[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 70 (Tuesday, June 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5507-S5508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 500--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE 
 RUSSIAN FEDERATION SHOULD FULLY PROTECT THE FREEDOMS OF ALL RELIGIOUS 
COMMUNITIES WITHOUT DISTINCTION, WHETHER REGISTERED OR UNREGISTERED, AS 
   STIPULATED BY THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

  Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Nelson of 
Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations:
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a resolution 
whereby the Senate calls upon the Government of the Russian Federation 
to fully protect the right of individuals to worship and to practice 
their faith as they see fit. This resolution reiterates provisions on 
religious freedom that are contained within the Russian Constitution of 
1993 and international agreements to which the Russian Federation is a 
party.
  I am especially appreciative for the co-sponsorship of this important 
resolution by my colleagues and friends, the senior Senator from 
Delaware, Mr. Biden, the junior Senator from Oregon, Mr. Smith, and the 
senior Senator from Florida, Mr. Nelson.
  It is true that religious practice in Russia today is much freer than 
during the Soviet era. However, many minority religious communities 
throughout the Russian Federation continue to suffer harassment and 
discrimination on the part of some local officials who, either through 
personal prejudice or misplaced paranoia, see a threat to their society 
by religious faiths with whom they are unfamiliar.
  Until fairly recently, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which I chair, 
was receiving troubling reports of several instances of violence 
against religious minorities in Russia. Arson attacks against churches 
in Russia have occurred in several towns and cities with little or no 
police response. I would note that reports of such attacks have 
decreased in number of late.
  I would like to quote from the International Religious Freedom Report 
for 2005, which is published by the State Department Office on 
International Religions Freedom annually:

       Some Federal agencies and many local authorities continue 
     to restrict the rights of various religious minorities. 
     Moreover, contradictions between Federal and local laws and 
     varying interpretations of the law provide regional officials 
     with opportunities to restrict the activities of religious 
     minorities. Many observers attribute discriminatory practices 
     at the local level to the greater susceptibility of local 
     governments than the Federal Government to discriminatory 
     attitudes in lobbying by local majority religious groups. The 
     government only occasionally intervenes to prevent or reverse 
     discrimination at the local level.

  Mr. President, on April 14, 2005, the Helsinki Commission held 
hearings on the treatment of religious minorities in Russia. Mr. Larry 
Uzzell, a journalist and researcher specializing in religious liberty 
issues, noted that Russian bureaucrats had increased the pressure on 
minority religious confessions, especially by denying them places to 
worship.
  In March 2004, a city court banned the religious activity of 
Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow. Since that time, officials in St. 
Petersburg have been threatening to ``liquidate'' the Jehovah's 
Witnesses Administration Center in that city. If the administrative 
center were to cease to exist, the effect on local congregations could 
be devastating. Just this month, police in Ivanovo, Russia, reportedly 
broke up an evangelical event where Bibles were being distributed and 
detained three members. Catholic parishes in the cities of Sochi and 
Rostov-on-Don have also had difficulty with local officials in 
obtaining official permission to use their new church buildings.
  Concerning anti-Semitism, on January 11 of this year a ``skinhead'' 
attacked worshipers with a knife and wounded eight persons in the 
Moscow Headquarters and Synagogue of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the 
Former Soviet Union. Thankfully, the Moscow City Court sentenced the 
attacker to 13 years in prison for attempted murder. However, a copycat 
attack that followed in Rostov-on-Don was not handled as well, with the 
perpetrator only being charged with ``hooliganism'' and given 5 days 
administrative detention. I urge Russian authorities to be more 
consistent with their response to these heinous crimes.
  Another difficult situation is that of Muslim believers in Russia 
today, with officials often harassing communities practicing outside of 
government approved mosques. For instance, there are repeated and 
credible reports that police are arresting Russian Muslim citizens on 
charges of terrorism on the basis of fabricated evidence. Certainly 
Russia has a right to defend itself from terrorism, but I would urge 
authorities not to sow the seeds of further bitterness and violence 
through wholesale arrests and unjust trials.
  Mr. President, I certainly don't want to suggest that all Russian 
officials are hostile to religious faith and practice. There are 
countries with worse far records, and there are many areas of the 
Russian Federation where the principles of religious freedom are 
genuinely observed and still others where progress is being made. 
Moreover, many officials at the federal level have made sincere efforts 
to see that their government observes its own laws as well as 
international standards.
  This resolution reminds the leadership of the Russian Federation of 
the critical importance of enforcing Russian constitution and Russia's 
international commitments on religious freedom. Considering Russia's 
presidency of the G-8, a grouping of the world's major industrialized 
democracies, it is time to live up to the standards of religious 
liberty that characterize the nations of the G-8 and the community of 
democracies as a whole.
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

