PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN EDWARd Porter, a Representative IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Mr. Chairman: I wish to express my appreciation for the opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations on the subject of religious persecution as a violation of human rights.

As you are well aware, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted on November 25, 1981, after two decades of work, a long-awaited document, entitled the "Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief."

This document points out that one of the basic principles of the Charter of the UN is the dignity and equality inherent in all human beings. All Member States pledged themselves to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the UN to promote and encourage universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights both proclaim the principles of non-discrimination and equality before the law and the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief assumes that religion or belief is one of the fundamental elements in the concept of life.

This Declaration affirms in Article I that :

"Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever

belief of his choice, and freedom either individually or in community with others and in public or private to manifest his religion or

belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching."

In Article 2, it states: "No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons or person on grounds of religion or other beliefs."

Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, these rights do not universally exist. As with all human rights mere words on paper do not guarantee the right to religious freedom and the free association of individuals exercising that right. As you have heard in the opening statements and testimony before the Subcommittee religious persecution transcends political systems and regions of the world and appears in nations adhering to these international human rights covenants.

The A.D. survey on the state of religious freedom around the world concluded that the free exercise of religion is limited to at least a degree, almost everywhere; and that faithfulness to a religion can upon occasion carry heavy price tags of discrimination, pain, imprisonment

and death.

Mr. Chairman, I wish to illustrate the prevalence of religious persecution with four examples: Baha'i's in Iran, Jews in Poland, and Jews and Pentecostals in the Soviet Union.

Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, members of the Baha'i faith have been

subjected to an unceasing storm of persecution and an avowed campaign to eliminate the Baha'i religion entirely.

The Baha'i faith, constituting the largest religious minority in the

country with 300,000 members, is the only group excluded from the protection

under the new Iranian constitution.

In the past three years, thousands of Baha'i's have been driven from their homes and more than 100 of their leaders are known to have been murdered. In a concerted campaign by the Khomeini regime to eliminate the sect's leadership, Muslim militants interrupted a meeting of the Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly and led the eight members who were present away at gunpoint. Less than two weeks later their mutilated bodies were discovered in a Teheran cemetary for infidels. In January, six members of the local Baha'i assembly in Teheran were executed along with a woman who had allowed them to use her house for the meeting. The Khomeini regime has confiscated Baha'i properties, appropriated Baha'i owned corporations, closed their schools, fired them from jobs. and sacked their temples.

The Baha'is' holiest shrine, the House of the Bab, in Shiraz, was destroyed by a mob and the rubble was buried under a new highway. By one account, 20,000 Baha'i's have been driven from their homes and forced to live in tents in the mountains.

Allegations that the Baha'i faith is a political conspiracy serving the interests of foreign powers have been made by the Shiite clergy, the government in Iran and their representatives abroad. They contend that the Baha'i's were favored by the Shah's government and that they ran both the infamous secret police, SAVAK, and the government. Charges of promotion of prostitution, cooperation with Zionism, spying for imperial powers, corruption on earth and warring against God have been hurled

against Baha'i's by press, radio and television, in the streets, in the pulpit, and at trials.

This weekend, the Iranian government began issuing identification cards necessary to purchase food and fuel. Baha'i's however, will not receive the cards nor will they be allowed to leave Iran. Baha'i world leaders feel that this latest tactic along with the camapign of terror may result in outright genocide.

In Poland, where Jews have traditionally suffered harsh persecution-where the Jewish population has been severely decimated by the Holocaust when all but 30,000 of the 3 million Jews were liquidated, and by the 1968 purges when all but 5,00-6,000 were forced to emigrate-recent reports have pointed to officially sanctioned anti-Semitic statements in the news media attempting to divert attention from the struggle for democracy.

On December 15, days after the imposition of martial law, Professor Kosseck, a Polish political scientist, viciously denounced Poland's Jews during a television and radio interview in Warsaw.

In an effort to discredit the Solidarity movement, a Communist newspaper, the Voice of Szczecin, published a statement in its Christmas issue accusing Jews of causing the problems in Poland since 1947, and claiming that their objective now is to destablize the nation in order to seize

power.

In addition, leaflets distributed throughout the country charged that Jews are not forced to wait in the daily food ration lines, and are

hoarding food to sell on the black market. In fact, Jews are the first to be turned away from these lines.

Other propaganda asserts that Jews control 80% of the nation's industry and that they are merely manipulating the progress of the Solidarity

movement.

There is evidence that the dissemination of anti-Semitic propaganda is not only sanctioned but encouraged by the government. Although Polish leader General Jarulzelski asserts that the government would never tolerate a deliberate abuse of anti-Semitism, his claim is inconsistent with the government's lack of restriction on content and widespread circulation of anti-Semitic literature.

Grunwald, an anti-Semitic organization which is largely responsible for the distribution of denunciatory leaflets, has

published under

strict governmental censorship since the imposition of martial law indicating the government's complicity in their dispersion.

The government of the Soviet Union continues to discriminate against and persecute religious minorities, denying them the right to practice their

faiths.

While the number of Jews seeking to emigrate from the USSR in 1981 rose to its highest level ever, the number of those permitted to leave the country was the lowest since the emigration movement began a decade ago. During the past six months, the rate of emigration has declined to less than 10% of its 1979 level, from 51,320 in 1979 to 9,447 last year. Thousands, in fact, are not even able to obtain definitive refusals, being denied access to the virtually impossible application process itself.