H.R. 2431, To Establish an Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring, to Provide for the Imposition of Sanctions Against Countries Engaged in a Pattern of Religious Persecution, and for Other Purposes

SPEAKERS       CONTENTS       INSERTS

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45–504 CC
1998
H.R. 2431, TO ESTABLISH AN OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION MONITORING, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST COUNTRIES ENGAGED IN A PATTERN OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

SEPTEMBER 18, 1997

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

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COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman
WILLIAM GOODLING, Pennsylvania
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska
CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina
DANA ROHRABACHER, California
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
PETER T. KING, New York
JAY KIM, California
STEVEN J. CHABOT, Ohio
MARSHALL ''MARK'' SANFORD, South Carolina
MATT SALMON, Arizona
AMO HOUGHTON, New York
TOM CAMPBELL, California
JON FOX, Pennsylvania
JOHN McHUGH, New York
LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina

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ROY BLUNT, Missouri
KEVIN BRADY, Texas
LEE HAMILTON, Indiana
SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut
TOM LANTOS, California
HOWARD BERMAN, California
GARY ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
ROBERT ANDREWS, New Jersey
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia
ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
PAT DANNER, Missouri
EARL HILLIARD, Alabama
WALTER CAPPS, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
STEVE ROTHMAN, New Jersey
BOB CLEMENT, Tennessee
BILL LUTHER, Minnesota
JIM DAVIS, Florida
RICHARD J. GARON, Chief of Staff

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MICHAEL H. VAN DUSEN, Democratic Chief of Staff

Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois
DAN BURTON, Indiana
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina
PETER T. KING, New York
MATT SALMON, Arizona
LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
TOM LANTOS, California
CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
GROVER JOSEPH REES, Subcommittee Staff Director and Chief Counsel
ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Professional Staff Member
DOUGLAS C. ANDERSON, Counsel
ELISE M. KENDERIAN, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S

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APPENDIX

    H.R. 2431, To establish an Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring, to provide for the imposition of sanctions against countries engaged in a pattern of religious persecution, and for other purposes
    Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2431, offered by Mr. Smith, a Representative in Congress from New Jersey and chairman, Subcommittee on International Operations and human Rights
    Statement of Mr. Smith
    Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2431 offered by Mr. Smith
MARKUP OF H.R. 2431, TO ESTABLISH AN OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION MONITORING, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST COUNTRIES ENGAGED IN A PATTERN OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1997
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.

    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m. in room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher Smith (chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
    Mr. SMITH. The Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights meets today in open session pursuant to notice to consider H.R. 2431, the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1997, which has been referred to the Subcommittee. The Chair lays the bill before the Subcommittee, and the clerk will report the title of the bill.

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    The CLERK. Title of the bill is a bill ''To establish an Office for Religious Persecution Monitoring to provide for the imposition of sanctions against countries engaged in a pattern of religious persecution and for other purposes.''
    [The bill H.R. 2431 appears in the appendix.]
    Mr. SMITH. The Chair lays before the Committee an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and the clerk will report the amendment.
    The CLERK. Amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr. Smith.
    ''Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof''——
    Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment in the nature of a substitute will be considered as having been read and open to amendment at any time.
    Without objection, the amendment in the nature of a substitute will be considered as a base text of a purpose of amendment, and I would like to make an opening comment at this point and then would like to yield to my good friend from California, Mr. Lantos, Ranking Member of our Subcommittee.
    [The amendment appears in the appendix.]
    Mr. SMITH. This meeting of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights is a markup of H.R. 2431, the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act.
    The Subcommittee has held a number of hearings on the subject of religious persecution. One hearing was on the persecution of Christians worldwide, another was on the continued danger of worldwide anti-Semitism and especially on the privatizing of anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union. We have heard of the torture of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns, and atrocities against Muslims in Bosnia and the Baha'i in Iran.
    The time has now come not just to talk about the problem of religious persecution, but to do something about it. Congressman Frank Wolf, a hero of the human rights movement, has shown us the way, and I am very proud to be a cosponsor of Mr. Wolf's bill, as are other Members of the Subcommittee, including my good friend, Mr. Lantos.

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    In a few moments I will offer a Chairman's substitute amendment which the Subcommittee staff has worked out with Congressman Wolf and his staff as well as Chairman Gilman and the Full Committee staff. Various drafts of the amendment were also shared with the Democratic staff over the course of the last few days, and we did our best to respond to their suggestions and those of Members of the Committee.
    Let me briefly describe what the substitute amendment does. First, it makes very clear that the protections afforded by this bill apply to everyone—Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, religious believers of any faith—who are severely persecuted because of their religious belief, practice, or affiliation.
    Pursuant to this inclusive approach, we also adopt a specific finding suggested by Congressman Rohrabacher with respect to the Uighur, an overwhelmingly Muslim ethnic group in the formerly independent Republic of East Turkistan who are now persecuted by the Communist Government of China.
    We make crystal clear that in affording heightened protection for members of religious communities whose situation is particularly compelling, we do not sacrifice any of the protections afforded victims of other forms of persecution whether based on religion or other grounds under existing law.
    We fine-tune the carefully calibrated sanctions the bill would impose against persecuting governments to ensure that we cut off assistance that helps these governments, but not assistance that helps the truly needy in the countries that serve vital U.S. interests.
    We extend the national security waiver which formerly applied to all sanctioned governments, except the Government of Sudan, to include the sanctions imposed against the government by section 12 of the bill.
    We made clear that all sanctions will terminate automatically against countries which are not listed as offenders in the latest report by the Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring.

