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Council threatens to become organ of repression

THE COUNCIL IN MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND ITS CRITICS
by Daria Sobakina
Politkom.ru, 5 May 2009

The composition of the council within the Ministry of Justice evoked protests because of fears that it will be turned into an organ of repression.

The composition of the Expert Council for Conducting Religious Expert Analysis under the Ministry of Justice evoked active public discussion. The chairman of the expert council elected last month is the president of the Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religion and Sects, Professor Alexander Dvorkin. His vice-chairmen are the director of the Center for Defense of Rights of the World Russian National Assembly, Roman Silantiev, and vice-chairman of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan republic, Valiulla Yakupov. These personnel decisions evoked dissatisfaction on the part of Russian protestants, some Muslims, and also specialists in the area of religious studies.

By order of the Ministry of Justice, which went into effect on 31 March 2009, the procedure for conducting religious expert analyses and the by-laws for the expert council were confirmed. In accordance with the document, the tasks of the state religious expert analysis is to ascertain whether an organization has a religious character (on the basis both of its charter documents and doctrine and of its actual activity). In the event of a negative answer the likelihood arises of the cancellation of the registration of this organizations.

All three directors of the council are extremely contradictory figures. Alexander Dvorkin received widespread notoriety as a fighter against totalitarian sects; with this concept he also associates several charismatic protestant movements, including Pentecostals, to which belongs the most influential leader of Russian protestantism, Bishop Sergei Riakhovsky, who is a member of the Public Chamber. Dvorkin heads the department of sect studies in the St. Tikhon Orthodox Humanities University, from which Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov was graduated. Dvorkin is closely linked with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox church, which has bestowed on him the orders of saints Daniel and Innokenty. The membership of the council includes several "regional" associates of Dvorkin, including one priest of the Russian Orthodox church.

In the course of several years Roman Silantiev has been executive secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia (in this capacity he was a protégé of the current Patriarch Kirill), but he quit this post after a scandal in 2005, when he published a book, "Modern History of the Islamic Community of Russia." This work contained criticism directed to a number of Muslim leaders, followers of the chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia Ravil Gainutdin, who participated in the activity of this council. Valiulla Yakupov evoked protests from many Muslims because of her positive attitude toward the idea of burning books declared by a court to be extremist (recently courts have found a whole series of works of Muslim authors, including the testament of Ayatollah Khomeni, to be in this category).

It is not surprising that a number of religious leaders, experts, and public figures have spoken out against the composition of the council. "It is a bad joke or a downright mockery of religious feelings and civil rights of Russian believers," declared the co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, the head of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Volga region, Mukaddas Bibarsov. Protestant Bishop Sergei Riakhovsky acknowledged that he expected from this body "very corrupt actions," and he called its creation an "attack on freedom of conscience and religious human rights."  He demanded that Alexander Konovalov resign from the post of minister. Director of the Institute of Religion and Law Roman Lunkin suggested that for the sect scholars who are members of the council practically all non-Orthodox believers are "sectarians," and they confuse the protestant churches with new religious movements. Negative assessments of the membership of the council were expressed by several members of the Public Chamber (Alexander Brod, Maksim Shevchenko).

At the same time the leadership of the Russian Orthodox church has supported the membership of the council. The head of the synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Church-State Relations, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, thinks that "criticism of the council is apparently related to the fact that its membership includes people who are not afraid to confront directly problems associated with the interests of some religious groups, especially those that have strong political and financial support from abroad." As regards Dvorkin, he "at least is competent within that sphere in which he works," the archpriest thinks. The new composition of the council can be considered a sign of the strengthening of the influence of the Russian Orthodox church on social processes, which is one of the goals of Patriarch Kirill, and has received positive assessments from religious leaders.

Minister Konovalov rejected the criticism that has resounded with regard to the recently formed council.  He declared that "the council was created by the Ministry of Justice in strict conformity with existing legislation. The limits of the competence of the council are normatively determined and supplied with adequate mechanisms of control, and its competence is not very wide and the decisions of the council bear only the character of a recommendation."  He said that criticism expressed against the Ministry of Justice in connection with the creation of the council "bears a basically incompetent and incorrect character."

According to the chairman of the Information Department of RPTs, Vladimir Legoida, the position of head of the council that Dvorkin has now attained is "more responsible" than all those posts that he occupied previously, and Dvorkin himself "understands that." These words could be seen as a signal that a sect scholar in the role of chairman of the council will be more moderate than in his statements in the capacity of a private individual. However, Dvorkin's first steps in the post of chairman of the council have shown that he, on the contrary, is inclined to take a stern position. Thus he subjected to sharp criticism the activity of the Russian Bible Society, headed by the famous Orthodox priest Alexander Borisov and he has stated unequivocally that he will work for depriving this organization of its religious status.

The composition of the council in the Ministry of Justice has evoked protests because of fear that it will be turned into an organ of repression with respect both to both confessions and religious organizations that are "nontraditional" for Russia and to a part of the Muslim community. Blows may be felt by such religious organizations as Mormons, Krishnas, Jehovah's Witnesses and others which have long been subjected to sharp critique on Dvorkin's part. However, practice has shown that they can find protection in the European Court for Human Rights which, of course, requires a great deal of time.  (tr. by PDS, posted 7 May 2009)

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Interfax links criticism of council with extremists

RADICAL POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OPPOSES EXPERT COUNCIL IN MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
Interfax, 5 May 2009

The "Volya" ["Liberty"] political party, which is not officially registered, has viewed in the creation of the council for religious expert analysis within the Ministry of Justice of RF an attempt by the government to implant the laws of the inquisition.

"Now not only religious, political, and public organizations but also any citizen can, on the initiative of administrative and law enforcement agencies and courts, be subjected to 'expert analysis' for determining adherence to a 'totalitarian sect' or performance by him of 'extremist' activity!  The mouth will not simply be shut for any criticism; it will be sewn by the strong thread of the inquisition!" an informational leaflet of the party, posted on its site, says.

In connection with the creation of the above mentioned council the authors of the proclamation note that "today the government and church are united in common interests. They wish to acquite their absolute influence over the population of Russia."

According to the authors of the leaflet, "the search for 'internal enemies' by the government and church has been conducted for a long time; criminal cases have been carried out against undesirable citizens of RF, hounding has been organized in news media, false evidence ha be fabricated, and a anticonstitutional list of 'sects' has been created jointly by employees of the Moscow patriarchate and organs of state security."

Now, as is noted further, "it has been decided to put under this anticonstitutional and, to speak frankly, unchristian activity a legislative base."

The "Volya" organization, which is now planning to become a party, was created last year by a resident of Samara, Svetlana Peunova, who is a typical guru in the spirit of "New Age," the secretary of the evangelism department of Tula diocese, Aleksei Yarasov, said earlier in an article published on the "Russkaia liniia" site.

The leader of the party considers herself a divinely chosen prophet and saint. Expanding her "healing" activity in Samara, Peunova began engaging in politics; he actively participated in elections for the State Duma, for the regional legislature, and even for mayor of Toliatti.

She is also well known for her pseudo-healing activity within the framework of the "Academy of Development of Svetlana Peunova" (previously the "Path to the Sun" center) she created. In January, "Peunovites" conducted a massive meeting in Ulianovsk using anti-crisis slogans and in March they held several unsanctioned demonstrations "in defense of the rights of citizens" in Tula.

In 2004, the concluding document of the international scientific practical conference "Totalitarian sects and the democratic state" listed Peunova's organization among the most destructive totalitarians sects and occult centers. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2009)

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Adventists call for elimination of council

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS EXPRESS CONCERN OVER COMPOSITION OF EXPERT COUNCIL
Portal-credo.ru, 5 May 2009

The church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians expressed concern relative to the composition of the Expert Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis within the Ministry of Justice of RF and supported the appeal to Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov within the framework of the "No to Inquisitors!" action, the press Service of Slavic Legal Center reports. An appeal to the minister of justice of RF in the name of the Seventh-day Adventists was sent by assistant director of the church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians in Russia and countries of CIS, V.V. Vitko.

In the appeal Vitko says:  "The church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians expresses concern relative to the composition of the Expert Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis within the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation, which was formed by order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia of 3 March 2009.

First, the expert council has been given unprecedented powers of a state organ for control over religious organizations and also forms and methods of religious activity that can be viewed as a violation of the principle of separation of church from state and as crude interference in the internal affairs of religious organizations.

