"Persecution and Redemption"
Action on Religious Persecution
by Philip Peters

The Washington Times
September 25, 1997

This year, Washington has caught on to a fact that human rights activists have known for some time: Persecution of Christians is on the rise around the world. This issue was at the center of the debate on China's trade status, and the State Department issued a special report on it in July.

Now, the question is whether anything will be done about it.

New legislation introduced by Senator Arlen Specter and Representative Frank Wolf, the Freedom From Religious Persecution Act, is so laden with new economic sanctions and foreign policy prescriptions that it has drawn the opposition of the Administration, business, and pro-trade groups, and is destined for prolonged debate.

While that debate goes on, four other senators have proposed a far more immediate and concrete way for the United States to help.

On September 10, Senators Spencer Abraham, Edward Kennedy, Orrin Hatch, and Patrick Leahy called on the Administration to abandon its current plan to cut next year's admissions of refugees from the former Soviet Union. They deserve the support of anyone concerned about Christians and other victims of religious persecution around the world.

The State Department wants to cut admissions from the former Soviet Union to 21,000, even though 27,000 were admitted this year. The Senators propose instead 30,000 admissions from the former Soviet Union, with no reductions in planned admissions from other regions.

This proposal is modest. The Clinton Administration has driven refugee admissions down 40 percent, and if the Senators' proposal is accepted, total 1998 admissions would be 87,000, far lower than the 100,000-plus refugees admitted annually from 1989 to 1995.

The Senators' letter has ignited a debate among Administration aides, who must soon decide on the number of refugees to admit in 1998. They need look no further than the Administration's own reports on religious persecution in the former Soviet Union. These reports document that:

Legislation passed last week by the lower house of Russia's parliament would require the registration of new religious groups, and would require these groups to wait up to fifteen years to obtain full legal status. During this period, these groups would be barred from importing or distributing religious materials, and it would be difficult for them to own property or have bank accounts. This bill does not apply to Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism or Buddhism; instead, it would affect faiths newer to Russia, especially evangelical Christians. President Yeltsin vetoed the bill once but now seems prepared to sign it.

About one fourth of Russia's regional governments have laws restricting religious activity.

Russian authorities have made Christian missionary work difficult or impossible in some regions, and they have made recovery of property difficult for non-Orthodox faiths, including the Catholic church.

As a result Pentecostals and other evangelical Christians now account for about half the refugees from the former Soviet Union.

The State Department argues against any increase in refugee admissions. In spite of conditions in the former Soviet Union, it claims that interest in the U.S. refugee program is declining, even though 6,000 more were admitted this year than it proposes to admit next year.

But even if less than 30,000 admissions slots for the former Soviet Union are needed in 1998, the increase in overall admissions would give the Administration greater flexibility to address other crises. This year, the Administration exceeded its planned admissions from the former Yugoslavia by 25 percent. If the implementation of the Dayton accords continues to prove difficult, the need to resettle refugees from this region will grow. And, following the historical pattern in other refugee crises, American action to resettle refugees from the former Yugoslavia will cause European and other countries to accept greater numbers of these refugees for resettlement.

Last year, the House and Senate defeated legislative attempts to slash refugee admissions. The Senators' action is one more demonstration of the bipartisan consensus supporting American action to help refugees fleeing oppression. President Clinton should view their proposal as an opportunity to help victims of religious oppression, and to revitalize American humanitarian leadership around the globe.