We, the undersigned citizens, hereby state: Whereas the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as the first international recognition that all human beings are entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms which must be respected and protected by all nations of the world; Whereas Japan adopted this vision of human rights when it joined the UN in 1956 and formally ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on June 21, 1979; Whereas the Japanese Constitution guarantees that “Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all;” Whereas more than 4,300 adult members of the Unification Church and other faiths are reported to have been kidnapped, restrained, confined, and sometimes tortured, raped and starved in Japan, in attempts to break their religious faith during the last four decades; Whereas faith-breaking organizations in Japan have preyed upon the fears of good parents, extorting large fees from them forcibly remove adult citizens from their religion of choice; Whereas criminal agents have received large sums of money to kidnap, restrain, confine, badger, insult, beat, rape, torture, and starve men and women in attempts to break their faith; Whereas Mr. Toru Goto, who was abducted and held against his will for 12.5 years, was beaten and nearly starved to death, and yet Tokyo prosecutors have refused to indict his abductors and torturers; Whereas cases of abductions have taken place almost every month but are ignored by police, who ignore both Japanese and international law by considering these cases “family matters;” Whereas in the United States of America during the 1980’s, religious abductions came to an end as laws were upheld and the faith-breakers were given jail sentences, and civil courts levied strong penalties against those who conspired to violate the civil rights of religious minorities; Whereas some US citizens of Japanese background and Japanese residents married to US citizens report that they fear to visit Japan because of the failure of the Japanese legal system to ensure their safety; Whereas Japan should enforce its own laws, and give equal protection to all its citizens for freedom of religion by arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of these above-mentioned crimes; Whereas the U.S. State Department, in its annual International Religious Freedom Report since 1999 has reported serious complaints that the Japanese authorities are not enforcing their own laws regarding kidnapping, physical restraint and physical abuse of Unification Church members and Jehovah’s Witnesses; We therefore petition the U.S. Congress to hold hearings on these human-rights violations, so that the facts surrounding these cases of human-rights violations can be fully understood and so that appropriate communications can be made to the nation of Japan to enforce its own laws, relating to these criminal actions in violation of the right to religious freedom