Second, a whole group of members of the expert council are not only representatives of a specific religious organization but also are people known for their struggle with non-Orthodox organizations and movements in our country from positions of Orthodox sectarian studies. These are, for example, A.L. Dvorkin, A.V. Kuzmin, E.V. Mukhtarov, A.V. Vasilchenko, and Lev Semenov. Meanwhile it was such radically minded sect scholars who were included in the expert council, receiving the right to make recommendations in the name of the government which will inevitably lead in the future to conflicts and judicial actions in the area of violations of the rights of believers in Russia.

Third, the rating of religious organizations, aimed at a public approval of one or another world view on an irregular and extralegal basis through bestowal or nonbestowal of governmental status of a religious organization on the basis of a decision of the expert council violates article 14, article 28, part 2, article 29 and article 13, part 1 of the constitution of RF. It violates the provision that the state "does not intervene in the activity of religious associations if it does not violate the federal law 'On freedom of conscience and religious associations' (point 2, article 4)."

We ask you to exclude from the membership of the expert council the persons named in this letter. We call you, esteemed Alexander Vladimirovich, to display principle and governmental wisdom for the sake of interconfessional peace and harmony in our country. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2009)


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Baptist leader objects to justice council

YURY SIPKO:  "PEOPLE WITH FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE ARE BEARERS OF RUSSIA'S SOVEREIGNTY"
Press Service of Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, 4 May 2009

Recently a new statute regarding the Expert Council for Conduct of State Religious Expert Analysis within the Ministry of Justice of Russia was adopted. This statute as well as the personnel constituting this council have evoked an ambiguous reaction and roiled the religious peace of Russia. Representatives of various religious communities and organizations of rights advocates have stated their position on this matter. The Institute of Religion and Law took the initiative to conduct a protest action. We turned to the president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Yury Kirillovich Sipko, requesting a comment on these latest events.

--Yuri Kirillovich, the creation of the expert council within the Ministry of Justice evoked stormy discontent within the protestant camp. What caused this?

--There are at least two weighty causes for discontent. First, the expert council was vested with functions not provided for by law.  To scrutinize the actions of registered religious organizations regarding the conformity of its activity to the charter goals and tasks is within the competence of registration agencies, that is, the Ministry of Justice itself.

Second, the composition of the expert council evokes discontent. An expert is called to give an impartial assessment of one or another matter and to be an unconditional authority in the given area. The council was composed in such a way that only one of its members is a recognized academic religious studies specialist. The others to a greater or lesser extent are people with clearly expressed religious affiliations and hostility to other confessions. They, by definition, cannot be impartial experts in the area of religion.

In this regard, an alarming tendency in lawmaking and executive practice in the area of freedom of conscience has cropped up. The principle of freedom of conscience is established in the area of human rights and freedom. The principle of freedom of conscience established the nonsubordination of conscience to any state agencies. This principle was violated by the law of 1997 and by the creation of the expert council. No matter how educated scholars are, nobody has the right to order me how and in whom to believe. Freedom of conscience comes first!

It is people with freedom of conscience who are the bearers of the sovereignty of Russia. The constitution of Russia declares freedom of conscience for all citizens of the country. The constitution confirms freedom and maintains the right of each citizen to confess any religion or not to confess one. The constitution establishes the equality of all religions before the law.

The law on religious organizations adopted in 1997 established a dangerous principle of differentiation of religions into especially important and respected ones, calling them traditional, and the others who are required to prove their right to life. The law is actually anticonstitutional. Recent actions of the Ministry of Justice are the logical continuation of ignoring the constitution. If one speaks plainly, there is an obvious seizure of the religious space by the Orthodox community. The minister of justice has not fulfilled his function of guarantor of the supremacy of rights and the protector of law. As President Medvedev himself said, our society is characterized by legal nihilism. And now a man has been made minister of justice who obviously does not understand the essence of law. Such a state of affairs again forces me to make a suggestion to the president. It is necessary to require all candidates for government service to take exams on knowledge of the constitution of Russia. I consider also that it is necessary for the upper echelon of the state to take an oath of loyalty to the constitution of Russia.  Everybody should serve the fatherland and not cater to their boss.