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    We also clarify the bill with a number of technical and conforming changes.
    This amendment goes a long way toward addressing criticisms of the bill as originally introduced. Frankly, we went as far as we could without giving up the heart and soul of the bill and rendering it less effective as a tool in the struggle against these terrible human rights abuses. The bill still places the Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring in the White House, because I agree with Congressman Wolf, this problem is too important to be buried in a single bureau within a single agency. We also retain strong sanctions, although I agree that they are carefully tailored to meet the evil we are trying to address, and we have resisted creating a waiver so broad that persecuting governments would have no strong incentives to clean up their act.
    I note further changes will be proposed as the legislative process moves along. This is clearly a work in progress, and I believe that in evaluating these changes we must keep in mind the crucial fact that tyrants understand strength. They also understand weakness. Of all the millions of people who are victimized by tyrants around the world today, many are in trouble because they share our values and share our beliefs in God. This bill is designed to help people whose situation is particularly compelling and who are suffering a terrible, horrific plight because of their belief system.
    I yield to Mr. Lantos.
    [The statement of Mr. Smith appears in the appendix.]
    Mr. LANTOS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    I want to commend you and our friend, Congressman Wolf, for presenting this legislation, and I want to reaffirm my deep commitment and support for the fundamental principles behind this legislation. I obviously support the concept of freedom of religion. It is a fundamental human right, and we must take the strongest possible action to protect basic human rights around the world, including the right to freedom of religious belief. The United States must be in the forefront of opposition to all religious persecution as a violation of fundamental human rights.

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    As you well know, Mr. Chairman, there are two kinds of opposition to this legislation. There are some who oppose this legislation because they are opposed to the whole concept of putting teeth behind legislation dealing with human rights. These groups and individuals will oppose this legislation to whatever extent we might be able to improve upon it, and I have no common cause with them. But I do have some concerns about the legislation in its present form, although I want to commend you for the amendment that you offer because it distinctly improves the original draft.
    When hearings were held last week, as you recall, there were serious questions raised about the legislation. To begin with, the Administration indicated that it does not support the bill in its present form. A number of human rights groups have written to the Committee to express serious concern concerning the legislation, as have a number of our colleagues who are among the most effective champions of human rights. I personally expressed a number of reservations about the bill as it is presently drafted, and I would like to touch on a few of these.
    The bill gives priority to religious persecution at the expense—could we have order in the Committee room, Mr. Chairman?
    Mr. SMITH. The gentleman will proceed.
    Mr. LANTOS. Thank you.
    The bill gives priority to religious persecution at the expense of other human rights. I find this aspect of the legislation particularly disturbing because in many countries the prime human rights under attack are not in the realm of religious freedom. In some countries it is ethnic issues; in some countries it is racial issues; in some countries it is political issues; in some countries it is matters relating to freedom of speech or freedom of the media. And since our commitment to human rights must be a universal commitment, I have some difficulty in accepting the notion that we are singling out one aspect of human rights, the right to religious freedom, over other aspects of human rights.

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    I find, for instance, as we all know, that in some countries the prime victims of human rights violations are women who have second class status in many aspects of community life. In those countries, to focus attention on the violation of religious freedom I think misses the point, because in countries which primarily discriminate against women, our focus should be on obtaining equal human rights for women as women. In some countries political freedoms, the rights to free speech, free assembly, free association in political groupings are the ones most vigorously denied, and in those countries our focus clearly needs to be on those items.
    I also have a great deal of difficulty with the notion of giving primary authority in the Administration for questions of religious persecution to an individual in the White House by passing the foreign policy apparatus of this country. The President's designated representative in dealing with other countries is the Secretary of State. Our Secretary of State, as indeed most previous Secretaries of State, is committed to human rights. In the person of the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Secretary Shattuck, we have an individual passionately committed to protecting human rights across the globe, and I find it inappropriate for us to legislate an office within the White House bypassing the appropriate agencies of the Government of the United States; namely, the Department of State in dealing with these issues. This simply does not make good policy sense, and I hope that during the course of the next few days we will be able to deal with this issue effectively.
    I am also concerned about the automaticity of sanctions. Now, I am one of those people who believes in sanctions. Obviously, I prefer multilateral sanctions to unilateral sanctions, but I prefer unilateral sanctions to no sanctions. So I have no problem with sanctions. But I would like sanctions to be applied on the basis of an overall assessment of U.S. foreign policy and national interests and not automatic sanctions. This one-size-fits-all policy which when religious persecution is established automatically goes into effect, may be counterproductive to U.S. national interests.

