*EPF205 05/07/2002
Commission Notes Religious Persecution in Burma, Laos, Vietnam
(Annual report says regimes oppress religious minorities) (570)

By Stephen La Rocque
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) criticized the regimes in Burma, Laos, and Vietnam for religious freedom violations in a May 6 news conference in Washington, D.C.

While the USCIRF's 2002 annual report focused on religious persecution in China, Indonesia, North Korea, and three non-Asian countries, the group also called to account the military junta in Burma and the communist rulers in Laos, and Vietnam for their actions against religious freedom.

Congress established the USCIRF through the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to report on the state of religious freedom in the world and to make recommendations for U.S. policy in the face of religious persecution in various countries in the world.

The commission makes policy recommendations and prepares reports on religious freedom in various countries that it submits to the President, Secretary of State, Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

According to the USCIRF, the government of Burma "systematically violates the religious freedom of Buddhist monks and ethnic minority Christians and Muslims."

The Rangoon regime "coercively promotes one school of Buddhism, and as a result Christians and Muslims face obstacles in obtaining permission to build places of worship or to print or import sacred texts," the USCIRF said.

In 1999 and 2000 Burma was listed as a "country of particular concern," as provided for by the International Religious Freedom Act, for its "ongoing, systematic, and egregious religious freedom violations." Secretary of State Colin Powell redesignated Burma as a "country of particular concern" in 2001.

The state of religious freedom in Laos is also of concern, according to the USCIRF.

In communist-ruled Laos during 2000, "more than 95 Christians and their leaders from several provinces were arrested, detained (at times for months), and in some cases convicted of criminal offenses and imprisoned on account of their faith," the USCIRF said.

Seven Lao Christian church leaders and one church member "were arrested in May 2001 ... for resisting government pressure to renounce their faith," the USCIRF added.

The Commission wrote to Powell to urge that the Vientiane regime also be listed as a "country of particular concern," the USCIRF said. In February of 2002, a commissioner and staff traveled to Laos, met with Lao officials, religious groups, and non-governmental organizations, the USCIRF said. The Commission is currently working on a report and recommendations as a result of that mission.

Regarding Vietnam, the USCIRF said it had recommended in 2001 that "religious freedom be made a priority in the annual U.S.-Vietnam bilateral human rights dialogue."

The commission also noted that it had recommended to the Congress that the U.S.-Bilateral Trade Agreement be passed only after a Sense of Congress resolution calling for the communist regime to "make substantial improvements in the protection of religious freedom." The House eventually passed the Vietnam Human Rights Act (H.R. 2833), which would link any aid to Hanoi to its record on human rights, including religious freedom. The USCIRF has urged the Senate to pass the legislation.

The USCIRF sent a mission to Vietnam in February 2002, which met with government officials and religious representatives there, and is currently working on a report and recommendations concerning Vietnam, the Commission said.

The full USCIRF report can be read at:
http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/02AnnualRpt/2002report.pdf

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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