--Are you worried that this council might cause real problems for the life of Evangelical Christian-Baptist churches?

--No. I do not feel such worry. On the contrary, I am sure EKhB churches will receive a blessing from this action of the government. How can any council harm my faith? After all we are people of the kingdom of God. The Lord clearly said "Do not fear the one who can destroy the body and cannot harm the soul."

Evangelical Christians-Baptists have endured persecutions from their Orthodox brothers. The tsarist regime treated them with contempt. Militant atheism of the proletarian state oppressed them. The Stalinist GULAG, it seems, destroyed faith itself along with Bible and clergy and everything else except communism. However Stalin is dead and Baptists live. I noted that the more severe were the repressions, the stronger was faith. This pertains also to the first centuries of the history of Christianity just as the subsequent ones. I am sure that the present campaign for bringing the whole country into the same faith will only increase the thirst in people to be citizens and to be free. Baptists, who affirm the principle of freedom of conscience for all, will be substantially strengthened in such circumstances. Praise God!

The council will cause harm, and already as caused harm to my fatherland.

----Has a common position been worked out by protestants with regard to this commission and what is it?

--It consists of this that we all unanimously consider that it is a violation of the constitution of the country. It is a clear violation of the law of the country. So far our protestant voices have a common character. In order to speak of resulting actions a precedent is needed, which could be tested in court.

--Does the RSEKhB support the action of the Institute of Religion and Law?

--Yes. Unconditionally. This is essentially more a civil position than a religious agreement. One of Putin's first statements after taking office as president was a declaration that he wishes to strengthen only the dictatorship of law in Russia. It didn't happen. The new president, Medvedev, also changed his wish. Legal nihilism is the problem of problems in Russia. And this issue in the Ministry of Justice is a splendid illustration of this.

We support the action in order to help the president break up legal nihilism.

--What do you expect from this action?

--Two things, obviously. First, a demonstration of public inequality. We should declare our position and not hide our head in the sand, as if nothing has happened. When the Soviet Union calculated the nuclear danger, haggling with Reagan over prolonging the agony of dying, there was an anecdote. There was a union meeting. The chairman of the union committee gave a basic report and turned to the plans and goals. "And so, on Saturday everybody must arrive at 11:00 in holiday clothes. And bring a rope."  "Why? It's a day off." "That what the provincial committee decided!" "But why a rope?" "Everybody will hang!" The meeting got quiet. "Are there any questions?" One hand cautiously went up. "Speak."  A shy voice:  "Do we have to buy the rope ourselves or will the union share the cost?"

The ineradicable spirit of self-destruction which the import of the communist ideology from Europe spread in Russia must now be driven back. We must learn to respect one another and to value one another and to love one another. We are few in Russia.

Second, it is time for the state to understand its function. To serve the people and to control various things. The constitutional principle is that all power belongs to the people. It is time to understand this. That means that it is the people, the individual who is valuable in Russia and all governmental institutions serve the individual. His comfort, his freedom, his rights, these are the supreme values that all governmental institutions and all state employees are obliged to defend. There is a criminal code; there is a civil code. There are agencies seeing to their observance. There are agencies pursuing violators. Faith, conscience, freedom of conscience are sovereign. Governmental authority should not be partial to representatives of one faith and disparage or limit the rights of representatives of another.

--How does one square the principle that "all authority is from God" with participation in such actions that are directed against the actions of the authorities?

--There is a problem here. Its first part is that there is no God in public consciousness. There is no absolute authority; there is no absolute conscience. It is what Dostoevsky said in his time:  "If there is no God, then everything is permitted." This bitter deceit has led to the government's taking to itself God's rights. The problem is that society has divinized authority and given up its accountability, transparency, and competence. But sacred scripture maintains that much is required from one who has been given much.

The principle that "there is no authority except from God" affirms that all authority, absolute authority, proceeds from God. Everything that began began through him and without him nothing began.

That is the principle that affirms the divine origin of authority. One must understand that the authority of one person over another is nonsense. That is what the "Universal Declaration of Human Right" maintains.  "All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and must deal with one another in a spirit of brotherhood," the first article of the declaration says.