                              S. Res. 500

       Whereas the Russian Federation is a participating State of 
     the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
     (OSCE) and has freely committed to fully respect the rights 
     of individuals, whether alone or in community with others, to 
     profess and practice religion or belief;
       Whereas the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document calls on OSCE 
     participating States to ``take effective measures to prevent 
     and eliminate discrimination against individuals or 
     communities on the grounds of religion or belief'' and to 
     ``grant upon their request to communities of believers, 
     practicing or prepared to practice their faith within the 
     constitutional framework of their States, recognition of the 
     status provided for them in the respective countries'';
       Whereas Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian 
     Federation declares that ``everyone shall be guaranteed the 
     right to freedom of conscience, to freedom of religious 
     worship, including the right to profess, individually or 
     jointly with others, any religion''

[[Page S5508]]

     and Article 8 of the 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and 
     Religious Associations provides for registration for 
     religious communities as ``religious organizations,'' if they 
     have at least 10 members and have operated within the Russian 
     Federation with legal status for at least 15 years;
       Whereas religious freedom has advanced significantly for 
     the vast majority of people in Russia since the collapse of 
     the Soviet Union;
       Whereas many rights and privileges afforded to religious 
     communities in the Russian Federation remain contingent on 
     the ability of the communities to obtain government 
     registration;
       Whereas some religious groups have not attempted to 
     register with government authorities due to theological 
     considerations, and other communities have been unjustly 
     denied registration or had their registration improperly 
     terminated by local authorities;
       Whereas many of the unregistered communities in the Russian 
     Federation today were never registered under the Soviet 
     system because they refused to collaborate with that 
     government's anti-religious policies and they are now 
     experiencing renewed discrimination and repression by 
     authorities of the Russian Federation;
       Whereas over the past 2 years there have been an estimated 
     10 arson attacks on unregistered Protestant churches, with 
     little or no effective response by law enforcement officials 
     to bring the perpetrators to justice;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation reacted 
     swiftly in response to the January 2006 attack on a Moscow 
     synagogue, but there have been numerous other anti-Semitic 
     attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in the Russian 
     Federation, and there is increasing tolerance of anti-
     Semitism in certain segments of society in that country;
       Whereas there has been evidence of an increase in the 
     frequency and severity of oppressive actions by security 
     forces and federal and local officials against some Muslim 
     communities and their members;
       Whereas there are many cases involving restitution for 
     religious property seized by the Soviet regime that remain 
     unresolved;
       Whereas in some areas of the Russian Federation law 
     enforcement personnel have carried out acts of harassment and 
     oppression against members of religious communities 
     peacefully practicing their faith and local officials have 
     put overly burdensome restrictions on the ability of some 
     religious communities to engage in religious activity; and
       Whereas the United States has sought to protect the 
     fundamental and inalienable right of individuals to profess 
     and practice their faith, alone or in community with others, 
     according to the dictates of their conscience, and in 
     accordance with international agreements committing nations 
     to respect individual freedom of thought, conscience, and 
     belief: Now, therefore, be it
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of Congress that the United 
     States Government should--
       (1) urge the Government of the Russian Federation to ensure 
     full protection of freedoms for all religious communities 
     without distinction, whether registered or unregistered, and 
     end the harassment of unregistered religious groups by the 
     security apparatus and other government agencies, thereby 
     building upon the progress made over the past 15 years in 
     promoting religious freedom in the Russian Federation;
       (2) urge the Government of the Russian Federation to ensure 
     that law enforcement officials vigorously investigate and 
     prosecute acts of violence, arson, and desecration 
     perpetrated against registered and unregistered religious 
     communities, as well as make certain that government 
     authorities are not complicit in such incidents;
       (3) continue to raise concerns with the Government of the 
     Russian Federation over violations of religious freedom, 
     including those against unregistered religious communities, 
     especially indigenous denominations not well known in the 
     United States;
       (4) ensure that United States Embassy officials engage 
     local officials throughout the Russian Federation, especially 
     when violations of freedom of religion occur, and undertake 
     outreach activities to educate local officials about the 
     rights of unregistered religious communities;
       (5) urge the Government of the Russian Federation to invite 
     the three Personal Representatives of the OSCE Chair-in-
     Office and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom 
     of Religion or Belief to visit the Russian Federation and 
     discuss with federal and local officials concerns about the 
     religious freedom of both registered and unregistered 
     religious communities; and
       (6) urge the Council of Europe, its member countries, and 
     the other members of the 
     G-8 to raise issues relating to religious freedom with 
     Russian officials in the context of the Russian Federation's 
     responsibilities both as President of the Council in 2006 and 
     as a member of the G-8.

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