II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1245 

To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to Promote Religious 

Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2011 

Mr. BLUNT (for himself and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to 

Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in 

the Near East and South Central Asia. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Near East and South 

5 Central Asia Religious Freedom Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPECIAL ENVOY TO PROMOTE RELIGIOUS FREE7 DOM OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN THE 

8 NEAR EAST AND SOUTH CENTRAL ASIA. 

9 (a) APPOINTMENT.—The President may appoint a 

10 Special Envoy To Promote Religious Freedom of Religious 


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1 Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia (in 

2 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Special Envoy’’) within the 

3 Department of State. The Special Envoy shall have the 

4 rank of ambassador and shall hold the office at the pleas5 ure of the President. 

6 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Special Envoy should be 

7 a person of recognized distinction in the field of human 

8 rights and religious freedom. 

9 SEC. 3. DUTIES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Special Envoy shall carry out 

11 the following duties: 

12 (1) Promoting the right of religious freedom of 

13 religious minorities in the countries of the Near 

14 East and the countries of South Central Asia, de15 nouncing the violation of such right, and recom16 mending appropriate responses by the United States 

17 Government when such right is violated. 

18 (2) Monitoring and combating acts of religious 

19 intolerance and incitement targeted against religious 

20 minorities in the countries of the Near East and the 

21 countries of South Central Asia. 

22 (3) Working to ensure that the unique needs of 

23 religious minority communities in the countries of 

24 the Near East and the countries of South Central 


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1 Asia are addressed, including the economic and secu2 rity needs of such communities. 

3 (4) Working with foreign governments of the 

4 countries of the Near East and the countries of 

5 South Central Asia to address laws that are dis6 criminatory toward religious minority communities 

7 in such countries. 

8 (5) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara9 tion of that portion of the report required by sec10 tions 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance 

11 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d) and 2304(b)) re12 lating to the nature and extent of religious freedom 

13 of religious minorities in the countries of the Near 

14 East and the countries of South Central Asia. 

15 (6) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara16 tion of that portion of the report required by section 

17 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act 

18 of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6412(b)) relating to the nature 

19 and extent of religious freedom of religious minori20 ties in the countries of the Near East and the coun21 tries of South Central Asia. 

22 (b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the duties 

23 under subsection (a), the Special Envoy shall, to the max24 imum extent practicable, coordinate with the Assistant 

25 Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and MigraVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:11 Jun 30, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1245.IS S1245

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1 tion, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious 

2 Freedom, the United States Commission on International 

3 Religious Freedom, and other relevant Federal agencies 

4 and officials. 

5 SEC. 4. DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION. 

6 Subject to the direction of the President and the Sec7 retary of State, the Special Envoy is authorized to rep8 resent the United States in matters and cases relevant to 

9 religious freedom in the countries of the Near East and 

10 the countries of South Central Asia in— 

11 (1) contacts with foreign governments, intergov12 ernmental organizations, and specialized agencies of 

13 the United Nations, the Organization of Security 

14 and Cooperation in Europe, and other international 

15 organizations of which the United States is a mem16 ber; and 

17 (2) multilateral conferences and meetings rel18 evant to religious freedom in the countries of the 

19 Near East and the countries of South Central Asia. 

20 SEC. 5. CONSULTATIONS. 

21 The Special Envoy shall consult with domestic and 

22 international nongovernmental organizations and multilat23 eral organizations and institutions, as the Special Envoy 

24 considers appropriate to fulfill the purposes of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

2 Of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made 

3 available to the Secretary of State for ‘‘Diplomatic and 

4 Consular Programs’’ for fiscal years 2011 through 2015, 

5 the Secretary of State is authorized to provide to the Spe6 cial Envoy $1,000,000 for each such fiscal year for the 

7 hiring of staff, the conduct of investigations, and nec8 essary travel to carry out the provisions of this Act. 

9 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act— 

11 (1) the term ‘‘countries of the Near East’’— 

12 (A) means Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, 

13 Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, 

14 Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, 

15 Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen; 

16 and 

17 (B) includes the West Bank and Gaza; and 

18 (2) the term ‘‘countries of South Central Asia’’ 

19 means Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, 

20 Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, 

21 Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbek22 istan. 

Æ 


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