[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 131 (Tuesday, October 8, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HUMAN RIGHTS AND SECURITY ISSUES IN THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 7, 2002

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on September 24, the Helsinki 
Commission held a hearing on democracy, human rights and security in 
the Republic of Georgia. Despite the progress that country has made in 
the development of civil society, in the last few years much of the 
optimism about Georgia's future has dissipated. Last year, a Georgian 
official devoted a large part of his public address in Washington to 
refuting the notion--which was being discussed at the time--that 
Georgia is a ``failed state.'' I reject that characterization, but the 
hearing offered a good opportunity to discuss the serious problems 
Georgia does face.
  Preeminent among them is systemic, rampant corruption, which has 
impeded economic reforms and sickened the body politic. Despite 
lectures from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the 
U.S. Government, the Georgian Government has proved incapable or 
unwilling to do what is necessary to stamp out this multidimensional 
problem--even though President Shevardnadze himself has called 
corruption a threat to Georgia's security.
  There are also grounds for concern about democratization. The last 
few elections have clearly not met OSCE standards, which raises 
questions about the important parliamentary election scheduled for 
2003, and the 2005 presidential election that will usher in the post-
Shevardnadze era in Georgia, with all the attendant uncertainties. 
Meanwhile, the media and NGOs have been under severe pressure. Last 
fall, a foolish ploy by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to intimidate 
Rustavi-2 Television backfired, resulting instead in the fall of the 
government. While society's response was heartening--thousands of 
people came out into the streets to defend the station--the attempt to 
silence one of the country's most popular media outlets indicated that 
some Georgian officials are still mired in Soviet patterns of thinking.
  Especially appalling is the ongoing religious violence in Georgia. 
Since 1999, there has been a campaign of assaults against members of 
minority faiths, especially Jehovah's Witnesses, which Georgian 
authorities have tolerated. Occasionally, policemen have even 
participated in attacks on defenseless men, women and children who have 
congregated for the purpose of worship. Attempts to bring the 
perpetrators to justice have foundered, as throngs of fanatics hijack 
the trial proceedings. If such travesties are allowed to continue, the 
country's entire judicial system is at risk of falling victim to mob 
rule.
  Though Jehovah's Witnesses have borne the brunt of this savagery, 
other religious minorities have suffered as well, including Baptists, 
Pentecostals and Catholics. Earlier this year, for example, a mob 
invaded a Baptist warehouse, threw the religious literature outside and 
burned it. How awful to think that events in Georgia today remind us of 
Germany in the 1930s!
  Georgians have a long tradition of religious tolerance, of which they 
are rightly proud. It is all the more puzzling, therefore, why 
religiously-based violence has erupted and continued only in Georgia, 
of all the post-Soviet states. The leadership of the Helsinki 
Commission and other Members of the House and Senate have been in 
correspondence with President Shevardnadze about this disturbing trend. 
He has assured us that the problem will be corrected and the 
perpetrators arrested.
  Georgia's Ambassador, Levan Mikeladze, testified at the September 24 
hearing and suggested that Georgia has so little experience with 
religious persecution that it has been difficult to cope with its 
sudden emergence. He too offered assurances that Georgia fully 
recognizes the gravity of the problem and that legal and practical 
actions are being taken to ensure there will be no more violent 
attacks.
  Alas, extremists in Georgia must not have been listening. Since the 
September 24 hearing, more assaults have taken place. The next day, 
some 15 extremists of the ultra-Orthodox ``Jvari'' organization in 
Rustavi forcibly entered a private home where Jehovah's Witnesses and 
their non Witness guests had gathered for Bible study. Two Witnesses 
and one non-Witness visitor were physically assaulted. On September 26, 
in the village of Napareuli, masked men with firearms burst into a 
private home where meetings were underway, beating those in attendance 
and ransacking the house. Most striking, eyewitnesses claim the attack 
was led by the village administrator, Mr. Nodar Paradashvili, who beat 
one of the victims into unconsciousness. In a third incident, on 
September 29, a mob gathered outside the residence of a Jehovah's 
Witnesses in Tbilisi. They refused to let others enter the premises 
where a meeting was to be held, seized Bibles and literature from the 
group, verbally abusing those arriving for the meeting and assaulting 
at least one person. In all three cases, police reportedly refused to 
intervene after learning that the incidents involved attacks on 
Jehovah's Witnesses--as has often been the case in Georgia.
  Mr. Speaker, there may be many explanations for this peculiar 
phenomenon but there can be no excuse for state toleration of such 
barbarity. It must end, and it must end now.
  Though such attacks have been one reason for Georgia's prominence in 
the news lately, more attention has been focused on Moscow's campaign 
of intimidation against Georgia. Russia has been leaning on pro-
Western, strategically-located Georgia for years, but the temperature 
has in the last few weeks approached the boiling point. President 
Putin's request for United Nations backing for Russian military action 
against Georgia was not any less objectionable for having been 
anticipated.
  I have been watching with growing alarm as Russia ratchets up the 
pressure on its small neighbor. Georgian parliamentarians on September 
12 unanimously approved an appeal to the United Nations, the OSCE, the 
European Union, the Council of Europe, and NATO for protection from 
anticipated Russian military aggression. Georgian lawmakers should know 
that their American colleagues have heard their appeal and stand with 
them. While we are cooperating with Russia in the war against 
terrorism, we have in no way given Moscow leave to attack Georgia, nor 
will we do so.
  The United States is now more than ever directly engaged in the 
Caucasus and is stepping up military cooperation with the region's 
governments, especially Georgia. While we have many issues of concern 
to raise with Georgia's Government, when it comes to Georgia's 
sovereignty and territorial integrity, there is no more ardent 
supporter than the United States. That has been the case for the last 
ten years, and it will be the case in the future as well.

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