II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2142 

To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian 

educational materials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 21, 2021 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi 

9 Arabia for more than 15 years has made increVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:35 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2142.IS S2142

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2142 IS

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. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2142 IS

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 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), and a waiver of fur10 ther action has been in place since 2006. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

13 progress, the Government of Saudi Arabia has not yet suf14 ficiently met its commitments for eliminating all forms of 

15 incitement from its educational materials and curriculum 

16 in line with its commitments to combat terrorism and vio17 lent extremism. 

18 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 

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

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

21 this Act and annually thereafter for 10 years within 90 

22 days of the start of the new school year in Saudi Arabia, 

23 the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 

24 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

25 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2142 IS

1 reviewing educational materials published by Saudi Ara2 bia’s Ministry of Education that are used in schools both 

3 inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at schools 

4 throughout the world. 

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

6 the submission of a report under subsection (a), the Sec7 retary of State shall consult with the Committee on For8 eign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on For9 eign Affairs of the House of Representatives on the con10 tents of each such report. 

11 (c) CONTENTS.—The reports required under sub12 section (b) should include the following elements: 

13 (1) A detailed determination regarding whether 

14 all intolerant content has been removed from edu15 cational materials published by Saudi Arabia’s Min16 istry of Education that are used in schools both in17 side the Saudi Arabia and at schools throughout the 

18 world, including full quotations of all passages that 

19 could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance 

20 towards adherents of religions other than Islam or 

21 towards Muslims who hold dissenting views. 

22 (2) A detailed assessment of the global expor23 tation of such materials, including the extent to 

24 which such materials are used in privately funded 

25 educational institutions overseas. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2142 IS

1 (3) A detailed summary of actions the Govern2 ment of Saudi Arabia has taken to retrieve and de3 stroy materials with intolerant material. 

4 (4) A detailed assessment of the Government of 

5 Saudi Arabia’s efforts to revise teacher manuals and 

6 retrain teachers to reflect changes in educational 

7 materials 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 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et 

12 seq.) furthers the purposes of such Act or is other13 wise in the important national security interests of 

14 the United States. 

15 (d) TERMINATION OR EXTENSION OF REPORTING

16 REQUIREMENT.— 

17 (1) TERMINATION BEFORE TEN YEARS.—If at 

18 any time after submission of a report required under 

19 subsection (a) but before the expiration of the 10- 

20 year period referred to in such subsection, the Sec21 retary of State determines that intolerant religious 

22 content has been removed completely from Saudi 

23 Arabia’s education materials, the requirement to 

24 submit any remaining reports under such subsection 

25 shall not apply. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2142 IS

1 (2) FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION OF REQUIRE2 MENT.—If at the end of the 10-year period referred 

3 to in subsection (a), the Secretary of State deter4 mines that intolerant religious content remains in 

5 Saudi Arabia’s education materials, the termination 

6 of the requirement to submit reports under such 

7 subsection shall not apply and the requirement shall 

8 be extended an additional five years. 

9 (e) FORM.—Reports under this section shall be sub10 mitted in an unclassified form, but may contain a classi11 fied annex. 

12 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY. 

13 Not later than 60 days after the submission of an 

14 annual report under section 4, the Secretary of State shall 

15 make copies of reviewed Saudi educational materials pub16 licly available on a website of the Department of State. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS