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25 June 1997
His Excellency Yuli M. Vorontsov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
Dear Mr. Ambassador:
Given the developments on the draft bill "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," particularly in its third reading on Monday by the Duma, Archbishop McCarrick has asked me to follow up on his earlier letter to you (dated 20 June) underscoring the importance of President Yeltsin's veto on this bill.
Amendments have offered no reprive from the harshest aspects of this bill, indeed in places intensifying its more dangerous dimensions. We emphasize to PresidentYeltsin the crucial nature of his veto to keep Russia consistent with its commitments to international agreements and the standards they uphold. Among these are the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document of the Helsinki Process, protecting smaller religious groups from being denied entity status on the kind of grounds proposed in the present draft bill. This bill should also be rejected under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights (article 9) and out of Russia's commitment to the language of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly article eighteen.
In addition, both the requirements for "All Russia" status and the multiple levels of reporting written into the bill are a particular hardship for Russian Catholics, and all others who organize their religious structures by diocese or region, rather than nationally. Whether President Yeltsin signs this bill or vetoes it, he sets a path for Russia and a strong example for other former socialist bloc countries. Thank you for communicating our views to the President.
Sincerely yours,
Father Drew Christiansen, S.J.
Director, Office of International
Justice and Peace
United States Catholic Conference