[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 283 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 283

    To express the sense of the Senate concerning creation of a new 
position in the White House as Senior Advisor on Religious Persecution.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 1996

 Mr. Specter (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Faircloth) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    To express the sense of the Senate concerning creation of a new 
position in the White House as Senior Advisor on Religious Persecution.

    (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--
            (1) Americans are increasingly concerned about anti-
        Christian persecution overseas, including rape, torture, 
        enslavement, imprisonment, killings, mutilations, 
        discrimination, and mistreatment of Christians, and the fact 
        that far too many foreign governments systematically deny their 
        Christian citizens religious liberty;
            (2) reports indicate that the Government of Sudan is 
        currently involved in the enslavement of the Christian 
        populations of southern Sudan. Today in Sudan, a human being 
        can be bought for as little as fifteen dollars. It has been 
        estimated that in the last six years, more than 30,000 children 
        have been taken from their homes, forcibly interned in 
        ``cultural cleansing camps,'' forced to accept Islam and then 
        moved to the front lines of Sudan's civil war;
            (3) in China, there are reports of the imprisonment and 
        detention of many Chinese Christians under a 1994 law which 
        restricts religious freedom. It has been reported that in 1992, 
        Protestant leader Zheng Yunsu was arrested and sentenced to 
        twelve years in jail simply for practicing his religion. 
        Additionally, between October 1994 and June 1995, more than 200 
        Christians were apparently detained in the Henan province. One 
        of those arrested, Ren Ping, was sentenced, without trial, to 
        three years of reeducation through labor. According to Amnesty 
        International, more than thirty Chinese Catholics in Jiangzi 
        province were arrested and severely beaten while celebrating 
        Easter Mass earlier this year;
            (4) in the Muslim-controlled Oromo region of Ethiopia, 
        reports indicate that in 1994, officials raided the area's 
        largest Christian Church and arrested most of its congregants. 
        Many of those arrested died while in prison. The leader of the 
        congregation was tortured and his eyes were plucked out;
            (5) in several Islamic countries conversion to Christianity 
        from Islam is a crime punishable by death;
            (6) it has been reported that Christians have been 
        effectively excluded from the political process in many 
        countries. In Pakistan, for example, Christians can vote only 
        for token representatives to the National Assembly;
            (7) there is no Senior Advisor on religious persecution in 
        the White House to ensure that anti-Christian persecution 
        overseas is given top priority by the White House and to 
        coordinate efforts to combat such persecution; and
            (8) the President had committed, in January 1996, to 
        appoint a White House Senior Advisor on religious persecution, 
        but has yet to do so.
    (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
President should proceed forward as expeditiously as possible by 
appointing a White House Senior Advisor on religious persecution.
                                 <all>