The U.S. State Department recently released the 2001 International Religious Freedom Report, which is a vital part of U.S. human rights policy. It describes the status of religious freedom in each foreign country, including any violations and any trends toward improvement. The purpose of the report is to advance the U.S. policy of promoting religious freedom internationally by drawing on two traditions: the history and commitment of the American people and the standards established by the international community. Below are the preface and introduction to the report. To see the entire report,
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PREFACE

In August 1993, the Secretary of State moved to further strengthen the human rights efforts of our embassies. All sections in each embassy were asked to contribute information and to corroborate reports of human rights violations, and new efforts were made to link mission programming to the advancement of human rights and democracy. In 1994 the Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs was reorganized and renamed as the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, reflecting both a broader sweep and a more focused approach to the interlocking issues of human rights, worker rights, and democracy. In 1998 the Secretary of State established the Office of International Religious Freedom; in May 1999, Robert A. Seiple was sworn in as the first Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. The position has been vacant since Ambassador Seiple left in September 2000.

The 2001 report covers the period from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001, and reflects a year of dedicated effort by hundreds of State Department, Foreign Service, and other U.S. government employees. Our embassies, which prepared the initial drafts of the reports, gathered information throughout this period from a variety of sources, including government and religious officials, nongovernmental organizations, journalists, human rights monitors, religious groups, and academics. This information-gathering can be hazardous, and U.S. Foreign Service Officers regularly go to great lengths, under trying and sometimes dangerous conditions, to investigate reports of human rights abuse, monitor elections, and come to the aid of individuals at risk because of their religious beliefs.

After the embassies completed their drafts, the texts were sent to Washington for careful review by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and its Offices of International Religious Freedom, Country Reports and Asylum Affairs, and Bilateral Affairs, in cooperation with other State Department offices. As they worked to corroborate, analyze, and edit the reports, the Department officers drew on their own sources of information. These included reports provided by U.S. and other human rights groups, foreign government officials, representatives from the United Nations and other international and regional organizations and institutions, and experts from academia and the media. Officers also consulted with experts on issues of religious discrimination and persecution, religious leaders from all faiths, and experts on legal matters. The guiding principle was to ensure that all relevant information was assessed as objectively, thoroughly, and fairly as possible.

The report will be used as a resource for shaping policy, conducting diplomacy, and making assistance, training, and other resource allocations. As mandated by IRFA, it also will be used as a basis for decisions on determining countries that have engaged in or tolerated "particularly severe violations" of religious freedom. Countries involved in these and other violations according to IRFA are not identified as such in this report, but have been and will be engaged independently by the U.S. government. The report also will serve as a basis for the U.S. government's cooperation with private groups to promote the observance of the internationally recognized right to religious freedom.

INTRODUCTION

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act requires that the Secretary of State, assisted by the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, publish an Annual Report on International Religious Freedom each September. The Annual Reports must include a description of the status of religious freedom in each foreign country, including any violations of religious freedom and any trends toward improvement, as well as an Executive Summary.

The purpose of these reports is to advance the U.S. policy of promoting religious freedom internationally -- to speak for that freedom in the world. U.S. policy draws deeply on two traditions: the history and commitment of the American people, and the standards established by the international community. These two traditions not only are consistent but are mutually supportive.

The U.S. Commitment to Religious Liberty

The United States has a longstanding commitment to religious liberty. America's founders made religious freedom the first freedom of the Constitution -- giving it pride of place among those liberties enumerated in the Bill of Rights -- because they believed that guaranteeing the right to search for transcendent truths and ultimate human purpose was a critical component of a durable democracy.

The Founders believed in the universality of human dignity -- that all human beings are endowed by the Creator with certain rights that are theirs by virtue of their existence. These rights were inalienable because they were understood to exist prior to societies and governments, and were granted by neither.

A commitment to the inviolable and universal dignity of the human person is at the core of U.S. human rights policy abroad, including the policy of advocating religious freedom. Governments that protect religious freedom for all their citizens are more likely to protect the other fundamental human rights. Encouraging stable, healthy democracies is a vital national interest of the United States. The spread of democracy makes for good neighbors, economic prosperity, increased trade, and a decrease in conflict.

The International Norm of Religious Freedom

Freedom of religion and conscience is one of the foundational rights in the post-war system of international human rights instruments. Beginning with Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, religious freedom also is provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Helsinki Accords, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.

The belief that fundamental human rights are not created by, but exist prior to, governments is reflected in international instruments as well. According to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- the foundational text for international human rights advocacy -- "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," and are "endowed with reason and conscience."

In recent years, the international commitment to religious freedom has increased. For example, in 1986 the U.N. Commission on Human Rights established the office of the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, now the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Since his appointment in 1993, Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor has issued reports on a variety of countries, including Sudan, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Iran, Vietnam, India, Australia, Greece, Germany, and the United States. His work provides substantial and continuing evidence of the commitment of the international community to promoting religious freedom.

The Department of State presents this third Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (2001) both because it is a vital part of U.S. human rights policy and furthers the interests of the United States, and because of our abiding commitment to the international standard of religious freedom.

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