RIGHTS-RELIGION: Business Defeated on Religious Persecution Bill

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 1998 (IPS) - In the latest setback for U.S. big business interests, the Senate Friday unanimously approved a bill authorising of sanctions against countries accused of persecuting religious minorities.

The bill was expected to be endorsed by the House of Representatives – which passed a much tougher version last May – before Congress adjourned for the year as early as this weekend.

Worried about the bill’s impact on U.S. business abroad, a coalition of more than 600 of the country’s largest corporations and agribusiness firms had made killing the bill a top priority.

While its allies in the administration of President Bill Clinton succeeded in substantially weakening the bill, particularly compared to its House counterpart, the business coalition, USA-Engage, admitted it was disappointed with the Senate vote.

“We are grateful to our allies …who have worked so hard to improve this bill over its House counterpart,” said USA-Engage director Frank Kittredge. “Unfortunately, the bill remains a unilateral sanctions bill that could end up targeting some of this country’s closest allies and trading partners.”

He said his group, which was backed by the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Foreign Trade Council, would continue to fight for new legislation that would make it much more difficult for Congress to enact unilateral economic sanctions in the future.

If Big Business was disappointed, Friday’s vote was hailed by the right-wing Christian Coalition, the bill’s prime sponsor, as a major victory and a “message that, along with being the world’s economic leader, the United States is also the moral leader and is unafraid to exercise that leadership.”

The administration, which fought the House version of the bill tooth and nail and bargained hard to soften the Senate bill, also claimed victory.

“With the changes that we have now negotiated,” said Undersecretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Stuart Eizenstat, “the bill advances the cause of religious freedom while giving the president the flexibility he needs and without undermining relations with important countries around the world…”

In particular, the bill, called the International Religious Freedom Act, gives Clinton the power to choose among a list of sanctions, from delivering a private demarche to voting against loans for offending countries in international financial institutions (IFIs), and even to waive sanctions if that would serve “the national interest.”

The House version, which passed the lower chamber 375-41, was much tougher. It required the president to cut-off all non- humanitarian aid, restrict trade, and oppose IFI loans to foreign governments which permit or endorse the persecution of religious groups. He could waive sanctions only if for reasons of “national security” – a stricter standard than “national interest” – or it their imposition would actually increase persecution.

The bill split the mainstream religious community. The Catholic Bishop’s Conference, the Jewish B’nai B’rith, and the Southern Baptist Convention supported the measure, while the Protestant National Council of Churches and the American Jewish Committee opposed it.

But the main contest took place between two key constituencies of the Republican Party: the Christian Right, which specialises in turning out voters at the grassroots, and big business, which fills its campaign coffers at election time.

During the last session of Congress, Christian Right leaders assailed the Republican leadership for subordinating the party’s “moral values” agenda to that of Big Business, particularly on key issues, such as immigration, trade with China and support for global institutions, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The push for the House bill was designed in part to put the Republican leadership on the spot within months of November’s mid- term elections when the party will badly need the Christian’s Right’s ability to mobilise its constituency. The leadership quickly pledged to bring a religious persecution bill to a vote before the elections.

But Big Business saw in the bill a new major threat to its interests abroad. Citing US State Department reports, USA-Engage noted that 77 countries – representing well over half the world’s population – suffer some form of religious persecution, including such key US trade partners as Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, the Gulf states, Pakistan, Egypt, India, and Russia.

The coalition – whose members include such corporate heavyweights as General Motors, General Electric, IBM, and Boeing – was created to fight against unilateral sanctions which it says are costing US firms about 20 billions a year in lost business opportunities. It also has pushed new legislation that would subject unilateral sanctions bills to a rigorous review process that would make their approval much more difficult.

But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott effectively shelved that initiative in September and pushed hard for Friday’s vote on the milder version of the religious persecution bill in order to redeem his promise to the Christian Coalition.

The bill creates new positions in the State Department and National Security Council to work on issues of religious liberty and perseuction. In addition to providing the president with greater flexibility in deciding whether and how to impose sanctions, it also provides that economic measures can only be imposed against countries that engage in “egregious violations of religious freedom,” such as torture, disappearance, prolonged detention, and execution.

The bill also does not require the compilation of a public list of governments accused of committing religious persecution – a key administration demand which wanted to avoid embarassing key allies.

Despite the administration’s satisfaction, the bill marks a defeat for Big Business which has been dealt a series of Congressional reversals on trade this year, including Lott’s shelving of the sanctions reform legislation.

Despite a major lobbying effort, it lost a vote on “fast- track” legislation that would have given Clinton authority to negotiate new free-trade accords, and two other bills – designed to promote trade and investment with Africa and the Caribbean – are certain to fall victim to the last-minute rush by Congress to adjourn.