certain religious rites without police permission and
surveillance, and being forbidden to leave the country.
4. The desecration of churches in Cyprus as part of the
"ravages of war" (it appears that desecration of

mosques has also occurred there during the continuing
inter-communal strife).

5. The "systematic religious suppression and discrimina-
tion" against the members of the Coptic Church, a
large minority of ten to twenty percent of the popu-

lation in Egypt.

6. "Current attempts in Africa and elsewhere forcibly to
purge Christian laypersons and clergy of certain
Western aspects of Christianity."

7. Repression of religion in Czechoslovakia by making
it difficult for priests and nuns to organize and
carry on their religious functions.

8. Persecution of Pentecostalists, Jews and Baptists in

the Soviet Union.

9. Threats by President Mobutu in Zaire to close the

Catholic churches for alleged interference in politics. 10. The imprisonment of Christian leaders in the Republic of Korea and of Buddhists in the Republic of Vietnam. 11. Imprisonment of Christian clergy in the Philippines. 12. The successful pressure to silence a Greek Orthodox

priest in Moscow.

I am not sure that much has changed in any of these countries in the almost seven years since Dr. Jack made his list. I might

12-286 083 5

That situation still continues.

add a few other items gathered at random from my own files. In 1977 this Subcommittee held hearings on Religious Persecution in El Salvador.24 Indonesia's outrageous invasion and annexation of the former Portuguese Territory of East Timor in 1975-76 brought in its wake cataclysmic events that bore even more heavily on the large Roman Catholic minority than on the rest of that unfortunate population. The InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, in its report on the Situation of Human Rights in Argentina released in April 1980, devotes considerable space to an examination of the way in which that country has denied "religious freedom and worship" to the Jehovah's Witnesses. A final case that has attracted much recent attention is that of the Baha'is in Iran. Persecution of that group in Iran (and elsewhere) is not an entirely new development. But the pres

25

ent Iranian Constitution excludes the Baha'i faith from its list of officially recognized religions, thus depriving the Baha'is of legal protection. In the past year, many of the Baha'i leadership have been arrested and detained without charge, have disappeared, or have been summarily executed.

26

If these situations were to be examined in depth, I have little doubt that they would demonstrate a pattern of persecution that runs the whole gamut of practices at which the Declaration is directed-- from basic denials of life and liberty on religious grounds (which is contrary to the whole spirit and intent of the Declaration) to more subtle discriminations and denials of the specific rights guaranteed by Article VI.

IV. Conclusion

The adoption of the Declaration will not magically cause such persecution to cease. Yet it is an important and fairly concrete standard to be applied when public or private appeals are made to governments, when complaints are aired in United Nations forums such as the Commission on Human Rights and the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. The United Nations may now turn its (not-sa-speedy) attention to drafting a Convention to give treaty form, and perhaps even more detail, to the content of the Declaration. It may even include

in its next product some specific forms of enforcement procedure for dealing with religious persecution, analagous to the procedures in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Convention and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In the meantime, vigilance is important. Religious persecution will never be eliminated un

less somebody takes the time to monitor what is going on and then speaks out.

FOOTNOTES

1. See Annex 1 for the text as adopted by the Third (Social,

Humanitarian and Cultural) Committee of the General Assembly

on 9 November 1981.

2. Clark, "The United Nations and Religious Freedom," 11 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, 197, 220 (1978), reproduced as Annex 2. See further on the drafting of the Declaration Liskofsky, "Eliminating Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief: the U.N. Role," 8 Reports on the Foreign Scene (American Jewish Committee) (1968); Claydon, "The Treaty Protection of Religious Rights: U.N. Draft Convention on the Eliminations of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief," 12 Santa Clara Lawyer 403 (1972).

3. Cf. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) (requirement that Jehovah's Witnesses children salute flag held unconstitutional, overruling Court's prior contrary decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940)) with Kachasu v. Attorney-General of Zambia, 10 Zambia Appeal Cases (1969) (requirement that Jehovah's Witnesses children salute flag "reasonably justifiable in a democratic society" and "required in the interests of defense and for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedoms of others.").

4. Note the difficulties discussed in, e.g., F. Spotts, The

Churches and Politics in Germany, 203-205 (1973).

5. The line between discrimination and intolerance is not a sharp

one.

"Discrimination" tends to be used to denote laws or practices which draw invidious distinctions (in this case on the basis of religion). For the most part, "intolerance" refers to unfavorable attitudes (prejudices, if you will) held by individuals or groups concerning other individuals or groups, often expressed by hostile public or private treatment of those others.

6. See Clark supra note 2, at notes 30 and 60.

7. See also the discussion of Article VIII of the Declaration,

infra.

8. The Declaration is not as forthright as it might be on the right to have religious organizations as such, or on educational institutions.

9. See, for example, two articles which appeared in Awake! Vol. 57, No. 20, 22 October 1976 entitled "Is the U.N. Maneuvering to Curb Religion?" and "Religion's Future Under U.N. Attack." The articles argue, inter alia, "The compromise third paragraph of the preamble says that one of the reasons for taking measures against intolerance is that 'the disregard and infringement of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, have brought, directly or indirectly, wars and great suffering to mankind, especially where THEY serve as a means of foreign interference in the internal affairs of other States and amount to kindling hatred between peoples and nations.' (Capitals and italics added) If you are not sure what 'THEY' are that cause 'wars and great suffereing...foreign