IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1140 
Recognizing the 10th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom 
Act of 1998. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 23, 2008 
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PITTS, 
Mr. MCINTYRE, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 
ROHRABACHER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. WAMP, Mr. 
DUNCAN, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, 
Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. PENCE, Mr. KING of 
Iowa, Mr. HERGER, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, and Mr. 
TIAHRT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 10th Anniversary of the International 
Religious Freedom Act of 1998. 
Whereas, October 27, 2008, marks the ten-year anniversary 
of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
(IRFA), which recognizes the fundamental importance of 
religious freedom within United States historical experi-
ence and establishes it as a top priority in United States 
foreign policy; 
Whereas the right to religious freedom is a universal human 
right articulated in numerous international instruments, 
including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
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•HRES 1140 IH 
(UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Polit-
ical Rights, and the United Nations Declaration on the 
Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimina-
tion Based on Religion or Belief; 
Whereas Article 18 of the UDHR recognizes that ‘‘Everyone 
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and reli-
gion. This right includes freedom to change his religion 
or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with 
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion 
or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance’’; 
Whereas every government has a responsibility under its 
international human rights commitments to protect the 
fundamental rights of its citizens and to pursue justice 
for all; 
Whereas according to research published by the Pew Forum 
on Religion and Public Life, there is a strong correlation 
between religious freedom and respect for human free-
dom; 
Whereas research published by the Pew Forum indicates that 
other human rights are negatively affected when religious 
freedom is not protected, and when religious participation 
is protected equitably for people of all beliefs in societies 
throughout the world, human freedom increases and con-
flict decreases; 
Whereas according to the recent publication Religious Free-
dom in the World, surveying the situation of religious 
freedom in countries and territories that make up 95 per-
cent of the world’s population, approximately 40 percent 
of the world’s population live in countries or territories 
that are ‘‘partly free’’ and approximately one-third live in 
countries or territories that are ‘‘unfree’’ based on an as-
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•HRES 1140 IH 
sessment of whether individual’s are denied the right to 
practice their religion or belief when the denial is because 
of their religious beliefs or those of the persecutors; 
Whereas since the IRFA was adopted, greater support for 
this human right in the United States influenced the fol-
lowing foreign policy decisions, including— 
(1) the United States Government played a key role 
in bringing about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 
December 2004 ending the North-South civil war and 
providing greater religious freedom in the South; 
(2) the Department of State denied, pursuant to sec-
tion 212(a)(2)(g) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act, as amended by the IRFA, the Chief Minister of Gu-
jarat State in India, Narendra Modi, a visa to enter the 
United States as a result of his direct involvement in the 
persecution of Muslims, finding that any foreign govern-
ment official who ‘‘was responsible for or directly carried 
out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious 
freedom’’ is ineligible for a visa to the United States; 
(3) the United States Government worked with for-
eign governments that affirm and protect religious free-
dom to develop multilateral initiatives to combat viola-
tions of religious freedom and promote the right to reli-
gious freedom abroad, and initiatives were undertaken on 
North Korea and Burma at the United Nations and on 
combating anti Semitism and religious intolerance in the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
through the creation of three special representatives to 
the Chairman-in-Office to protect religious freedom; 
(4) the United States Government worked to secure 
the release of a number of individuals imprisoned as a re-
sult of their religious beliefs, such as prominent Uyghur 
human rights advocate Rebiya Kadeer, and Tibetan Bud-
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