Expressing concern over attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt.

On behalf of 47 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to recommend with the utmost enthusiasm and urgency the prompt confirmation of Professor Robert A. Destro as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. We continue to face a world where broad human rights violations occur every day and where 83% of the world lives in places with high or very high levels of restrictions on the freedoms that religious minority groups take for granted here in the United States. The U.S. has a proud bipartisan tradition of standing for human rights and religious freedom. To do this effectively the State Department needs to be fully staffed with individuals who will press the human rights concerns at the center of our foreign policy. Congress has routinely passed laws that focus and support U.S. government efforts in this area. As participants of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, we are particularly interested in the Frank Wolf Act, which places religious freedom as a high priority for protecting individuals of any or no faith. The first version of this Act established the International Religious Freedom [IRF] Office at the Department of State. Like the DRL, the important work of the IRF office has been built on a strong tradition of bipartisan collaboration and a shared vision of the inherent dignity of each person. While that office is ably led by Ambassador Sam Brownback, it also resides in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Without a confirmed Assistant Secretary to complete the chain of command and complement the excellent work of Ambassador Brownback to date, neither IRF nor DRL will be able to reach their full potential. Confirming the nominee for the office, Robert (Bob) Destro, would connect the religious freedom agenda with the broader human rights agenda in ways that were not possible before the passage of the Frank Wolf Act. DRL and IRF share a common Congressional mandate. On behalf of 41 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to ask for the mark-up of H. RES. 673, Expressing concern over attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, and bring it to a full floor vote. This resolution, which Rep. Ros-Lehtinen supported as an original cosponsor, now has the strong bi-partisan backing of 47 Members of Congress, many of whom are members of the MENA subcommittee. During the Foreign Affairs Hearing, Egypt: Security, Human Rights, and Reform, which Rep. Ros - Lehtinen chaired on July 24, the expert witnesses presented compelling evidence of the decimation of civil society and increased persecution of religious minorities in Egypt, particularly the Copts. Copts are under attack in numerous ways; from the institutional and daily systematic discrimination to the intermittent terrorization such as church bombings that cause large casualties. This entrenched system of persecution is no less heinous in breaking Copts down into a state of submission and hopelessness. The US is now engaging Egypt in the fight against Islamist terrorism and stands to exercise its weight and moral values to promote equality, civil society, and religious freedom for all Egyptians. Egypts stability is vital, but Copts and civil society should not be the victims - or collateral damage - that pay the ultimate price in the war on terrorism. The recent Ministerial in support of international religious freedom has affirmed that international religious freedom has become an integral part of the US foreign policy. It is imperative to pass H. Res. 673 since it will send Egypt a message that this is not mere empty rhetoric. In this increasingly authoritarian environment in which minorities suffer, passing H. RES. 673 before the end of this session of Congress will send an important message to the Egyptian government that the Congress cares about the state of human rights and religious freedom in Egypt, and is willing to address it. On behalf of 34 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to recommend Syria policy as a key post-Ministerial initiative with the proactive goal of securing religious freedom, and related civil and political rights, for all Syrian citizens. Religious freedom in its fullest sense-equal rights for all regardless of faith or ethnicity-is the sole foundation for real democracy, peace, reconciliation, and stability in Syria. It is essential to attract millions of Syrian refugees to return home and stabilize minority populations, including Christians, who have called this area home for over 5,000 years. It can give some solace to those who suffered unspeakable atrocities, based on religious totalitarianism. On behalf of 74 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to express deep concern about the deteriorating religious freedom situation in Nigeria; and to urge U.S. government leaders to appoint a Special Coordinator for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region. Nigeria, and indeed the region, face severe challenges. Nigeria is the largest country in Africa of 195 million people. What takes place in Nigeria does not stay in Nigeria, but rather impacts the surrounding countries as was seen in the tragic ambush of American soldiers in Niger. We believe that significant action is needed to confront these challenges or countries in the region could fracture, causing an extreme humanitarian crisis, immigration pressures on European allies and America, as well as security threats to our national interests in the region. We are very concerned about the violence that in some cases is motivated by religion or in other cases falls on ethno-religious fault lines. We are also concerned about the treatment of some Shia groups by the military. We think the United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms call to name Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern is correct. Of the top 25 most populous countries in the world, Nigeria had the highest level of social hostilities regarding religion according to Pews report last year. This year they are number two on the list. We hope the appointment of a well-respected and qualified person could then coordinate with Secretary of State Pompeo, Secretary of Defense General Mattis, International Religious Freedom Ambassador Brownback (whose energy, focus, and indeed trip to Nigeria have been excellent), UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, USAID Administrator Mark Green, Ambassador Bolton with the NSC, the various intelligence agencies, and excellent diplomats and Foreign Service Officers working in the relevant embassies. We would encourage such a position to make policy recommendations to the various agencies and team that has been assembled. We also hope that they would build key relationships with key officials and personnel in the regional governments already working on these issues. On behalf of 61 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to express deep concern about the deteriorating religious freedom situation in Russia; and to urge U.S. government leaders to raise this issue in public statements and bilateral discussions, and leverage the growing network of foreign institutions that are eager to partner with the United States to advance international religious freedom. This fundamental right is in serious peril as the Russian government continues to foster an atmosphere of intolerance, discrimination and persecution against religious minorities throughout the entire country. The 2002 Extremism Law laid the foundation for an alarming trend in repressions against civil society and non-traditional minority religions. The law was initially passed to combat terrorism after 9/11 but it provides no clear definition for the term extremism, thus rendering virtually any group or individual vulnerable to political and legal harassment. In fact, it has been frequently misused to target a vast multitude of peaceful and law-abiding civil society organizations and individuals; to censor religious materials, arrest and detain believers for reading or disseminating Scriptures, refuse to register religious groups, harass and prosecute religious groups that are refused registration, and liquidate and close down places of worship for targeted religious faiths. Such oppressive measures have no place in a democratic society. Most recently, the Scientology religion, its parishioners and its religious and social organizations have become a primary target of this Russian national campaign of religious repression. The campaign has been chillingly wide-ranging. Russias Supreme Court has declared Jehovahs Witnesses, a Christian denomination that rejects violence, as extremist, confirming an order by the Justice Ministry that the group be liquidated and thereby banning them from operating on Russian territory. Further, Muslims, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Presbyterians, Hindus, Buddhists and others have been targeted. In spite of the principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment at the heart of the UN Bill of Rights, the Russian Government is systematically using the Extremism Law to: 1) seize and censor peaceful religious scriptures read without incident the world over; 2) arrest and detain members of minority faiths for reading and disseminating these religious materials; and 3) initiate proceedings to liquidate and shut down religious organizations in order to disrupt and suppress their right to conduct religious activities in contravention of the fundamental human right to religious freedom. This misuse of the Extremism Law against religions has been widely criticized by the UN Human Rights Committee (28 April 2015), the Parliamentary Assembly Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe (14 September 2012), and the Venice Commission (1 June 2012), which found the law and its use against religions violated human rights and called on Russia to correct the law. Over fifty cases regarding Russias misuse of the Extremism Law against religions have been filed by numerous religious groups before the European Court of Human Rights. Also made contacts to urge U.S. government leaders to raise the State Department's deep concerns about the growing number of individuals-now more than 150-identified by credible human rights organizations as political and religious prisoners held by the Government of the Russian Federation; about the welfare of four Ukrainians unjustly imprisoned who are currently on hunger strike-Oleh Sentsov, Stanislav Klykh, Oleksandr Shumkov, and Volodymyr Balukh; about the case of Oyub Titiyev, a human rights activist prosecuted on trumped-up drug charges in Chechnya, whose pre-trial detention was recently extended; about the fact that Russian authorities have detained Jehovahs Witness Dennis Christensen since May 2017; about the five Church of Scientology leaders who have also been subjected to detention without trial since June 2017, as well as over a dozen Muslim followers of Turkish theologian Said Nursi; and the State Department's all on Russia to release all those identified as political or religious prisoners immediately and cease its use of the legal system to suppress dissent and peaceful religious practice. The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve equal treatment under the law and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution. On behalf of 53 organizations and individuals, including the client, made contacts to urge the swift passage of H.R.390 - Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017. In the summer of 2017, the bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Urged a vote on the consent calendar so we will be one step closer to providing recovery assistance to victims of the genocide committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The Christian, Yazidi