Sin and subsequent damnation have destroyed the ideal in relationships between humanity and God and among people. That is why the state is required. God, who possesses absolute authority, has delegated some of it to humanity. That is what sacred scripture says:  "for the ruler is God's servant for your good." I want to stress this fundamental proposition:  the state is for your good. For me the state, in such a case, protects me and my freedom, my faith, my rights, my welfare. For people holding authority, in such a case, this is their supreme duty in God's name, protecting me as well as all citizens, protecting their interests, their freedoms and their rights. In essence they are the representation of God in human society. And I want to add that they are God's representation not in a religious sense but in the sense of the supreme standards of morality and law.

Is the civic protest directed against the state? By no means. Such a sick reaction is characteristic of underdeveloped communities or people who have seized power illegally. The state cannot consider actions of citizens who are complaining and talking about their pain as actions against the state. It would be like a physician thinking a patient who complains about pain is defying his medical authority. As a physician responding to the complaint of a patient hastens to help him, just so the government, hearing a citizen's complaint, should immediately respond to restore the freedom and rights of the citizen.

Here's a biblical illustration. When hundreds of the Israelites surrounded Moses, expecting judicial decisions from him, it was not an action against Moses' authority. It was a realization of the delegated authority from God. When Moses apportioned his authority, he established a hierarchy of authority whose task it was to serve the people and resolve their problems. Important things that the people brought to Moscow obviously were not properly resolved at the lower strata of authority. And when people came to Moses, he did not think these complaints were a protest against authority. As the possessor of supreme authority he judged the people in accordance with God's law, fairly and impartially. In light of our conversation, I am delighted that in deep antiquity, in the law of God, it was required to judge fairly, both the newcomer and the old-timer and the Israelite, not respecting person or color of skin or nationality or religious affiliation. Has Russian civilization really lagged behind world civilization so many thousands of years? That is really legal nihilism. However God decided: Ninevah was to be destroyed and exist no more. However when the people began to pray and repent God had pity on the city and was merciful to the inhabitants. Only incompetent bureaucrats can consider protests to be action directed against their authority. The voice of citizens is the expression of a higher authority behind which is the voice of God himself. There is a folk wisdom that affirms: Vox populi, vox Dei. "The voice of the people is the voice of God."  (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2009)

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US state commission calls Russia to dissolve council

US PANEL: RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS EBBING IN RUSSIA
by William C. Mann
Associated Press, 1 May 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) Ñ A congressionally backed panel said Friday that religious freedoms were deteriorating in Russia, Turkey and four other nations that were added to a watch list of countries where people's rights to worship as they please or not to worship at all are at risk.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also named Nigeria as a "country of particular concern," joining 12 other countries that the commission considers the world's worst violators. . . .

Countries are placed on the watch list or the more serious "countries of particular concern" list because their governments either discriminate against people for religious reasons or are unwilling or unable to stop religious violence by their citizens.

On Russia, the panel found particularly objectionable "a new body in the Ministry of justice with unprecedented powers to control and monitor religious groups." It said the body was established early this year. It also decried "increasing violations of religious freedom by state officials, particularly against allegedly "nontraditional' religious groups and Muslims. . . ."

EXCERPT FROM USCIRF REPORT
1 May 2009

[from Annual Report 2009, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, pages 193-197]

Recommendations for U.S. Policy

I. Ensuring the Equal Legal Status and Treatment of the Members of RussiaÕs Religious Communities

The U.S. government should encourage the Russian government to:

--dissolve the Ministry of JusticeÔs Expert Religious Studies Council, established in February 2009;

-- ensure that law enforcement officials vigorously investigate and prosecute acts of violence, arson, and desecration perpetrated against members of any religious community, their property, or houses of worship; and set up a credible, impartial and effective review mechanism outside the procuracy to ensure that government authorities and law enforcement personnel are investigated and sanctioned, as appropriate, if they are found to have encouraged or condoned such incidents;

-- affirm publicly on a high political level the positive significance of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional nature of Russian society;

--affirm publicly that all religious communities in Russia are equal under the law and entitled to equal treatment, whether registered or unregistered, "traditional" or other; publicly express opposition to any legislation that would grant preferences to the purported "traditional" religions over other groups; and direct national government agencies to address and resolve continuing violations of religious freedom at the regional and local levels, including by:

--issuing instructions to local law enforcement, prosecutors, and registration officials as well as publicly affirming that members of all religious communities are to be treated equally under the law;

