Indiana 2023 Regular Session

Indiana Senate Bill SCR0032 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	Introduced Version
2	2	SENATE CONCURRENT
3	3	RESOLUTION No. _____
4	4	DIGEST OF INTRODUCED RESOLUTION
5	5	A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION condemning religious
6	6	persecution worldwide.
7	7	HOLDMAN
8	8	, read first time and referred to Committee on
9	9	2023 RC 1513/DI SM Introduced
10	10	First Regular Session 123rd General Assembly (2023)
11	11	SENATE CONCURRENT
12	12	RESOLUTION No. _____
13	13	1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION condemning religious
14	14	2 persecution worldwide.
15	15	3 Whereas, The International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)
16	16	4 of 1998 declared it to be United States (U.S.) policy to condemn
17	17	5 violations of religious freedom and to promote and assist other
18	18	6 governments in the promotion of the fundamental right to
19	19	7 freedom of religion;
20	20	8 Whereas, In the years following the IRFA, persecution of
21	21	9 members of various religions has continued to persist in
22	22	10 measurable amounts across all habitable continents;
23	23	11 Whereas, Christian converts face public execution in
24	24	12 Somalia, are being stoned for practicing their faith in Kenya,
25	25	13 and over 6,000 were drowned or massacred by the Boko Haram
26	26	14 and Fulani militias with little government intervention in
27	27	15 Nigeria;
28	28	16 Whereas, In Mexico, Nicaragua, and Colombia, Christian
29	29	17 church leaders have been assaulted, threatened, and in some
30	30	18 cases killed by transnational criminal organizations or
31	31	19 paramilitary armed groups attempting to intimidate and silence
32	32	20 them;
33	33	21 Whereas, In China, Buddhists and Hui Muslims face
34	34	22 tightened restrictions and expanding destruction of places of
35	35	23 worship, Christian priests are being murdered for preaching
36	36	24 the Gospel, church belongings are being confiscated and
37	37	25 burned, and members of various religions that are not
38	38	2023 RC 1513/DI SM 2
39	39	1 registered with the government face risks of imprisonment or
40	40	2 torture;
41	41	3 Whereas, In China's Xinjiang province, thousands of
42	42	4 Muslims have been detained for "re-education" or transferred
43	43	5 to forced labor facilities, with the Uighur population in
44	44	6 particular being subject to official harassment, arbitrary
45	45	7 detention, and draconian laws on religious dress;
46	46	8 Whereas, In India, ten of 28 states have laws restricting
47	47	9 religious conversions, hundreds of faith-based
48	48	10 nongovernmental organizations have lost licenses or foreign
49	49	11 funding, and 170 million Muslims live in an environment of
50	50	12 constant local violence without meaningful government
51	51	13 deterrence;
52	52	14 Whereas, North Korea's songbun system classifies citizens
53	53	15 based on their perceived loyalty to the state and places
54	54	16 religious practitioners within the "hostile" class, considering
55	55	17 them enemies of the state and deserving of discrimination,
56	56	18 punishment, isolation, and even execution for practicing their
57	57	19 faith or owning religious materials;
58	58	20 Whereas, In Burma, conditions for ethnoreligious
59	59	21 minorities, including the Muslim Rohingya and Christian Chin,
60	60	22 have been subject to institutionalized discrimination, mass
61	61	23 killings, rapes, government-run internment camps, and are
62	62	24 denied basic rights and dignity to the point that hundreds of
63	63	25 thousands have been forced to flee the country;
64	64	26 Whereas, In the Middle East, the Taliban continue to
65	65	27 persecute religious minorities in Afghanistan, millions of Sunni
66	66	28 Muslim Arabs, Yazidis, and Christians remain in internally
67	67	29 displaced person and refugee camps in Iraq, Christian
68	68	30 churches, villages, hospitals, and schools are being destroyed
69	69	31 by the Islamic government in Sudan, and widespread
70	70	32 Muslim-on-Muslim violence permeates throughout the region
71	71	33 along the Shia-Sunni divide;
72	72	34 Whereas, In Russia, the government continues to persecute
73	73	2023 RC 1513/DI SM 3
74	74	1 religious minorities, including Muslims, Protestants, members
75	75	2 of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Falun Gong, indigenous
76	76	3 religions, and has issued record-breaking prison sentences to
77	77	4 Jehovah's Witnesses for alleged extremism;
78	78	5 Whereas, Religious intolerance remains a serious concern
79	79	6 across Europe, where Muslims and Jews have faced rising
80	80	7 levels of xenophobia and discrimination in eleven countries
81	81	8 including France, England, Poland, Austria, and Germany;
82	82	9 Whereas, Countless members of religious groups have a
83	83	10 history of being oppressed and persecuted by Communist
84	84	11 regimes and are held as prisoners for merely believing in and
85	85	12 worshipping according to their faith;
86	86	13 Whereas, The 2022 U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom
87	87	14 Annual Report requested fifteen countries be designated as
88	88	15 Countries of Particular Concern (CPC): Afghanistan, Burma,
89	89	16 China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan,
90	90	17 Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
91	91	18 Vietnam, and suggested another twelve countries be placed on
92	92	19 the State Department's Special Watch List (SWL);
93	93	20 Whereas, On November 30, 2022, in accordance with
94	94	21 IRFA, the U.S. Secretary of State designated twelve CPCs,
95	95	22 including Burma, People's Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea,
96	96	23 Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nicaragua,
97	97	24 Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan,
98	98	25 and placed Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros,
99	99	26 and Vietnam on the SWL;
100	100	27 Whereas, Although only sixteen countries were placed on
101	101	28 the CPC or SWL in 2022, religious discrimination and
102	102	29 persecution is a global human rights problem that continues to
103	103	30 rise; and
104	104	31 Whereas, The right to religious freedom is a universal right
105	105	32 recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
106	106	33 Therefore,
107	107	2023 RC 1513/DI SM 4
108	108	1 Be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly
109	109	2 of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives
110	110	3 concurring:
111	111	4 SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly condemns
112	112	5 religious persecution and all violations of religious freedom
113	113	6 worldwide.
114	114	7 SECTION 2. That the Indiana General Assembly affirms
115	115	8 that religious freedom is a fundamental right of every individual
116	116	9 that should never be arbitrarily abridged by any government.
117	117	10 SECTION 3. That the Indiana General Assembly urges the
118	118	11 President of the United States and Congress to urge
119	119	12 discriminatory countries to cease their religious persecution and
120	120	13 combat religious persecution carried out by extremist non-state
121	121	14 actors.
122	122	15 SECTION 4. That the Indiana General Assembly urges the
123	123	16 President of the United States and Congress to urge the heads
124	124	17 of state around the world to uphold the right to religious
125	125	18 freedom and condemn the global persecution of any religious
126	126	19 group.
127	127	20 SECTION 5. The Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed
128	128	21 to transmit copies of this Resolution to Tim Overton and each
129	129	22 member of the Indiana congressional delegation.
130	130	2023 RC 1513/DI SM