and other minority communities are either languishing in camps, some for almost three years, or choosing to seek refugee abroad because their towns and villages were decimated by ISIS. The situation is dire: families struggle to meet basic needs for nutrition, health, and education without a proper humanitarian assistance. Presently there are over 300,000 internally displaced Yazidis and some 90,000 Christian IDPs residing in deteriorating camps intended to be temporary shelters in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. With American help, these areas can redevelop and the native people can return. This not only helps all of Northern Iraq rebuild, but will deflect ISIS's attempt to erase these minorities. ISISs intentional destruction of homes, means of working, and places of worship was an act of genocide according to Article 2, section 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines genocide as Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. ISIS targeted these minorities for extinction from their homelands through mass murder, the taking of over 7,000 sex slaves, and the razing of their homes, farms and places of worship. Unless these minorities return to their ancient homelands and make a life for themselves, ISISs genocide will be successful. Without the passage of H.R. 390 there is no Congressional guarantee that the United States is committed to ensuring these ancient minority religious communities will survive and return to their ancestral homelands. H.R. 390 should pass the Senate and move forward in the process before it is too late and the good work done by the House and the Foreign Relations Committee is lost. On behalf of 55 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to express our continuing concern about the nuanced religious freedom situation in Hungary and urge U.S. government leaders to raise this issue in private bilateral discussions with Hungarian officials. The Hungarian government should be urged to respect religious freedom for everyone, consistent with the 2017 Budapest Resolution, which included clear statements that condemn any action aimed at denying or curtailing the free exercising of basic human rights, with particular emphasis on violations of religious freedom; calls upon the worlds governments and international organizations to seek long-term solutions in order to end the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, and to ensure the exercising of all human rights, including that of the free exercising of religion in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and urges common action on behalf of the worlds governments and international organizations to end atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities, and to implement immediate and concrete measures in accordance with that goal. On behalf of 28 organizations and individuals, including the client, who signed a multi-faith letter, made contacts to express our continuing deep concern about rising restrictions on religion in the Republic of Kazakhstan; and to urge U.S. government leaders to engage Kazakh President Nazarbayev and leaders of his government regarding the 2011 Religion Law and related amendments to the Criminal Code and Administrative Code, and urge them to amend the 2011 Religion Law and related articles in these Codes in order to bring them into conformity with international human rights standards, Kazakhstan's international commitments, and its own Constitution. Related to this, shared the Kazakhstan report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which recommends reforms to the 2011 Religion Law. The brief summary of this formal report on his mission to Kazakhstan stated: While acknowledging a general appreciation of religious diversity in the country, he noticed adverse attitudes towards some non-traditional religious communities. The State monitors religious activities strictly, with a view to preventing extremism and to combating sects deemed destructive to peoples well-being. Many of the measures adopted for this purpose are not in line with international standards of freedom of religion or belief. Moreover, the mandatory registration of religious communities, in conjunction with tightly knit stipulations, largely hampers free religious practice, which takes place in an atmosphere of legal insecurity. Further, the Special Rapporteurs conclusions include: 66. the 2011 Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations shows restrictive features that are not in line with international standards of freedom of religion or belief. The most obvious problem concerns the mandatory status of official registration. Failure to obtain this status means that a religious community is deemed illegal, which has far-reaching negative repercussions on the enjoyment of freedom of religion or belief. Moreover, even those communities which are registered suffer to some extent from legal insecurity, inter alia due to the official confinement of permitted religious activities to certain predefined issues and territorial boundaries. In general, the 2011 Law is based on the assumption that the exercise of core aspects of freedom of religion depends on specific acts of Government approval - thereby turning the relationship between freedom and limitations, as generally understood in the framework of human rights, upside down. 67. While Kazakhstan has broadly embraced religious pluralism, members of non-traditional small religious communities, frequently branded as sects, continue to experience suspicion, mistrust and discrimination in society. Moreover, some provisions of the Criminal Code and of the Code on Administrative Offences - both the existing and the new Codes - which are aimed at combating religious hatred or religious extremism - are defined only vaguely, thus creating a climate of legal insecurity, which is further exacerbated by shortcomings in the handling of criminal procedures, long pretrial detention and related problems. Similar problems are associated with the 2005 Law on Countering Extremism. Finally, the Special Rapporteurs recommendations include: (a) The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government consider amending the relevant provisions of the Constitution to bring them into line with article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (b) The Government should bring its constitutional provisions pertinent to freedom of religion or belief fully into line with article 18 of the Covenant and other relevant international human rights standards. (d) Above all, the Special Rapporteur would like to recommend far-reaching reforms of the 2011 Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations based on an understanding that registration should be in the service of freedom of religion or belief which, due to its status as a universal human right, inheres in all human beings, prior to - and independent of - any specific acts of administrative approval. The most important consequence would be that registration should be an offer, not a mandatory requirement, for religious community practice. Non-registered communities must be able to operate free from discrimination and free from fear of intimidation. Also shared a recent UN Human Rights Committee decision that adopted views and conclusions that an individual-Viktor Yakovlevich Leven (the author)-was a victim of violations by Kazakhstan of his rights under Article 18 of the ICCPR. In the Consideration of the merits section of this decision against Kazakhstan are the following three points: 9.2 In the present case, the Committee notes that, not having been registered as a foreign missionary on behalf of his church, the author was convicted for conducting missionary activity, which consisted of preaching and praying and conducting meetings and religious rituals among the followers of the church 9.4 The Committee concludes that the punishment imposed on the author, and in particular its harsh consequences for the author, who is facing deportation, amount to a limitation of the authors right to manifest his religion under article 18, paragraph 1; that the limitation has not been shown to serve any legitimate purpose identified in article 18, paragraph 3; and neither has the State party shown that this sweeping limitation of the right to manifest religion is proportionate to any legitimate purpose that it might serve. The limitation therefore does not meet the requirements of article 18, paragraph 3, and the Committee accordingly finds that the authors rights under article 18, paragraph 1, have been violated. 10.The Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is of the view that the facts before it discloses a violation by the State party of the authors rights under article 18 of the Covenant. Also shared the UN Human Rights Committee's second periodic report of Kazakhstan. On July 11, 2016, the Committee adopted principal matters of concern and recommendations, including: 13.The Committee is concerned about the broad formulation of the concepts of extremism, inciting social or class hatred and religious hatred or enmity under the State partys criminal legislation and the use of such legislation on extremism to unduly restrict freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association. It is also concerned about reports that counter-terrorism activities continue to target in particular members or presumed members of banned or unregistered Islamic groups, such as the Tabligh Jamaat. 14.The State party should bring its counter-terrorism and counter-extremism legislation and practices into full compliance with its obligations under the Covenant, inter alia by revising the relevant legislative provisions with a view to clarifying and narrowing the broad concepts referred to above, to ensure that they comply with the principles of legal certainty and predictability and that the application of such legislation does not suppress protected conduct and speech 47.The Committee is concerned about undue restrictions on the exercise of freedom of religious belief, including in the 2011 Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations, such as the mandatory registration of religious organizations, the ban on unregistered religious activities, and the restrictions on the importation and distribution of religious materials. The Committee is further concerned about the use of broadly formulated crimes and administrative offences in the Criminal Code, including of articles 174 and 404, the Administrative Code, and the legislation on combating extremism to punish individuals exercising their freedom of religion and belief with severe sanctions. 48.The State party should guarantee the effective exercise of the freedom of religion and belief and freedom to manifest a religion or belief in practice. It should consider bringing article 22 of its Constitution in line with the Covenant and revise all relevant laws and practices with a view to removing all restrictions that go beyond the narrowly construed restrictions permitted under article 18 of the Covenant. Also shared the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) call for Kazakhstan to make revisions to the Religion Law. The call came in its Preliminary Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Legal Framework On Countering Extremism and Terrorism in the Republic of Kazakhstan, issued on 6 October 2016: 80. UN human rights monitoring bodies have recently reiterated their concerns about undue restrictions on the exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief imposed by the 2011 Law On Religious Activities and Religious Associations of Kazakhstan the Law On Religious Activities and Religious Associations should be revised to ensure that religious groups/organizations can be formed and operate freely even in the absence of registration or without the States prior approval.