III

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 283

To express the sense of the Senate concerning creation of a new position

in the White House as Senior Advisor on Religious Persecution.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 26, 1996

Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. BENNETT, and Mr. FAIRCLOTH)

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee

on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

To express the sense of the Senate concerning creation of

a new position in the White House as Senior Advisor

on Religious Persecution.

1 (a) FINDINGS.—The Senate finds that—

2 (1) Americans are increasingly concerned about

3 anti-Christian persecution overseas, including rape,

4 torture, enslavement, imprisonment, killings, mutila5 tions, discrimination, and mistreatment of Chris6 tians, and the fact that far too many foreign govern7 ments systematically deny their Christian citizens re8 ligious liberty;
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1 (2) reports indicate that the Government of

2 Sudan is currently involved in the enslavement of

3 the Christian populations of southern Sudan. Today

4 in Sudan, a human being can be bought for as little

5 as fifteen dollars. It has been estimated that in the

6 last six years, more than 30,000 children have been

7 taken from their homes, forcibly interned in ‘‘cul8 tural cleansing camps,’’ forced to accept Islam and

9 then moved to the front lines of Sudan’s civil war;

10 (3) in China, there are reports of the imprison11 ment and detention of many Chinese Christians

12 under a 1994 law which restricts religious freedom.

13 It has been reported that in 1992, Protestant leader

14 Zheng Yunsu was arrested and sentenced to twelve

15 years in jail simply for practicing his religion. Addi16 tionally, between October 1994 and June 1995,

17 more than 200 Christians were apparently detained

18 in the Henan province. One of those arrested, Ren

19 Ping, was sentenced, without trial, to three years of

20 reeducation through labor. According to Amnesty

21 International, more than thirty Chinese Catholics in

22 Jiangzi province were arrested and severely beaten

23 while celebrating Easter Mass earlier this year;

24 (4) in the Muslim-controlled Oromo region of

25 Ethiopia, reports indicate that in 1994, officials
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1 raided the area’s largest Christian Church and ar2 rested most of its congregants. Many of those ar3 rested died while in prison. The leader of the con4 gregation was tortured and his eyes were plucked

5 out;

6 (5) in several Islamic countries conversion to

7 Christianity from Islam is a crime punishable by

8 death;

9 (6) it has been reported that Christians have

10 been effectively excluded from the political process in

11 many countries. In Pakistan, for example, Christians

12 can vote only for token representatives to the Na13 tional Assembly;

14 (7) there is no Senior Advisor on religious per15 secution in the White House to ensure that anti16 Christian persecution overseas is given top priority

17 by the White House and to coordinate efforts to

18 combat such persecution; and

19 (8) the President had committed, in January

20 1996, to appoint a White House Senior Advisor on

21 religious persecution, but has yet to do so.

22 (b) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the

23 Senate that the President should proceed forward as expe-
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1 ditiously as possible by appointing a White House Senior

2 Advisor on religious persecution.

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