III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 52
Recognizing religious freedom as a fundamental right, expressing support
for international religious freedom as a cornerstone of United States
foreign policy, and expressing concern over increased threats to and
attacks on religious freedom around the world.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. KAINE) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
RESOLUTION
Recognizing religious freedom as a fundamental right, ex-
pressing support for international religious freedom as
a cornerstone of United States foreign policy, and ex-
pressing concern over increased threats to and attacks
on religious freedom around the world.
Whereas freedom of religion is a fundamental right;
Whereas the First Amendment of the Constitution stipulates
that ‘‘Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof’’;
Whereas, in pushing for religious freedom in the Common-
wealth of Virginia, James Madison argued that the right
to freedom of religion ‘‘is precedent, both in order of time
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•SRES 52 IS
and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Soci-
ety’’;
Whereas freedom of religion is a foundational element of de-
mocracy, human rights, and the rule of law in the United
States and abroad, as well as a guiding principle for
United States foreign policy;
Whereas Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declara-
tion of Human Rights states ‘‘Everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right in-
cludes freedom to change his religion or belief, and free-
dom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship, and observance’’;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom stipulates that ‘‘freedom of religion or be-
lief is an expansive right that includes the freedoms of
thought, conscience, expression, association, and assem-
bly’’;
Whereas the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) recognizes religious freedom as
a ‘‘universal human right’’;
Whereas the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) requires the President to annu-
ally designate as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’ each
country the government of which has engaged in or toler-
ated ‘‘particularly severe’’ religious freedom violations, in-
cluding—
(1) systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations
such as torture;
(2) cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or pun-
ishment;
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(3) prolonged detention without charges; and
(4) forced disappearances;
Whereas, on December 29, 2023, the State Department des-
ignated Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba,
Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan,
and Turkmenistan as countries of particular concern;
Whereas the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom
Act (Public Law 114–281;130 Stat. 1426) requires the
President to annually designate countries with severe reli-
gious freedom violations that do not reach the threshold
of ‘‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious’’ violations to a
‘‘Special Watch List’’;
Whereas, on December 29, 2023, the State Department des-
ignated Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African Repub-
lic, Comoros, and Vietnam as Special Watch List coun-
tries;
Whereas, to enhance accountability for global human rights
violations, including violations of religious freedom, Presi-
dent Joseph R. Biden signed the permanent authoriza-
tion of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Account-
ability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note) into law on April 8,
2022;
Whereas the Senate passed a resolution calling for the global
repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws in 2020
(Senate Resolution 458, 116th Congress, agreed to De-
cember 19, 2020);
Whereas, in 2023 and 2024, threats to religious freedom
worsened around the world, including incidents targeting
the exercise of religion in public or private, participation
in religious advocacy, conversion from one religion to an-
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other, engagement in religious practices broadly, and
those choosing to have no faith at all;
Whereas there were thousands of incidents wherein religious
freedom was violated in 2023, including—
(1) the targeting of 2,228 individuals by 27 coun-
tries and entities;
(2) the imprisonment of 1,491 individuals;
(3) the ongoing imprisonment of 1,311 individuals;
and
(4) the death of 9 individuals while in custody;
Whereas, as of 2024, there are 96 countries with legislation
criminalizing blasphemy used to enforce arbitrary limita-
tions on religious freedom of expression;
Whereas the Department of State has determined that reli-
gious minorities continue to be victims of genocides that
relate to matters of religious freedom, including in—
(1) Burma, where security forces have committed
crimes against humanity and genocide against Rohingya
Muslims since 2017, including the systematic killing, tor-
ture, and confinement of Rohingyas to small, over-
crowded camps without freedom of movement or access
to adequate food, health care, and education; and
(2) China, where since 2017 the Chinese government
has committed crimes against humanity and genocide
against Uyghurs, including by—
(A) imprisoning more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs
in ‘‘re-education camps’’;
(B) subjecting Uyghur women to forced steri-
lizations and abortions;
(C) deliberately separating Uyghur families;
(D) instituting government surveillance through
intrusive homestay programs; and
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(E) eliminating the Uyghur language from edu-
cational materials;
Whereas religious minorities face harassment, intimidation,
violence, and imprisonment from state and non-state ac-
tors around the world, including in—
(1) Afghanistan, where the Taliban has rigorously
enforced its harsh interpretation of Shari’a law that vio-
lates the freedom of religion or belief of religious minori-
ties, including Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Baha’is,
and nonbelievers who face imprisonment or death if dis-
covered;
(2) Burma, where in addition to violence targeted at
religious minorities, strict laws in favor of the Buddhist
majority regulate religious conversion, marriages, and
births of non-Buddhists such as Muslims and Christians;
(3) China, where the government utilizes targeted
surveillance to monitor, harass, and detain Christians,
Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghur
Muslims, and other religious minorities for exercising
their beliefs;
(4) Cuba, where the government subjects religious
leaders and groups that are unregistered through its Of-
fice of Religious Affairs to detention, interrogation, im-
prisonment, and confiscation of property;
(5) India, where laws promoting religiously discrimi-
natory policies, including laws that target religious con-
version, interfaith relationships, the wearing of hijabs,
and cow slaughter, have been implemented at the na-
tional, state, and local levels and negatively impact the
livelihoods of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and
Adivasis;
(6) Iran, where the government disproportionately
subjects members of religious minorities such as Baha’is,
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Christians, Gonabadi Dervishes, and Sunni Muslims to
amputations, floggings, detention, harassment, surveil-
lance, executions, and exile;
(7) Nicaragua, where the government arbitrarily de-
tains and exiles religious clerics and leaders who advocate
for the rights of religious minorities and criticize the gov-
ernment’s persecution of the Roman Catholic Church;
(8) Nigeria, where the government’s enforcement of
blasphemy laws embedded in Nigeria’s criminal and
Shari’a codes results in the arbitrary detainment and im-
prisonment of those who express their religious identity;
(9) North Korea, where any religion contrary to the
ruling ideology known as Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism is
deemed an existential threat to the state;
(10) Pakistan, where religious minorities face
killings, lynchings, mob violence, forced conversions, and
sexual violence for their religious identities;
(11) Russia, where laws on terrorism and extremism
are used to target religious minorities such as Jehovah’s
Witnesses, Muslims, and members of the Ukrainian
Greek-Catholic Church for their beliefs;
(12) Tajikistan, where the government represses the
display of public religiosity by individuals of all faiths
and institutes strict restrictions against Muslims, includ-
ing a ban on beards and hijabs;
(13) Turkmenistan, where the government controls
all aspects of religious life and expression, monitors reli-
gious practice, and punishes nonconformity through ad-
ministrative harassment, imprisonment, and torture; and
(14) Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, where the
Russian military has reportedly perpetrated at least 43
cases of targeted persecution of the clergy and more than
109 acts pressuring churches and religious figures rep-
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resenting Orthodox Christians, Ukrainian Greek-Catho-
lics, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Jeho-
vah’s Witnesses since the launch of its full-scale invasion
in February 2022;
Whereas violent extremists and non-state actors continue to
capitalize upon violence and instability in countries to
perpetrate serious human rights violations against reli-
gious minorities, including in—
(1) Latin America, where criminal gangs and para-
military groups threaten and displace indigenous commu-
nities, destroy places of worship, and forcibly require con-
version or renunciation of ancestral practices;
(2) Nigeria, where violent, non-state militant groups
such as Boko Haram target Christians, as well as per-
sons engaged in ‘‘un-Islamic’’ activities, including Muslim
critics and elders;
(3) the Sahel region of Africa, where violent extrem-
ist organizations threaten violence against Christians who
do not convert to Islam;
(4) Syria, where violent extremist organizations re-
strict the religious freedom of non-confirming Sunni Mus-
lims and threaten the property, safety, and existence of
religious minority groups such as Alawites, Christians,
and Druze; and
(5) Yemen, where the Houthi rebels harass, defame,
and incite hatred against vulnerable faith communities
including the Christians, Baha’is, Jews, and non-religious
persons who continue to be forced to flee to the south of
the country or leave Yemen entirely; and
Whereas religious sites continue to be damaged or destroyed,
especially in areas of conflict, including in—
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(1) Burma, where the military junta has destroyed
approximately 200 houses of worship and religious sites
such as Buddhist monasteries, churches, and mosques,
and has occupied religious compounds for use as military
bases;
(2) China, where the government has destroyed
mosques, shrines, gravesites, and other religious and cul-
tural sites throughout Xinjiang and the country;
(3) Ethiopia, where ongoing violence between the
government and non-state actors has led to drone strikes
and attacks on church compounds such as the Full Gos-
pel Church in the Oromiya region in which 8 people were
killed;
(4) India, where places of worship such as Christian
churches and Muslim madrasas continue to be destroyed,
especially those in predominantly Christian and Muslim
neighborhoods;
(5) Nigeria, where violent, non-state groups, such as
Boko Haram, attack population centers and religious tar-
gets, including churches and mosques;
(6) Sudan, where members of the Rapid Support
Forces attacked a Coptic Christian monastery and raided
the Sudanese Episcopal Church in Khartoum, using both
as bases for military operations; and
(7) Ukraine, where over 600 religious buildings have
been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s full-scale inva-
sion of the country began in February 2022: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate— 1
(1) recognizes religious freedom as a funda-2
mental human right; 3
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(2) recognizes the critical importance of reli-1
gious freedom in— 2
(A) supporting democracy, good govern-3
ance, and the rule of law; 4
(B) encouraging pluralism and robust po-5
litical participation; and 6
(C) fostering global stability and peace; 7
(3) expresses grave concern over threats to reli-8
gious freedom around the world, such as through 9
harassment, violence, and imprisonment; 10
(4) condemns all efforts to suppress religious 11
freedom, including through the criminalization of— 12
(A) religious exercise in public or private; 13
(B) the choice to have no faith; 14
(C) conversion from one religion to an-15
other; 16
(D) advocacy for religious freedom; 17
(E) sharing and spreading religious mes-18
sages and educational materials; and 19
(F) construction and maintenance of reli-20
gious holy sites; 21
(5) supports the invaluable work of religious 22
freedom advocates in fighting for greater religious 23
freedom around the world; and 24
(6) urges the Department of State to— 25
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(A) continue robust bilateral and multilat-1
eral engagement with allies and partners on re-2
ligious freedom; 3
(B) maintain and expand support for 4
human rights activists, journalists, and civil so-5
ciety leaders working to protect religious free-6
dom in countries of particular concern and Spe-7
cial Watch List countries; 8
(C) leverage all diplomatic and sanctions 9
tools available to the United States Government 10
to hold religious freedom violators accountable 11
for their actions, including those authorized by 12
the International Religious Freedom Act of 13
1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.); 14
(D) continue to impose sanctions on those 15
responsible for violations of religious freedom 16
pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human 17
Rights Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note); 18
(E) consider human rights abuses and reli-19
gious freedom violations in prioritizing partners 20
for free trade agreements; and 21
(F) promote religious freedom as an ut-22
most priority for the United States in imple-23
mentation of United States foreign policy. 24
Æ
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