--enforcing non-discriminatory, generally applicable zoning and building codes, and ordering an end to the practice of using local public opinion surveys that serve as a basis to deny land and building permits to minority religious communities; and

--deleting from the preface to the 1997 Law on "Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" the reference to the four "traditional" religionsÑRussian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, and BuddhismÑ as that reference, although it does not have legal standing, implicitly contradicts the Russian constitutional provision that "religious associations are separate from the state and are equal before the law" and has led Russian officials to establish inappropriate limits or demands against members of RussiaÔs other religious communities;

-- refrain from media attacks on any religious community and adopt administrative measures against government officials who fuel them;

-- cease all forms of interference in the internal affairs of religious communities, unless stipulated by law and in conformity with international human rights standards;

-- avoid taking steps that could exacerbate religious extremism by 1) developing policies and strategies to protect the religious freedom and other human rights of the members of RussiaÔs Muslim community and 2) reviewing and remedying past cases of alleged arbitrary detention or arrest of members of this community;

--distribute on a regular basis updated information on freedom of religion or belief, as well as on Russian constitutional provisions and jurisprudence on separation of church and state and the equal status of religious denominations, to the Russian judiciary, religious affairs officials at all levels of government, the FRS, the procuracy, and all law enforcement bodies;

--extend the current annual training program for regional and local religious affairs officials to include their counterparts in the judiciary, procuracy, law enforcement agencies, and to the FRS;

-- direct the Russian Federation Human Rights Ombudsman to set up a nationwide monitoring system on the status of freedom of religion or belief in the 84 regions of Russia; and

-- accept a site visit to Russia from the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and grant her unrestricted access to religious communities and regions where religious freedom abuses are reported.

II. Combating Xenophobia, Intolerance, and Hate Crimes

The U.S. government should urge the Russian government to:

-- condemn specific acts of xenophobia, anti- Semitism, and intolerance, as well as incidents of hate crimes, and to make clear that such crimes are to be treated by officials as human rights abuses, not "hooliganism," and that they will be fully and promptly investigated and prosecuted;

-- while vigorously promoting freedom of expression, publicly condemn rhetoric that promotes xenophobia or intolerance, including religious intolerance;

-- provide special training and other programs for law enforcement officers and other officials to address ethnic hatred and promote tolerance;

-- establish a special nationwide antidiscrimination body, as recommended by the Council of EuropeÔs European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, that provides regular reports to the public, press and parliament about its findings;

-- implement the numerous specific recommendations made by RussiaÔs Presidential Council on Human Rights, the official Russian Human Rights Ombudsman, and the Council of EuropeÔs Commission against Racism and Intolerance to address anti-Semitism and xenophobia and prevent and punish hate crimes, including full implementation by regional and local law enforcement personnel of criminal code provisions prohibiting incitement and violence motivated by ethnic or religious hatred, in accordance with standards established by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR); and

-- report, as required, to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the specific measures that have been undertaken on a national level to address hate crimes, including maintaining statistics on these crimes, and strengthening legislative initiatives to combat them, and to take advantage of relevant OSCE training programs for Russian law enforcement and judicial officials.

III. Reforming or Withdrawing the 2006 Russian Law on Non-Commercial Organizations

The U.S. government should:

-- establish a program to monitor implementation of RussiaÔs law on NGOs, including its impact on religious organizations; and

-- encourage the Russian government to withdraw or substantially amend the NGO law; failing that, the government should be urged to develop regulations that clarify and sharply limit the stateÔs discretion to interfere with the activities of NGOs, including religious organizations.

These regulations should be developed in accordance with international standards and in conformance with international best practices.

IV. Strengthening Attention to the Issue of Freedom of Religion or Belief in U.S. Diplomacy

The U.S. government should:

ensure that the U.S. Congress maintains a mechanism to monitor publicly the status of human rights in Russia, including freedom of religion or belief, particularly in the case of any repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment with respect to Russia, and maintain the Smith Amendment as U.S. law;

-- urge the government of the Russian Federation to invite each of the three OSCE Personal Representatives on combating intolerance as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to visit the Russian Federation during 2009-2010, without this being made contingent on other visits to other countries;

-- ensure that U.S. Embassy officials and programs 1) engage with regional and local officials throughout the Russian Federation, especially when violations of freedom of religion occur, and 2) disseminate information to local officials concerning international legal norms on freedom of religion or belief, including the rights of unregistered religious communities;

--ensure that the issue of human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, be raised within the context of negotiations on Russian accession to the World Trade Organization; and work with the other members of the G-8 to ensure that the issue of human rights, including the human rights aspects of migration and protecting human rights in the context of counter-terrorism, are raised at all bilateral and multilateral meetings.

