§ 6442a. Non-state actor designations

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(a)In general The President, concurrent with the annual foreign country review required under section 402(b)(1)(A) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)), shall—

(1)review and identify any non-state actors operating in any such reviewed country or surrounding region that have engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom; and

(2)designate, in a manner consistent with such Act [22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.], each such non-state actor as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom.

(b)Report Whenever the President designates a non-state actor under subsection

(a)as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom, the President, as soon as practicable after the designation is made, shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that describes the reasons for such designation.

(c)Actions The President should take specific actions, when practicable, to address severe violations of religious freedom of non-state actors that are designated under subsection (a)(2).

(d)Department of State annual report The Secretary of State should include information detailing the reasons the President designated a non-state actor as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom under subsection

(a)in the Annual Report required under section 102(b)(1) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)).

(e)Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that—

(1)the Secretary of State should work with Congress and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom—

(A)to create new political, financial, and diplomatic tools to address severe violations of religious freedom by non-state actors; and

(B)to update the actions the President can take under section 405 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6445);

(2)governments must ultimately be held accountable for the abuses that occur in their territories; and

(3)any actions the President takes after designating a non-state actor as an entity of particular concern should also involve high-level diplomacy with the government of the country in which the non-state actor is operating.

(f)Determinations of responsible parties In order to appropriately target Presidential actions under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), the President, with respect to each non-state actor designated as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom under subsection (a), shall seek to determine, to the extent practicable, the specific officials or members that are responsible for the particularly severe violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by such non-state actor.

(g)Definitions In this section, the terms “appropriate congressional committees”, “non-state actor”, and “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” have the meanings given such terms in section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6402), as amended by section 3 of this Act.

(Pub. L. 114–281, title III, § 301, Dec. 16, 2016, 130 Stat. 1433.)

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