View all text of Chapter 73 [§ 6401 - § 6483]
§ 6402. DefinitionsIn this chapter:
(1) Ambassador at Large
(2) Annual Report
(3) Appropriate congressional committeesThe term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives; and
(B) in the case of any determination made with respect to the taking of President 1
1 So in original. Probably should be “Presidential”.
action under paragraphs (9) through (15) of section 6445(a) of this title, the term includes the committees described in subparagraph (A) and, where appropriate, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.(4) Commensurate action
(5) Commission
(6) Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
(7) Executive Summary
(8) Government or foreign government
(9) Human Rights Reports
(10) Institution of higher education
(11) Non-state actorThe term “non-state actor” means a nonsovereign entity that—
(A) exercises significant political power and territorial control;
(B) is outside the control of a sovereign government; and
(C) often employs violence in pursuit of its objectives.
(12) Office
(13) Particularly severe violations of religious freedomThe term “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” means systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, including violations such as—
(A) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;
(B) prolonged detention without charges;
(C) causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or
(D) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.
(14) Special Adviser
(15) Special Watch List
(16) Violations of religious freedomThe term “violations of religious freedom” means violations of the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion and religious belief and practice, as set forth in the international instruments referred to in section 6401(a)(2) of this title and as described in section 6401(a)(3) of this title, including violations such as—
(A) arbitrary prohibitions on, restrictions of, or punishment for—
(i) assembling for peaceful religious activities such as worship, preaching, and prayer, including arbitrary registration requirements;
(ii) speaking freely about one’s religious beliefs;
(iii) changing one’s religious beliefs and affiliation;
(iv) not professing a particular religion, or any religion;
(v) possession and distribution of religious literature, including Bibles; or
(vi) raising one’s children in the religious teachings and practices of one’s choice; or
(B) any of the following acts if committed on account of an individual’s conscience, non-theistic views, or religious belief or practice: detention, interrogation, imposition of an onerous financial penalty, forced labor, forced mass resettlement, imprisonment, forced religious conversion, forcibly compelling non-believers or non-theists to recant their beliefs or to convert, beating, torture, mutilation, rape, enslavement, murder, and execution.
(Pub. L. 105–292, § 3, Oct. 27, 1998, 112 Stat. 2790; Pub. L. 114–281, § 3, Dec. 16, 2016, 130 Stat. 1427.)