V. Strengthening U.S. Programs on Promoting Religious Freedom and Combating Religious Intolerance

The U.S. government should:

-- ensure that U.S. government-funded grants to NGOs and other sectors in Russian society include the promotion of legal protections and respect for religious freedom as well as methods to combat xenophobia, including intolerance based on religion, ensure that solicitations and requests for proposals should include these objectives and monitor the effectiveness of such grants;

--support programs developed by Russian institutions, including universities, libraries, NGOs, and associations of journalists, particularly those who have engaged in the activities described in the above recommendation, to organize conferences and training programs on issues relating to freedom of religion or belief, as well as on promoting inter-religious cooperation, encouraging pluralism, and combating hate crimes and xenophobia;

--support programs to train lawyers to contest violations of the rights to freedom of religion or belief as guaranteed in Russian law and under its international obligations both in Russian courts and before the ECtHR;

--translate where necessary into Russian and print or otherwise make available to Russian citizens relevant documents and materials, including:

--hate crimes guidelines developed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as U.S. Department of Justice materials on combating hate crimes and religiously motivated attacks; and

--international documents and materials generated by Russian institutions relating to freedom of religion or belief, xenophobia, and hate crimes, as well as relevant U.S. Department of State and Commission reports, posting such documents on the U.S.

Embassy Web site;

-- ensure that RussiaÔs citizens continue to have access to alternative sources of information through U.S.-government-funded radio and TV broadcasts, as well as Internet communications, and that these broadcasts include information about freedom of religion or belief and the need to combat xenophobia and hate crimes; in particular by:

--restoring the broadcast hours of Russian language radio broadcasts of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that have been cut, restoring staffing levels, and considering new vehicles for delivery of broadcasts; and

--increasing funding for radio broadcast programs in minority languages spoken in Russia, including the RFE/RL Tatar and North Caucasus services, which are often the primary source of independent broadcast media in regions of Russia with majority Muslim populations;

-- include in U.S.-funded exchange programs a wider ethnic and religious cross section of the Russian population, with particular focus on educational and leadership development programs for students from the North Caucasus, Tatarstan, and other regions of Russia with sizeable Muslim and other religious and ethnic minority populations; and

-- initiate International VisitorÔs Programs relating to the prevention and prosecution of hate crimes for Russian officials and other relevant figures.

VI. Addressing the Crisis in Chechnya and the North Caucasus

The U.S. government should:

-- ensure that the continued humanitarian crisis in Chechnya and allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Russian federal military and local security and police forces there and in other North Caucasus republics remain a key issue in U.S. bilateral relations with Russia;

-- urge the Russian government to end and vigorously prosecute all alleged acts of involuntary detention, torture, rape, and other human rights abuses perpetrated by members of the Russian security services in Chechnya, including those by pro-Kremlin Chechen forces;

-- urge the Russian government to address the conclusions and recommendations of the UN Universal Periodic Review and relevant treaty bodies in regard to Chechnya and abide by all resolutions passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe relating to the human rights and humanitarian situation in the North Caucasus, and reinstate regular on-site visits by the Council of EuropeÔs Special Rapporteur for Chechnya;

--urge the Russian government to accept a site visit to Chechnya from the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, to reconsider the October 2006 decision to deny access to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and to extend full cooperation in accordance with the standard mandates of those special procedures;

-- work with other OSCE Member States to ensure that issues related to human rights abuses in the North Caucasus play a more prominent role in OSCE deliberations, and encourage the OSCE to raise humanitarian and other forms of assistance to the civilian populations affected by the decade-long conflict in Chechnya; and

-- ensure that U.S.-funded conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction programs for the North Caucasus also fund credible local partners in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Daghestan.   (posted 4 May 2009)

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