I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3194 
To protect and promote international religious freedom. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 23, 2015 
Mr. ELLISON (for himself and Mr. CICILLINE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To protect and promote international religious freedom. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Further Independence 
of Religion for Security and Tolerance Freedom Act of 
2015’’ or the ‘‘FIRST Freedom Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Many of our Nation’s founders fled religious 
persecution and placed great importance on religious 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
freedom. President George Washington summed up 
the prevailing view of our founders when he wrote, 
in 1793, ‘‘in this Land of equal liberty it is our 
boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit 
the protection of the Laws’’. 
(2) In 1791, the First Amendment to the Con-
stitution was ratified, enshrining freedom of religion 
as the ‘‘First Freedom’’ of all Americans and becom-
ing an inspiration to people all over the world who 
struggle to throw off the yoke of religious persecu-
tion. 
(3) Throughout our Nation’s history, the 
United States has sought to protect and promote 
fundamental human rights, including religious free-
dom, in the United States and throughout the world. 
(4) After World War II, under Eleanor Roo-
sevelt’s leadership, the United States spearheaded 
the ratification of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights, adopted at Paris December 10, 
1948, which recognized freedom of religion as a fun-
damental right of all people. Article 18 of that trea-
ty states ‘‘Everyone has the right to freedom of 
thought, conscience and religion; this right includes 
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom 
either alone or in community with others and in 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in 
teaching, practice, worship and observance.’’. 
(5) The International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights, adopted at New York December 16, 
1966, and which was ratified by the United States 
in 1992, states, ‘‘Everyone shall have the right to 
freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This 
right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a re-
ligion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either in-
dividually or in community with others and in public 
or private, to manifest his religion or belief in wor-
ship, observance, practice and teaching.’’. 
(6) Since the enactment of the International 
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105– 
292), referred to in this section as ‘‘IRFA’’, which 
established the Department of State’s Office on 
International Religious Freedom, the Ambassador at 
Large for International Religious Freedom, and the 
United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom (referred to in this section as 
‘‘USCIRF’’), the state of religious freedom through-
out the world has significantly worsened. 
(7) In section 2(a)(4) of IRFA (2 U.S.C. 
6401(a)(4)), Congress stated, ‘‘More than one-half 
of the world’s population lives under regimes that 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
severely restrict or prohibit the freedom of their citi-
zens to study, believe, observe, and freely practice 
the religious faith of their choice.’’. 
(8) According to ‘‘Rising Tide of Restrictions 
on Religion,’’ the most recent report of the Pew Re-
search Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 
three-quarters of the world’s population lives in 
countries in which restrictions on religion were high 
or very high. 
(9) According to the 2014 USCIRF Annual Re-
port, ‘‘The past 10 years have seen a worsening of 
the already-poor religious freedom environment in 
Pakistan, a continued dearth of religious freedom in 
Turkmenistan, backsliding in Vietnam, rising viola-
tions in Egypt before and after the Arab Spring, 
and Syria’s decent [sic] into sectarian civil war with 
all sides perpetrating egregious religious freedom 
violations.’’. 
(10) Under section 402 of IRFA (22 U.S.C. 
6442), the President is required to designate a coun-
try as a country of particular concern (referred to in 
this section as ‘‘CPC’’) if the government of the 
country has engaged in or tolerated systematic, on-
going and egregious violations of religious freedom. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(11) According to the 2015 USCIRF Annual 
Report, since October 1999, when the first countries 
were designated as CPCs, ‘‘the list has been largely 
unchanged. Of the nine countries designated as 
CPCs in July 2014, most had been named as CPCs 
for over a decade . . . Since IRFA’s inception, only 
one country has been removed from the State De-
partment’s CPC list due to diplomatic activity.’’. 
This track record calls into serious question the util-
ity of the CPC mechanism and the utility of IRFA 
to improve the state of religious freedom throughout 
the world. 
(12) The United States has a long tradition of 
providing safe haven to refugees, including members 
of religious minority groups and those fleeing reli-
gious persecution. Following the international com-
munity’s tragic failure to shelter Jewish refugees 
fleeing the Nazi genocide, the United States played 
a leadership role in establishing the international 
legal regime for the protection of refugees. Since 
that time, the American people have generously wel-
comed millions of refugees fleeing war and totali-
tarian regimes, and the United States traditionally 
accepts at least 50 percent of resettlement cases 
handled by the Office of the United Nations High 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Commissioner for Refugees (referred to in this sec-
tion as ‘‘UNHCR’’). 
(13) According to the 2014 UNHCR Global 
Trends Report, more than 59,500,000 people were 
forcibly displaced in 2014— 
(A) which is equal to 1 displacement for 
every 122 people worldwide; 
(B) which is the most displacements in a 
year in recorded history; 
(C) including— 
(i) 38,200,000 individuals who were 
internally displaced within their own coun-
try; 
(ii) 19,500,000 refugees; and 
(iii) 1,800,000 asylum-seekers; 
(D) many of whom were victims of serious 
human rights violations, including religious per-
secution; and 
(E) many are whom are members of vul-
nerable populations, including religious minori-
ties. 
(14) The ongoing conflict in Syria has led to 
the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis and 
worst refugee crisis since World War II. More than 
50 percent of Syria’s 23,000,000 people have been 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
forcibly displaced from their homes and, as of 2015, 
20 percent of the world’s refugees are Syrians. 
UNHCR is seeking to resettle 130,000 Syrian refu-
gees during 2015 and 2016, with a particular focus 
on vulnerable individuals such as religious minori-
ties. Although the United States traditionally ac-
cepts at least 50 percent of UNHCR resettlement 
cases, the United States has only accepted approxi-
mately 800 Syrian refugees since the beginning of 
the Syrian conflict, which is an unacceptably low 
number. 
(15) There are several steps that would facili-
tate the efforts of the United States Government to 
protect and provide safe haven to refugees from reli-
gious persecution. The 2015 USCIRF Annual Re-
port recommends that Congress ‘‘work to provide 
the President with permanent authority to designate 
as refugees specifically-defined groups based on 
shared characteristics identifying them as targets for 
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, 
membership in a particular social group, or political 
opinion’’. 
(16) The United States Government has limited 
tools to hold accountable the perpetrators of reli-
gious freedom violations. Section 604 of IRFA 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:47 Jul 27, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3194.IH
H3194
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS