I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4549 

To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian 

educational materials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 5, 2017 

Mr. POE of Texas (for himself and Mr. KEATING) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi 

Arabian educational materials, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Saudi Educational 

5 Transparency and Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi 

9 Arabia for more than 15 years has made increVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Dec 12, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.IH H4549

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1 mental progress in removing intolerant content in 

2 state-published textbooks. 

3 (2) Saudi Arabia has committed to educational 

4 reforms through its Vision 2030 and National 

5 Transformation Program, and is an important part6 ner of the United States in combating terrorism and 

7 violent extremism. 

8 (3) The 2006 ‘‘confirmation of policies’’ nego9 tiated by the United States and Saudi Arabia stated 

10 that textbooks would be revised within one or two 

11 years ‘‘to remove remaining intolerant references 

12 that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that pro13 mote hatred toward other religions or religious 

14 groups.’’. 

15 (4) According to the Department of State’s Au16 gust 2017 International Religious Freedom Report, 

17 ‘‘[t]he government continued to distribute revised 

18 textbooks, although some intolerant material re19 mained in circulation, particularly at the high school 

20 level, including content justifying the execution of 

21 ‘sorcerers’ ’’ and social exclusion of non-Muslims. 

22 (5) Saudi textbooks have been exported inter23 nationally, including to countries in the Middle East, 

24 Africa, South, Central, and South East Asia, and 

25 parts of Europe and North America. 


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1 (6) The International Religious Freedom Act of 

2 1998 requires the President to designate countries 

3 in which violations of religious freedom are ‘‘system4 atic, ongoing, [and] egregious’’ as countries of par5 ticular concern. 

6 (7) The President has designated Saudi Arabia 

7 as a country of particular concern since 2004, pur8 suant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 

9 1998, and a waiver of further action has been in 

10 place since 2006. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that, in spite of some 

13 progress, Saudi Arabia has not yet sufficiently met its 

14 commitments for eliminating all forms of incitement from 

15 its educational materials and curriculum in line with its 

16 commitments to combat terrorism and violent extremism. 

17 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d), not 

19 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act and every year thereafter within 90 days of the 

21 start of the new school year in Saudi Arabia for the next 

22 ten years, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Com23 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

24 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 

25 a report reviewing educational materials published by 


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1 Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education that are used in 

2 schools both inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at 

3 schools throughout the world. 

4 (b) CONSULTATION.—Not later than 30 days after 

5 the submission of a report under subsection (a), the Sec6 retary of State shall consult with the Committee on For7 eign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Com8 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on the contents 

9 of each such report. 

10 (c) CONTENTS.—The reports required under sub11 section (b) should include the following: 

12 (1) A detailed determination regarding whether 

13 all intolerant content has been removed from edu14 cational materials published by Saudi Arabia’s Min15 istry of Education that are used in schools both in16 side the Saudi Arabia and at schools throughout the 

17 world, including full quotations of all passages that 

18 could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance 

19 towards adherents of religions other than Islam or 

20 towards Muslims who hold dissenting views. 

21 (2) A detailed assessment of the global expor22 tation of such materials, including the extent to 

23 which such materials are used in privately funded 

24 educational institutions overseas. 


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1 (3) A detailed summary of actions the Saudi 

2 Government has taken to retrieve and destroy mate3 rials with intolerant material. 

4 (4) A detailed assessment of the Saudi Govern5 ment’s efforts to revise teacher manuals and retrain 

6 teachers to reflect changes in educational materials 

7 and promote tolerance. 

8 (5) A detailed determination regarding whether 

9 issuing a waiver regarding Saudi Arabia as a coun10 try of particular concern under the International Re11 ligious Freedom Act of 1998 furthers the purposes 

12 of such Act or is otherwise in the important national 

13 security interests of the United States. 

14 (d) TERMINATION.— 

15 (1) BEFORE TEN YEARS.—If at any time after 

16 submission of a report required under subsection (a) 

17 but before the expiration of the 10-year period re18 ferred to in such subsection, the Secretary of State 

19 determines that intolerant religious content has been 

20 removed completely from Saudi Arabia’s education 

21 materials, the requirement to submit any remaining 

22 reports under such subsection shall not apply. 

23 (2) AT TEN YEARS.—If at the end of the 10- 

24 year period referred to in subsection (a), the Sec25 retary of State determines that intolerant religious 


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1 content remains in Saudi Arabia’s education mate2 rials, the termination of the requirement to submit 

3 reports under such subsection shall not apply and 

4 such reports shall be submitted for a further five 

5 years. 

6 (e) FORM.—Reports under this section shall be sub7 mitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classi8 fied annex. 

9 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY. 

10 Not later than 60 days after the submission of the 

11 annual reports required under section 4, the Secretary of 

12 State shall make copies of reviewed Saudi educational ma13 terials publicly available on a website of the Department 

14 of State. 

Æ 


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