[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 588 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 588

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
 violations in Western Europe of provisions of the Helsinki Final Act 
     and other international agreements relating to the freedom of 
        individuals to profess and practice religion or belief.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2000

   Mr. Salmon (for himself, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Gilman) submitted the 
     following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
 violations in Western Europe of provisions of the Helsinki Final Act 
     and other international agreements relating to the freedom of 
        individuals to profess and practice religion or belief.

Whereas under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
        ``Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; 
        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 under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
        Rights, ``No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his 
        freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice'';
Whereas the Participating States of the Organization for Security and 
        Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have undertaken a series of specific 
        commitments designed to ensure the freedom of the individual to profess 
        and practice religion or belief, including a commitment by those States 
        to ensure the full and effective exercise of the freedom of thought, 
        conscience, religion, or belief, in their laws and regulations;
Whereas Principle VII of the Helsinki Final Act commits the OSCE Participating 
        States to ``recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to 
        profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or 
        belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience'';
Whereas the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document commits the OSCE Participating 
        States to ``take effective measures to prevent and eliminate 
        discrimination against individuals or communities on the grounds of 
        religion or belief in the recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human 
        rights and fundamental freedoms in all fields of civil, political, 
        economic, social and cultural life'';
Whereas in the 1991 Moscow Document, the OSCE Participating States 
        ``categorically and irrevocably declare that the commitments undertaken 
        in the field of the human dimension . . . are matters of direct and 
        legitimate concern to all participating States and do not belong 
        exclusively to the internal affairs of the State concerned'';
Whereas freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief is inextricably 
        linked to the exercise of other rights, including the right to freedom 
        of peaceful assembly and association, the right to freedom of 
        association with others, and the right to freedom of expression, and the 
        recognition that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled 
        without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law, including 
        in employment;
Whereas the Department of State's annual reports on religious freedom and human 
        rights have documented numerous instances of government discrimination 
        based on religion or belief in Western Europe, including discriminatory 
        acts against American members of several different religious 
        denominations and beliefs;
Whereas the Office of the United States Trade Representative has listed Germany 
        as a country engaged in discriminatory trade practices because of ``sect 
        filter'' guidelines issued to all federal government ministries and used 
        by German state and local governments, which have the potential to 
        discriminate against United States firms in German procurement decisions 
        by permitting government entities to reject bids and immediately 
        terminate contracts if a firm does not sign a ``sect filter'' document 
        attesting that the firm and its employees are not affiliated with 
        certain religious beliefs;
Whereas a bill passed by the French National Assembly on June 22, 2000, contains 
        repressive measures which would have a chilling effect on the freedom 
        religion and belief, including the dissolution of targeted religious 
        associations, the imprisonment of members of such groups, and 
        infringement upon freedom of speech, including speech intended to 
        persuade another person to a particular point of view, whether 
        philosophical or religious;
Whereas a 1996 French National Assembly report listed 173 organizations as 
        suspect, including independent evangelical Christian churches, 
        Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Unificationists and this report 
        has been used by both private and official entities to harass, 
        intimidate, deny employment, and deny commercial loans to listed groups, 
        and members of other religious groups, such as Southern Baptists, 
        Seventh Day Adventists, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, Opus 
        Dei, and the Society of Jesus, have also been subject to recent 
        discrimination and harassment at the hands of the French Government;
Whereas the Parliament of Austria passed a law in 1997 which codified a tiered 
        system of government recognition and preferential treatment, including 
        government funding of religious groups, and which requires religious 
        groups seeking recognition to undergo government surveillance for at 
        least 10, or up to 20, years to prove legitimacy to government 
        officials;
Whereas the Austrian law on religion is cited as justification for more 
        repressive laws being proposed in nascent democracies further east, such 
        as Hungary and Romania and has been cited by Russian officials as 
        justification for an oppressive 1997 Russian religion law;
Whereas the Government of Austria has instituted a ``sect'' office which 
        disseminates official propaganda on religious groups not recognized by 
        the government and leading to a chilling effect on religious liberty;
Whereas the Parliament of Belgium issued a report in 1997 on ``sects'' with a 
        widely circulated informal appendix listing 189 groups as suspect, 
        including many Protestant and Catholic groups, Quakers, Hasidic Jews, 
        Buddhists, and members of the Young Women's Christian Association 
        (YWCA), based on rumor and speculation found in police files, and 
        implicitly warning the public to avoid such ``dangerous'' groups;
Whereas the Parliament of Belgium has established a government ``Advice and 
        Information Center on Sects'' which disseminates official views on 
        groups considered ``sects'' as defined by the list in the appendix to 
        the 1997 Belgian Parliament report;
Whereas some evangelical and charismatic Christian churches have been targeted 
        in parliamentary investigations in France, Belgium, and Germany;
Whereas Jehovah's Witnesses have been subjected in France to various forms of 
        harassment, including the denial of the freedom to assemble for worship 
        in facilities permitted to be used by other faiths and are the targets 
        of governmental tax audits and punitive tax assessments, continue to 
        suffer religious discrimination and the economic consequences of being 
        categorized as a ``dangerous sect'' by France's Parliamentary Commission 
        on Sects, have been informed by German tax authorities that the long-
        standing exemption from property taxation for their houses of worship 
        may be canceled in the near future, have been labeled a ``hard core 
        sect'' in Belgium by some educators, continue to suffer from employment 
        discrimination in Austria, France, and Germany, and are discriminated 
        against in foster parent proceedings in Germany and in child custody 
        matters in Belgium;
Whereas Muslims have been subjected to harassment, including police brutality 
        and attacks by extremist groups, particularly in Germany and France, and 
        Muslim women are subject to frequent discrimination and other forms of 
        abuse and harassment because they wear a head covering;
Whereas adherents to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been 
        subject to continued acts of harassment, including confiscation of 
        religious materials, and are prevented from freely sharing their beliefs 
        in several OSCE Participating States;
Whereas Scientologists have been subject to pervasive civil, political, and 
        economic discrimination, harassment, surveillance, and orchestrated 
        boycotts in Germany, France, Belgium, and Austria; and
Whereas these actions by Western European governments have contributed to 
        intolerance by public and private actors who have discriminated in 
        hiring practices or terminated employment based on an individual's 
        religious affiliation: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) disapproves of the growing intolerance, discrimination, and 
        violence directed against individuals and groups because of their 
        religion or belief, in violation of the Helsinki Final Act and other 
        international agreements;
            (2) expresses grave concern about the adoption of laws and 
        regulations by Participating States of the Organization for Security and 
        Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that--
                    (A) discriminate against minority or so-called 
                ``nontraditional'' religions or beliefs; and
                    (B) limit the freedom of individuals to profess and practice 
                religion or belief, including laws restricting religious speech 
                and assembly; and
            (3) calls upon the President and the Ambassador at Large for 
        International Religious Freedom to--
                    (A) raise violations of the freedom of thought, conscience, 
                religion, or belief, at every appropriate level with 
                representatives of countries that have failed to implement their 
                international commitments and obligations in this regard;
                    (B) ensure that the United States makes full use of existing 
                meetings and structures of international organizations, 
                including meetings of the OSCE Permanent Council as well as 
                periodic implementation review meetings on human dimension 
                issues, to raise violations of Participating States' freely 
                undertaken international commitments both to protect and to 
                provide for the full and effective exercise of the freedom of 
                thought, conscience, religion, or belief under their respective 
                jurisdictions; and
                    (C) support the inclusion of experts on religious liberty on 
                United States delegations to appropriate meetings of 
                international organizations, including the OSCE.
                                 <all>