III

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 58

Expressing the concern of Congress over Russia’s newly passed religion law.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 30, 1997

Mr. GRAMS (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Oregon) submitted the following

concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign

Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the concern of Congress over Russia’s newly

passed religion law.

Whereas the Russian legislature approved a bill ‘‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association’’, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed it into law on September 26;

Whereas under the new law, the Russian government exercises almost unrestricted control over the activities of

both Russian and international religious groups;

Whereas the new law will grant privileged status to some religions while discriminating against others through restrictive reporting and registration requirements;

Whereas the new law jeopardizes religious rights by permitting government officials, in consultation with privileged
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religious groups, to deny or revoke the registration of minority religions and order their possible disbandment or

prohibition, on the basis of such activities as home

schooling, nonmedical forms of healing, ‘‘hypnotic’’ sermons, and other vaguely defined offenses;

Whereas the law also restricts foreign missionary work in

Russia;

Whereas under the new law, religious organizations or

churches that wish to continue their activities in Russia

will have to provide confirmation that they have existed

at least 15 years, and only those who legally operated 50

years ago may be recognized as national ‘‘Russian’’ religious organizations;

Whereas although Article 14 of the Russian Constitution

stipulates that ‘‘religious associations are separate from

the state and are equal before the law’’, Article 19 states

that restriction of citizens’ rights on grounds of religious

affiliation are prohibited, and Article 28 stipulates that

‘‘each person is guaranteed freedom of conscience and

freedom . . . to choose, hold, and disseminate religious and

other convictions and to act in accordance with them’’,

the new law clearly violates these provisions of the Russian Constitution;

Whereas the Russian religion law violates accepted international agreements on human rights and religious freedoms to which the Russian Federation is a signatory, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the

Helsinki Final Act and Madrid and Vienna Concluding

Documents, and the European Convention on Human

Rights;
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Whereas governments have a primary responsibility to promote, encourage, and protect respect for the fundamental

and internationally recognized right to freedom of religion; and

Whereas the United States Government is committed to the

right to freedom of religion and its policies, and should

encourage foreign governments to commit to this principle: Now, therefore, be it—

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring), That Congress hereby—

3 (1) condemns the newly passed Russian

4 antireligion law restricting freedom of religion, and

5 violating international norms, international treaties

6 to which the Russian Federation is a signatory, and

7 the Constitution of Russia;

8 (2) recommends that President Clinton make

9 the United States position clear to President Yeltsin

10 and the Russian legislature that this antireligion law

11 may seriously harm United States-Russian relations;

12 (3) calls upon President Yeltsin and the Rus13 sian legislature to uphold their international commit14 ments on human rights, abide by the Russian Con15 stitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion, and re16 consider their position by amending the new

17 antireligion law and lifting all restrictions on free18 dom of religion; and
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1 (4) calls upon all governments and legislatures

2 of the independent states of the former Soviet Union

3 to respect religious human rights in accordance with

4 their international commitments and resist efforts to

5 adopt the Russian discriminatory law.

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