[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 62 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E828-E829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ADMINISTRATION CERTIFICATION OF RUSSIA REGARDING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 3, 1999

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, through Public Law 105-292, the 
International Religious Freedom Act, Congress is on record as standing 
for religious liberty throughout the world.
  Furthermore, Public Law 105-177, the foreign appropriations 
legislation passed in the 105th Congress, mandates that no foreign aid 
money be appropriated to the Government of the Russian Federation if 
the President determines that the Russian government has implemented 
legislation or regulations that discriminate, or cause discrimination, 
against religious groups or religious communities in Russia in 
violation of accepted international agreements on human rights and 
religious freedoms to which the Russian Federation is a party. This 
provision was in response to the 1997 Russian Law on Freedom of 
Conscience and Religious Associations, which many feared would lead to 
limitations on religious worship and a retreat from the standards of 
religious freedom that had been achieved in Russia following the 
dissolution of the Soviet Union.
  This year, for the second year in a row, the President has made the 
determination that the Government of the Russian Federation has not 
implemented legislation or regulations that cause such discrimination 
against religious groups. The Presidential Determination states 
``During the period under review, the Government of the Russian 
Federation has applied the 1997 Law on Religion in a manner that is not 
in conflict with its international obligations on religious freedom. 
However, this issue requires continued and close monitoring as the Law 
on Religion furnishes regional officials with an instrument that has 
been interpreted and used by officials at the local level to restrict 
the activities of religious minorities.'' Furthermore, the Presidential 
Determination states, ``To the extent that restrictions on the rights 
of religious minorities have occurred, they have been the consequence 
of actions taken by regional or local officials and do not appear to be 
a manifestation of federal government policy. Such incidents, while 
they must be taken seriously, represent a relatively small number of 
problems when viewed against the size of the country and the number of 
religious organizations.''
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the above statements are a reasonably 
accurate representation of the religious liberty situation in Russia 
and that the Presidential Determination is probably a fair one, given 
the lack of firm legal structure and the geopolitical situation in the 
present-day Russian Federation. Moreover, some of the most egregious 
instances of restrictions against religious groups in Russia have been 
corrected through court action.
  And to be fair, Russia is hardly the worst offender in the former 
Soviet Union. In Turkmenistan, for instance, religious groups are 
required to have five-hundred members before they can be legally 
registered with the government to operate openly. It is a ridiculously 
high number and has resulted in harassment of unregistered religious 
groups. Of course, unlike Russia, the Government of Turkmenistan 
doesn't claim to be much of a democracy or go out of its way to adhere 
to international standards of human rights.
  In Uzbekistan, the 1998 law imposes severe criminal penalties for 
meeting without registering and for engaging in free religious 
expression with the intent to persuade the listener to another point of 
view, in violation of OSCE religious liberty commitments. Since 
February 1999, several pastors in Uzbekistan have been detained and 
jailed on charges of drug possession eerily reminiscent of charges 
brought in years past against Soviet religious dissidents.
  These comparisons, however, do not change the fact that there are 
still several problems in the area of religious liberty in Russia that 
should be noted and corrected, especially if a considerable sum of U.S. 
taxpayer money still continues to go to Russia. In the East-West Church 
& Ministry Report of Winter 1999, Mark Elliot and Sharyl Corrado of the 
Institute for East-West Christian Studies write:


[[Page E829]]


       Implementation of the 1997 law to date has been uneven. At 
     least in the short run, a number of factors appear to have 
     worked against consistently harsh application . . . . Still 
     life since the passage of the law has not been easy for many 
     who wish to worship outside the folds of the Moscow [Russian 
     Orthodox] Patriarchate. The first 15 months of the new law 
     included at least 69 specific instances of state harassment, 
     restriction or threat of restriction against non-Moscow 
     Patriarchate religious communities in the Russian Republic.

  For instance, I wonder if it was a coincidence that a few days after 
the Presidential Determination, the Russian Federation Ministry of 
Justice rejected the application of the Society of Jesuits for official 
registration. For that matter, most of the property seized by the 
Communists from the Roman Catholic Church in Russia has not been 
restored.
  In the city of Moscow, which is considered a liberal jurisdiction, 
the Jehovah's Witnesses have been subjected to a protracted trial that 
threatens to return them to ``underground'' status.
  In Stavropol, the local Moslem community has not only been refused 
the return of a mosque that had been seized by the Communists, but also 
been prevented from holding worship services in other quarters. A 
provincial official justified this policy by saying that Moslems only 
make up 10 percent of the population in the city.
  These are only a few of the most prominent cases of concern. In rural 
areas, local officials attempt to hinder worship activities by a number 
of subterfuges, ranging from the refusal to rent city property to 
religious groups without their own premises to outright threats and 
eviction of missionaries.
  Therefore, while I believe the Presidential Determination is, by and 
large, acceptable at this time, I would emphasize the reference to 
``continued and close monitoring'' of the situation. In my opinion, the 
Administration has done a good job of monitoring the Russian religious 
liberty situation, and I trust these efforts will continue. As Chairman 
of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I urge the 
Russian government to take every appropriate step to see that religious 
freedom is a reality for all in Russia, and I know the Congress will 
continue to follow this issue closely.

                          ____________________