[113th Congress Public Law 154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



[[Page 128 STAT. 1827]]

Public Law 113-154
113th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the 
  desecration of cemeteries among the many forms of violations of the 
   right to religious freedom. <<NOTE: Aug. 8, 2014 -  [H.R. 4028]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 22 USC 6401 note.>>  FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Cemeteries are sacred sites that are of great spiritual, 
        cultural, and historical significance to many religious and 
        ethnic groups.
            (2) Congress is committed to protecting and preserving the 
        heritage and sacred sites of national, religious, and ethnic 
        groups, which includes cemeteries in the United States and 
        abroad.
            (3) Cemeteries around the world have and continue to be 
        defaced or destroyed as a direct result of their affiliation 
        with a particular religious or spiritual group.
            (4) Such attacks constitute an assault on the fundamental 
        right to freedom of religion, and are especially egregious when 
        sponsored or tolerated by the local or national governments in 
        the countries in which such offenses occur.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT OF 1998.

    Section 2(a)(4) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
(22 U.S.C. 6401(a)(4)) is amended in the fourth sentence by inserting 
``desecration of cemeteries,'' after ``confiscations of property,''.

    Approved August 8, 2014.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 4028:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

SENATE REPORTS: No. 113-214 (Comm. on Foreign Relations).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 160 (2014):
            May 28, considered and passed House.
            July 29, considered and passed Senate.

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