U.S. House Hearing - 10.06.2004

U.S. House International Relations Committee: “Establishing Religious Freedom Abroad”


Read the oral testimony of
NCSJ Executive Director Mark Levin


Read the written testimonies of
Mr.  Levin and other panelists

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Written Testimonies:

U.S. Department of State	Amb. John V. Hanford III
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom	Ms. Preeta Bansal
NCSJ	Mr. Mark B. Levin
Freedom House	Mr. Paul Marshall
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life	Mr. Timothy Shah
The Saudi Institute	Mr. Ali Al-Ahmed

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Oral testimony of Mark B. Levin, Executive Director NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia Before the U.S. House International Relations Committee

Mr. Chairman, I am honored to appear before the Committee today to discuss the Department of State’s new International Religious Freedom Report. I ask that my full written statement be entered in the record of this hearing.

Mr. Chairman, your role, and that of your colleagues on this Committee – particularly Representative Lantos – and on the U.S. Helsinki Commission, has helped shape U.S. policy in the struggle for international religious freedom and particularly in setting benchmarks in the fight against political and popular anti-Semitism. I also wanted to recognize the dedicated work of Ambassador Hanford and the State Department. 

But Mr. Chairman, on a more personal note, it's hard to believe that it's been twenty-two-and-a-half years since our trip to the then-Soviet Union.  And together, I think we can say that over the last two decades, that there has been much accomplished in that part of the world, as well as the rest of the world.  And I count it as a privilege and an honor to have worked with you over these last two decades, and, as important, to count you as one of my friends that I know that I can always count on when we confront difficult issues.  So, it's truly an honor to be here today.  

The NCSJ, as you know, is an umbrella of nearly 50 national organizations and over 300 local community federations and community councils across the United States. We coordinate and represent the organized American Jewish community on advocacy relating to the former Soviet Union.

Five years since the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), I can tell you that it is succeeding by a variety of measures. First of all, the in-depth data and analysis are an important supplement to the annual Human Rights Reports. The Religious Freedom Reports enhance opportunities for consultation among U.S. officials, local activists, foreign governments, and advocacy and monitoring groups here and overseas. Just yesterday, NCSJ and other NGOs joined a regular State Department-Congressional roundtable with Ambassador Hanford and his colleagues.

Just a highlight of the past year gives a sense of the new era for Jewish life ushered in by the fall of the Soviet Union 15 years ago. NCSJ attended the dedication of a new synagogue in Baku, Azerbaijan, the first to be built in Baku in nearly a century. Kazakhstan, as you heard, hosted two major international conferences on interfaith tolerance, and just last month opened the first synagogue in its new capital, Astana. In Lviv, Ukraine, where the Jewish population was decimated during the Holocaust, NCSJ participated in the dedication of the new Jewish community center. In Tula, Russia, we worked closely with the local Jewish community and American Jewish supporters to facilitate the building of a new Jewish community house, following on our successful U.S. Government-funded domestic violence awareness project. In Minsk, Belarus, the second of two new community facilities is about to officially open. 

Having briefly recounted some of the success stories, I also want to highlight just a few areas of specific concern in the largest Jewish population centers of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, and then briefly touch on the Middle East.

The Religious Freedom report accurately reflects the ongoing violations of religious freedom in Belarus, where the regime’s reliance on religious legitimacy has driven a series of concessions to the Russian Orthodox Church, which continues to distribute virulently anti-Semitic literature. The construction of sports stadiums over a historic Jewish cemetery in Grodno continues, despite the efforts of this Committee and the Department of State, although some progress has been made in limiting further desecration. 

The complex status of religious freedom in the Russian Federation involves a range of factors which I cover in my written statement. The government supports Jewish religious and cultural activities. President Putin and other Russian officials have spoken out against anti-Semitism, though actions against perpetrators have lagged somewhat. As anti-Semitic attacks have become less frequent in the past couple of years, they also have become more violent. 

In Ukraine, where the government actively promotes the Jewish revival and popular anti-Semitism is on the decline, restitution of communal property continues to stall. The most troubling development, however, involves MAUP, a top policy institute training the next generation of Ukraine’s elite. With significant funding from Arab and Muslim states, MAUP has fomented and lent popular sanction to rabid anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda. This is simply unacceptable and flies in the face of so much important and constructive work. 

As my brief review underscores, state-sponsored anti-Semitism is clearly a thing of the past in the FSU. Sadly, as you know, one cannot say the same for the Middle East. My written statement includes, as an appendix, an Anti-Defamation League report on anti-Semitism in the Arab media, demonstrating how the Arab world is re-exporting Nazi-style anti-Semitic stereotypes back to Europe, reaching a primarily Muslim audience in Europe as well as millions of readers and viewers around the Middle East. With the ADL and the American Jewish Committee, there is much data that's available and should be incorporated in to the work of our government.  And I know, Mr. Chairman, that you're well aware of both organizations' efforts in this area. 

Before moving on to my broader discussion of strategies to combat anti-Semitism, allow me to briefly review the standards for coverage in the annual International Religious Freedom Report. Deeper analysis of overall trends, improved coordination with other U.S. Government and NGO sources would be useful. As the OSCE and EU improve their reporting on religious freedom, the State Department will be in a better position to draw on such resources as well. 

The June 2003 and April 2004 OSCE conferences on anti-Semitism made history not only as the first such international meetings on the subject, they also generated a set of commitments by 55 governments to report and combat anti-Semitism in a coordinated and proactive way. A parallel set of commitments has been issued for combating racism and xenophobia.

I commend you, Mr. Chairman, and Representative Lantos, and this full Committee, for approving companion legislation to the bill passed earlier this year by the Senate, to ensure the first-ever country-by-country global assessment of anti-Semitism and government responses. While OSCE governments move unevenly toward implementing data collection, at least the U.S. Government can provide OSCE and the world with an initial consistent assessment of incidents and responses. I urge you to ensure that this important legislation clears the House and Senate before the end of this Congress.

Nations must understand that the train is moving, with or without them, and that others will report on their performance if they are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. This has been a signal accomplishment of other U.S. reports on human rights, religious freedom, human trafficking, and international terrorism. It would do no less for the fight against anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism remains a significant, endemic problem throughout the successor states and across Europe. Much of the support for this coordinated process has come from formerly communist nations, including successor states, which see fighting anti-Semitism as part of their transition from the Soviet shadow.

Mr. Chairman, I'll stop here and be happy to answer any questions, but again I just want to reiterate our support for the efforts of this Committee and the Helsinki Commission in the fight for religious freedom, not only in our particular region, but around the world.