Combating International Islamophobia Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3985 To establish in the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 9, 2023 Ms. OMAR (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CARSON, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. WIL- LIAMS of Georgia, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. JACK- SON LEE, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. LEE of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. CHU, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. GREEN of Texas, and Mr. PHILLIPS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3985 IH SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE 1 TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA. 2 Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 3 of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding 4 at the end the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 64. MONITORING AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA. 6 ‘‘(a) OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 7 ISLAMOPHOBIA.— 8 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 9 days after the date of the enactment of this section, 10 the Secretary of State shall establish within the De- 11 partment of State an Office to Monitor and Combat 12 Islamophobia (in this section referred to as the ‘Of- 13 fice’). 14 ‘‘(2) HEAD OF OFFICE.— 15 ‘‘(A) SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MONITORING 16 AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA.—The head of 17 the Office shall be the Special Envoy for Moni- 18 toring and Combating Islamophobia (in this 19 section referred to as the ‘Special Envoy’) who 20 shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. 21 ‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ENVOY.— 22 The Secretary may— 23 ‘‘(i) if considered appropriate by the 24 Secretary, appoint the Special Envoy from 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3985 IH among officers and employees of the De- 1 partment of State; and 2 ‘‘(ii) allow any such officer or em- 3 ployee appointed as Special Envoy to re- 4 tain the position (and the responsibilities 5 associated with such position) held by such 6 officer or employee prior to such appoint- 7 ment. 8 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE OF OFFICE.—The Office shall be re- 9 sponsible for the following: 10 ‘‘(1) Monitoring and combating acts of 11 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that 12 occur in foreign countries. 13 ‘‘(2) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara- 14 tion of that portion of the reports required by sec- 15 tions 116(d)(9) and 502B(k) of the Foreign Assist- 16 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d), 2304(k)) re- 17 lating to an assessment and description of the na- 18 ture and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 19 Islamophobic incitement. 20 ‘‘(3) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara- 21 tion of that portion of the report required by section 22 102(b)(1)(A)(viii) of the International Religious 23 Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 24 6412(b)(1)(A)(viii)) relating to an assessment and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3985 IH description of the nature and extent of acts of 1 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement. 2 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATIONS.—The Special Envoy shall con- 3 sult with domestic and international nongovernmental or- 4 ganizations and multilateral organizations and institu- 5 tions, as the Special Envoy considers appropriate, to carry 6 out this section.’’. 7 SEC. 3. INCLUSION IN DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANNUAL RE- 8 PORTS OF INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS 9 OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 10 (a) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON 11 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.—The Foreign Assistance 12 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended— 13 (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 14 (A) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15 at the end; 16 (B) in paragraph (12), by striking the pe- 17 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 18 (C) by adding at the end the following new 19 paragraph: 20 ‘‘(13) wherever applicable, a description of the 21 nature and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 22 Islamophobic incitement that occurred during the 23 preceding year, including descriptions of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3985 IH ‘‘(A) acts of physical violence against, or 1 harassment of, members of the Muslim commu- 2 nity, and acts of violence against, or vandalism 3 of, Muslim community institutions, including 4 schools, mosques, and cemeteries; 5 ‘‘(B) instances of propaganda in govern- 6 ment and nongovernment media that attempt to 7 justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of 8 violence against members of the Muslim com- 9 munity; 10 ‘‘(C) the actions, if any, taken by the gov- 11 ernment of that country to respond to such vio- 12 lence and attacks or to eliminate such propa- 13 ganda or incitement; 14 ‘‘(D) the actions taken by such government 15 to enact and enforce laws relating to the protec- 16 tion of the right to religious freedom of mem- 17 bers of the Muslim community; and 18 ‘‘(E) the efforts of such government to 19 promote anti-bias and tolerance education.’’; 20 and 21 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by— 22 (A) redesignating the second subsection (i) 23 (relating to child marriage status) as subsection 24 (j); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3985 IH (B) by adding at the end the following new 1 subsection: 2 ‘‘(k) INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS OF 3 ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—The report re- 4 quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 5 a description of the nature and extent of acts of 6 Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occurred 7 during the preceding year, including descriptions of— 8 ‘‘(1) acts of physical violence against, or harass- 9 ment of, members of the Muslim community, and 10 acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 11 community institutions, including schools, mosques, 12 and cemeteries; 13 ‘‘(2) instances of propaganda in government 14 and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or 15 promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence 16 against members of the Muslim community; 17 ‘‘(3) the actions, if any, taken by the govern- 18 ment of that country to respond to such violence and 19 attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or incite- 20 ment; 21 ‘‘(4) the actions taken by such government to 22 enact and enforce laws relating to the protection of 23 the right to religious freedom of members of the 24 Muslim community; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3985 IH ‘‘(5) the efforts of such government to promote 1 anti-bias and tolerance education.’’. 2 (b) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL REPORT ON INTER- 3 NATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.—Section 102(b)(1)(A) 4 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 5 U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 6 (1) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (2) in clause (vii)(II), by striking the period at 8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following new 10 clause: 11 ‘‘(viii) wherever applicable, an assess- 12 ment and description of the nature and ex- 13 tent of acts of Islamophobia and 14 Islamophobic incitement that occurred in 15 that country during the preceding the year, 16 including— 17 ‘‘(I) acts of physical violence 18 against, or harassment of, members of 19 the Muslim community, acts of vio- 20 lence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 21 community institutions, instances of 22 propaganda in government and non- 23 government media that incite such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3985 IH acts, and statements and actions re- 1 lating thereto; and 2 ‘‘(II) the actions taken by the 3 government of that country to re- 4 spond to such violence and attacks or 5 to eliminate such propaganda or in- 6 citement, to enact and enforce laws 7 relating to the protection of the right 8 to religious freedom of members of 9 the Muslim community, and to pro- 10 mote anti-bias and tolerance edu- 11 cation.’’. 12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF INCLUSIONS.—The amend- 13 ments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply on the 14 date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 15 this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3985.IH H3985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS