Sec. 234. VOICE OF AMERICA BROADCASTS IN KURDISH
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## SEC. 234 VOICE OF AMERICA BROADCASTS IN KURDISH ###
(a)Findings The Congress finds that— ####
(1)more than 20 million Kurds have no source of reliable and accurate news and information in their own language; ####
(2)the Kurdish people have been subject to extreme repression, including the denial of fundamental cultural and human rights, the extensive destruction of villages, and the mass killing of Kurds by the Iraqi regime; and ####
(3)the Voice of America provides an effective means by which the Kurdish people may be informed of events in the free world and pertaining to their own situation. ###
(b)Broadcasts in Kurdish As soon as practicable, but not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the United States Information Agency shall establish, through the Voice of America, a service to provide Kurdish language programming to the Kurdish people. Consistent with the mission and practice of the Voice of America, these broadcasts in Kurdish shall include news and information on events that affect the Kurdish people. ###
(c)Amount of Programming As soon as practicable but not later than one year after enactment, the Voice of America Kurdish language programming pursuant to this section shall be broadcast for not less than 1 hour each day. ###
(d)Plan for a Kurdish Language Service Not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, the Director of the United States Information Agency shall submit to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report on progress made toward implementation of this section. ###
(e)Hire of Kurdish Language Speakers In order to expedite the commencement of Kurdish language broadcasts, the Director of the United States Information Agency is authorized to hire, subject to the availability of appropriations, Kurdish language speakers on a contract not to exceed one year without regard to competitive and other procedures that might delay such hiring. ###
(f)Surrogate Home Service Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Board for International Broadcasting shall submit to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a plan, together with a detailed budget, for the establishment of a surrogate home service under the auspices of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for the Kurdish people. Such surrogate home service for the Kurdish people shall broadcast not less than 2 hours a day.