[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 165 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 1999

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, for the past decade, the Center 
for Human Rights Advocacy (CHRA), a public interest law firm based in 
my congressional district, has been monitoring and analyzing social, 
economic, political, and ethnic problems and anti-Semitic activities in 
Russia and the former Soviet Union. The organization's President and 
Chief Counsel, Mr. William Cohen, is frequently called upon in the 
United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to provide expert 
information and testimony pertaining to human rights and anti-Semitism 
in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Mr. Cohen also serves on the 
board of the executive committee of the Union of Councils for Soviet 
Jews.
  The primary focus of Mr. Cohen's advocacy ``is to make sure the doors 
remain open for Jews and all persecuted minorities.'' His recent 
report, ``The Escalation of Anti-Semitic Violence in Russia,'' 
demonstrates the level of danger facing Russian Jews in light of the 
increased frequency of anti-Semitic activity.
  The report documents the chronology of the latest anti-Semitic events 
in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Much of this information has 
never been reported in the media. Mr. Cohen has gleaned most of this 
information from clients seeking asylum or refugee status.
  Following is the summary of Mr. Cohen's report. I urge my colleagues 
to contact my office or the Center for Human Rights Advocacy in 
Boulder, Colorado, for a copy of the full report.

           THE ESCALATION OF ANTI-SEMITIC VIOLENCE IN RUSSIA

                         (By William M. Cohen)


    I. SUMMARY: ANTI-SEMITISM AND PERSECUTION OF JEWS IN RUSSIA HAS 
                       DRAMATICALLY ACCELERATED.

       The Center for Human Rights Advocacy (CHRA) has been 
     monitoring and analyzing social, economic, political, ethnic 
     and anti-Semitism developments in Russia and the former 
     Soviet Union (FSU) since its inception in early 1991. In 
     addition, because of the persistent evidence and reports of 
     anti-Semitism in Russia, the Union of Councils for Soviet 
     Jews (UCSJ), on which the author serves as a member of the 
     Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, has steadily 
     increased its monitoring and reporting on human rights and 
     anti-Semitism in Russia. In cooperation with the Moscow 
     Helsinki Group, and aided by a grant from the United States 
     Agency for International Development, trained monitors 
     located throughout Russia now regularly report to UCSJ and 
     CHRA on this growing phenomenon.
       The persistent pattern of anti-Semitism and the pernicious 
     practice of persecution of Jews in Russia was identified and 
     summarized by CHRA in March of 1996:
       ``This phenomenon [i.e., steadily growing anti-Semitism is 
     an atmosphere of economic hardship following the breakup of 
     the FSU] is exploited by politicians and elected officials 
     for political gain. It is manifested by acts of 
     discrimination, insults, threats, and violence against Jews, 
     Jewish property, and Jewish institutions. It is aimed, in 
     substantial part, at driving Jews out of Russia to make room 
     for Russians in a time of scarcity, economic distress, and 
     political instability arising out of the destruction of the 
     Soviet Empire. Moreover, it is clear that there now exists no 
     Russian governmental agency able or willing to protect Jews 
     from persecution because of their nationality or religion. 
     The absence of any meaningful deterrent to such conduct plus 
     the permission given to anti-Semites by leading politicians 
     and elected officials to engage in such conduct encourages 
     those who would persecute Jews to do so with impunity.
       Since the economic crisis and the collapse of the ruble 
     which struck Russian in August 1998, anti-Semitic expressions 
     by leading politicians and elected officials, aimed at 
     demonizing and scapegoating Jews, and, ultimately, at driving 
     them out of Russia, have dramatically accelerated. This 
     increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric has been accompanied by a 
     concurrent increase in the number of violent acts targeting 
     Jews, Jewish property, and Jewish institutions. Such violence 
     is now frequent and widespread throughout the vast number of 
     Russia's regions as well as in the major city centers of 
     Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Nizhny Novgorod, the location of 
     the three largest population of Jews in Russia.
       The frequency and ferocity of the various anti-Semitic 
     violent acts appears to be accelerating. At the same time, 
     the governmental institutions upon which Jews and other 
     targeted minorities must rely for protection against 
     extremist violence are either unable or unwilling to 
     effectively provide that protection.
       In addition, during the political and economic crises which 
     continue today in Russia following the August 1998 collapse, 
     militantly anti-Semitic groups, such as Russian National 
     Unity (RNU), have grown in size and popularity. Sensing both 
     the impotence and indifference of law enforcement agencies, 
     these groups have increased the openness of their anti-
     Semitic expressions with little or no effective action by 
     government authorities to deter them. Under these 
     circumstances, Jews in Russia continue to be vulnerable to 
     anti-Semitic discrimination, violence, and persecution 
     without any effective recourse to the Russian government at 
     any level for protection against such prejudicial treatment.
       Indeed, the risk to Jews in Russia today is greater than at 
     any time since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Russian 
     government has so far demonstrated that it is both unwilling 
     and unable to deter growing anti-Semitic violence against its 
     steadily diminishing Jewish population. Hence, those aimed at 
     driving Jews out of Russia, punishing them because of hatred 
     of Jews, and scapegoating Jews for a variety of political 
     ends can generally do so with impunity.
       Faced with escalating anti-Semitic violence combined with 
     indifference to these attacks by the general Russian 
     populace, political exploitation of the phenomenon and 
     government impotence to protect them, the Jewish community 
     has resorted to funding its own security for Jewish 
     institutions and turned to Western governments and non-
     governmental human rights organizations for help. 
     Increasingly more Jews are also leaving Russia and the FSU 
     permanently for Israel, the United States and other countries 
     where they will be free from persecution because of their 
     Jewish religion and nationality.
       Absent a dramatic change in the economic, social and 
     political climate in Russia, it is highly unlikely that the 
     current atmosphere of openly and violently expressed anti-
     Semitism will diminish any time soon. To the contrary, the 
     escalating incidents combined with government silence and 
     ineffective law enforcement, indicate that Jews are at great 
     risk in Russia today and for the foreseeable future.
       This Report will first document the chronology of recent 
     anti-Semitic events which demonstrate both the increased 
     frequency and level of danger which accompanies them as well 
     as the Russian Jewish Community's reaction. Next it 
     catalogues the Western governmental and non-governmental 
     organizations (NGO)'s response to this growing problem. 
     Finally, it outlines the less than adequate, largely 
     rhetorical response by the Russian Government to this 
     problem.

     

                          ____________________