Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act
Bill: S.2142 | Sponsor: Sen. Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act
This bill directs the Department of State to report to Congress annually on educational materials published by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education, which are used both inside and outside Saudi Arabia.
The report shall detail whether such educational materials include content that could be seen as encouraging violence and intolerance toward religious groups, including Muslims who hold dissenting views. The report shall also discuss related subjects, including the extent to which such materials are exported and efforts by the Saudi government to remove the intolerant content.
The State Department shall issue such reports for 10 years, unless the State Department determines that the intolerant content has been completely removed. If such content is still included in Saudi Arabia's educational materials after 10 years, the State Department shall continue reporting to Congress for another 5 years.

To require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian 
             educational materials, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Saudi Educational Transparency and 
Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more 
        than 15 years has made incremental progress in removing 
        intolerant content in state-published textbooks.
            (2) Saudi Arabia has committed to educational reforms 
        through its Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program, 
        and is an important partner of the United States in combating 
        terrorism and violent extremism.
            (3) The 2006 ``confirmation of policies'' negotiated by the 
        United States and Saudi Arabia stated that textbooks would be 
        revised within one or two years ``to remove remaining 
        intolerant references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or 
        that promote hatred toward other religions or religious 
        groups''.
            (4) According to the Department of State's August 2017 
        International Religious Freedom Report, ``[t]he government 
        continued to distribute revised textbooks, although some 
        intolerant material remained in circulation, particularly at 
        the high school level, including content justifying the 
        execution of `sorcerers''' and social exclusion of non-Muslims.
            (5) Saudi textbooks have been exported internationally, 
        including to countries in the Middle East, Africa, South, 
        Central, and South East Asia, and parts of Europe and North 
        America.
            (6) The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
        requires the President to designate countries in which 
        violations of religious freedom are ``systematic, ongoing, 
        [and] egregious'' as countries of particular concern.
            (7) The President has designated Saudi Arabia as a country 
        of particular concern since 2004, pursuant to the International 
        Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), and a 
        waiver of further action has been in place since 2006.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that, in spite of some progress, the 
Government of Saudi Arabia has not yet sufficiently met its commitments 
for eliminating all forms of incitement from its educational materials 
and curriculum in line with its commitments to combat terrorism and 
violent extremism.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (d), not later than 120 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for 
10 years within 90 days of the start of the new school year in Saudi 
Arabia, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives a report reviewing educational materials 
published by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education that are used in 
schools both inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at schools 
throughout the world.
    (b) Consultation.--Not later than 30 days after the submission of a 
report under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall consult with 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on the contents of each 
such report.
    (c) Contents.--The reports required under subsection (b) should 
include the following elements:
            (1) A detailed determination regarding whether all 
        intolerant content has been removed from educational materials 
        published by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education that are used 
        in schools both inside the Saudi Arabia and at schools 
        throughout the world, including full quotations of all passages 
        that could be seen as encouraging violence or intolerance 
        towards adherents of religions other than Islam or towards 
        Muslims who hold dissenting views.
            (2) A detailed assessment of the global exportation of such 
        materials, including the extent to which such materials are 
        used in privately funded educational institutions overseas.
            (3) A detailed summary of actions the Government of Saudi 
        Arabia has taken to retrieve and destroy materials with 
        intolerant material.
            (4) A detailed assessment of the Government of Saudi 
        Arabia's efforts to revise teacher manuals and retrain teachers 
        to reflect changes in educational materials and promote 
        tolerance.
            (5) A detailed determination regarding whether issuing a 
        waiver regarding Saudi Arabia as a country of particular 
        concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
        (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) furthers the purposes of such Act or 
        is otherwise in the important national security interests of 
        the United States.
    (d) Termination or Extension of Reporting Requirement.--
            (1) Termination before ten years.--If at any time after 
        submission of a report required under subsection (a) but before 
        the expiration of the 10-year period referred to in such 
        subsection, the Secretary of State determines that intolerant 
        religious content has been removed completely from Saudi 
        Arabia's education materials, the requirement to submit any 
        remaining reports under such subsection shall not apply.
            (2) Five-year extension of requirement.--If at the end of 
        the 10-year period referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
        of State determines that intolerant religious content remains 
        in Saudi Arabia's education materials, the termination of the 
        requirement to submit reports under such subsection shall not 
        apply and the requirement shall be extended an additional five 
        years.
    (e) Form.--Reports under this section shall be submitted in an 
unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex.

SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY.

    Not later than 60 days after the submission of an annual report 
under section 4, the Secretary of State shall make copies of reviewed 
Saudi educational materials publicly available on a website of the 
Department of State.
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