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    Mr. Chairman, I welcome your efforts to improve the legislation through your amendment, and having carefully studied your amendment, I want to commend you for making significant improvements with respect to the original draft. But I do not believe that your amendment goes anywhere near far enough; there are still fundamental flaws in the bill. I encourage you and Chairman Gilman and others to work with the Department of State, with Secretary Shattuck, and with those of our colleagues who still have severe reservations about the legislation in its present form, so when we bring it to the floor we can get the kind of overwhelming support that the intent of the legislation merits.
    I will not propose any amendments at this hearing because I hope that the concerns I have expressed will be addressed in dialog and discussion during the course of the next few days. If they are not, I will propose amendments at the time of our Full Committee meeting, and if the amendments do not succeed, I may have to reconsider my support of the legislation.
    I thank the Chair.
    Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Lantos.
    The Chair recognizes Mr. Salmon, the gentleman from Arizona.
    Mr. SALMON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    I would like to join with Congressman Lantos in congratulating you and Congressman Wolf in diligently attempting to address a very, very critical issue across the globe. I believe that there is not a more fundamental right, human right, than the right to worship according to the dictates of your own conscience.
    Our country was formed by a group of dissidents 200 years ago who believed that that was such an important issue that they were willing to leave their motherland to pursue their beliefs, and so obviously that is something I hope really as a member of a church that, I believe, has undergone great persecution over the last—well, not that currently, but in the last century that there was tremendous persecution. I am reminded that as we look to our neighbors to improve their situation as it comes to religious persecution, it wasn't so long ago that tremendous religious persecution took place in this very country.

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    And I am also of the belief that even though we think we are out of the woods and we are the moral arbiter of religious freedom across the globe, we have still got our problems, and we see them with swastikas being burned on synagogue lawns and vandalism and some of the horrors that are done in the name of religion still yet in this country, and I still have problems with the fact that in this country it is OK to talk about certain religious tenets, but others are forbidden when it comes to the separation of church and State.
    All that being said, I know that the goals and the motives behind this legislation are noble, but I have got to share a lot of the concerns that Congressman Lantos has raised. Being somewhat of a fiscal conservative, I have a real problem establishing yet one more bureaucracy, one more level of government, when I believe that we have proper mechanisms to deal with religious persecution, religious violations across the globe because we are frustrated that it is too little too late maybe and because it is not addressing a lot of the concerns; the current mechanism isn't addressing concerns that we believe should be addressed, problems in Sudan, problems in China, problems in Mexico, I mean problems virtually across the globe that have not been addressed.
    We wring our hands and we get frustrated and so we attempt to correct that through yet one more piece of legislation, and although those motives are very, very noble, and I think I would laud them, I think that probably, without the ability to articulate as well as Congressman Lantos, I share those concerns, I share them deeply, because I wonder aloud also how political this office can become. Many times when stand-alone offices are established it seems as though the individual that is placed in that position uses it as a stepping stone or a place to thump their chest for their own gains, and I have concerns about that. I am going to keep an open mind, and as Congressman Lantos has expressed on his side, we want to accomplish the same objectives. But I think that the concerns have to be addressed.
    I agree also that foreign policy initiatives are best suited with the Secretary of State and within the Administration, and deep concerns are becoming way too fragmented. By becoming so fragmented, I think there is an extreme possibility that we delude our ability to be successful and maybe not enhance our ability, so I hope we keep those concerns.

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    I would like to thank Congressman Lantos for expressing opinions that I have deep in my heart but maybe can't articulate as well as he can.
    Thank you very much.
    Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Salmon.
    If there are no further comments, I would like to just begin with one very brief clarifying amendment I would like to offer, and the clerk will report the amendment.
    The CLERK. ''Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr. Smith of New Jersey, page 18, line 20, strike ''for humanitarian assistance'' and insert''——
    Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as having been read.
    [The amendment appears in the appendix.]
    Mr. SMITH. And this amendment very simply clarifies humanitarian exemption to the sanctions imposed on persecuting governments by making clear that our support for multilateral sanctions should not have the effect of blocking aid that helps the people of these countries and not the government. So it is a very straightforward, and I think a very simple amendment, and I would ask my colleagues to support it.
    Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I think it is a very good amendment, and I strongly support it.
    Mr. SMITH. I would like to then put the question. As many as are in favor of the amendment will say aye.
    Opposed.
    The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
    Are there any further amendments to the legislation?
    Anyone else would like to be heard on the legislation?

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    If not, then I would ask one of my colleagues if they would move the legislation to the Full Committee.
    Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Chairman, I move the Subcommittee report the bill, H.R. 2431, as amended, to the Full Committee with the recommendation that the bill, as amended by the Subcommittee, be reported to the House.
    Mr. SMITH. The question is on the motion.
    As many as are in favor of the motion signify by saying aye.
    As many as are opposed signify by saying no.
    The ayes appear to have it, and the motion is agreed to.
    I want to thank my colleagues for coming to the markup, and we look forward to working with my good friend, Mr. Lantos, in the Full Committee.
    [Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

A P P E N D I X

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