITORING 11 AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA.—The head of 12 the Office shall be the Special Envoy for Moni- 13 toring and Combating Islamophobia (in this 14 section referred to as the ‘Special Envoy’) who 15 shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. 16 ‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ENVOY.— 17 The Secretary may— 18 ‘‘(i) if considered appropriate by the 19 Secretary, appoint the Special Envoy from 20 among officers and employees of the De- 21 partment of State; and 22 ‘‘(ii) allow any such officer or em- 23 ployee appointed as Special Envoy to re- 24 tain the position (and the responsibilities 25 associated with such position) held by such 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1916 IS officer or employee prior to such appoint- 1 ment. 2 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE OF OFFICE.—The Office shall be re- 3 sponsible for the following: 4 ‘‘(1) Monitoring and combating acts of 5 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that 6 occur in foreign countries. 7 ‘‘(2) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara- 8 tion of that portion of the reports required by sec- 9 tions 116(d)(9) and 502B(k) of the Foreign Assist- 10 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d), 2304(k)) re- 11 lating to an assessment and description of the na- 12 ture and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 13 Islamophobic incitement. 14 ‘‘(3) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara- 15 tion of that portion of the report required by section 16 102(b)(1)(A)(viii) of the International Religious 17 Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 18 6412(b)(1)(A)(viii)) relating to an assessment and 19 description of the nature and extent of acts of 20 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement. 21 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATIONS.—The Special Envoy shall con- 22 sult with domestic and international nongovernmental or- 23 ganizations and multilateral organizations and institu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1916 IS tions, as the Special Envoy considers appropriate, to carry 1 out this section.’’. 2 SEC. 3. INCLUSION IN DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANNUAL RE- 3 PORTS OF INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS 4 OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 5 (a) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON 6 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.—The Foreign Assistance 7 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 9 (A) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ 10 at the end; 11 (B) in paragraph (12), by striking the pe- 12 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (C) by adding at the end the following new 14 paragraph: 15 ‘‘(13) wherever applicable, a description of the 16 nature and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 17 Islamophobic incitement that occurred during the 18 preceding year, including descriptions of— 19 ‘‘(A) acts of physical violence against, or 20 harassment of, members of the Muslim commu- 21 nity, and acts of violence against, or vandalism 22 of, Muslim community institutions, including 23 schools, mosques, and cemeteries; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1916 IS ‘‘(B) instances of propaganda in govern- 1 ment and nongovernment media that attempt to 2 justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of 3 violence against members of the Muslim com- 4 munity; 5 ‘‘(C) the actions, if any, taken by the gov- 6 ernment of that country to respond to such vio- 7 lence and attacks or to eliminate such propa- 8 ganda or incitement; 9 ‘‘(D) the actions taken by such government 10 to enact and enforce laws relating to the protec- 11 tion of the right to religious freedom of mem- 12 bers of the Muslim community; and 13 ‘‘(E) the efforts of such government to 14 promote anti-bias and tolerance education.’’; 15 and 16 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by— 17 (A) redesignating the second subsection (i) 18 (relating to child marriage status) as subsection 19 (j); and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following new 21 subsection: 22 ‘‘(k) INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS OF 23 ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—The report re- 24 quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1916 IS a description of the nature and extent of acts of 1 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occurred 2 during the preceding year, including descriptions of— 3 ‘‘(1) acts of physical violence against, or harass- 4 ment of, members of the Muslim community, and 5 acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 6 community institutions, including schools, mosques, 7 and cemeteries; 8 ‘‘(2) instances of propaganda in government 9 and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or 10 promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence 11 against members of the Muslim community; 12 ‘‘(3) the actions, if any, taken by the govern- 13 ment of that country to respond to such violence and 14 attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or incite- 15 ment; 16 ‘‘(4) the actions taken by such government to 17 enact and enforce laws relating to the protection of 18 the right to religious freedom of members of the 19 Muslim community; and 20 ‘‘(5) the efforts of such government to promote 21 anti-bias and tolerance education.’’. 22 (b) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL REPORT ON INTER- 23 NATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.—Section 102(b)(1)(A) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1916 IS of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 1 U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 2 (1) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 3 (2) in clause (vii)(II), by striking the period at 4 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (3) by adding at the end the following new 6 clause: 7 ‘‘(viii) wherever applicable, an assess- 8 ment and description of the nature and ex- 9 tent of acts of Islamophobia and 10 Islamophobic incitement that occurred in 11 that country during the preceding the year, 12 including— 13 ‘‘(I) acts of physical violence 14 against, or harassment of, members of 15 the Muslim community, acts of vio- 16 lence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 17 community institutions, instances of 18 propaganda in government and non- 19 government media that incite such 20 acts, and statements and actions re- 21 lating thereto; and 22 ‘‘(II) the actions taken by the 23 government of that country to re- 24 spond to such violence and attacks or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1916 IS to eliminate such propaganda or in- 1 citement, to enact and enforce laws 2 relating to the protection of the right 3 to religious freedom of members of 4 the Muslim community, and to pro- 5 mote anti-bias and tolerance edu- 6 cation.’’. 7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF INCLUSIONS.—The amend- 8 ments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply on the 9 date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 10 this Act. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1916.IS S1916 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS