*EPF511 05/14/2004
Text: Commission Releases Report on Religious Freedom
(Recommends listing six additional "countries of particular concern") (1640)

The Commission on International Religious Freedom, releasing its annual report May 12, recommended that 11 nations be designated "countries of particular concern" (CPC) for their curtailment or denial of religious freedom.

In addition to the five countries currently listed by the U.S. State Department as CPCs -- Burma, China, North Korea, Iran, and Sudan -- the committee asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to add six additional countries -- Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam -- to the list.

According to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), those countries that meet the statutory criteria in that act must be designated by the secretary of state as CPCs.

However, "the simple designation by the U.S. government of a severe violator of religious freedom as a CPC is not sufficient action," the report said. "The policy of the United States also must be to take active steps in response to those countries deemed to be particularly egregious religious freedom violators."

In addition to CPC designations, the commission made several recommendations regarding religious freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq where, according to the report, "the United States has a particular responsibility to ensure that the newly formed governments are functioning democracies that protect human rights, including religious freedom." The report specifically discusses the necessity of protecting freedoms of thought, conscious and religion in the newly developed constitutions of those nations.

The Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to make recommendations on issues of religious freedom to the president, secretary of state and Congress.

For the complete report see http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/12May04/finalReport.php3

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Annual Report of the United States Commission
on International Religious Freedom

May 2004

INTRODUCTION

This annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom provides a comprehensive review of the Commission's findings, recommendations, and achievements during the past year to promote the internationally enshrined right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief. It describes conditions for religious freedom and interrelated human rights in the countries of most concern to the Commission, describes the actions the Commission has taken with regard to those countries, and compiles the Commission's policy recommendations to the U.S. government to make the promotion of freedom of religion or belief a more integral part of U.S. human rights policy. In the five years of its operation, many of the Commission's recommendations concerning several countries that violate international norms of freedom of religion or belief have been implemented by the President, the State Department, and Congress, and have had a significant impact on the protection of human rights, including religious freedom, in those countries.

In the past year, the Commission has been especially active on Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries where the United States has a particular responsibility to ensure that the newly formed governments are functioning democracies that protect human rights, including religious freedom. Focusing on the process of constitutional development, the Commission throughout the year vigorously acted to highlight the importance of guaranteeing that the right of every individual to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief is protected in the recently adopted constitutions of these two important countries. The Commission raised the issue in several public statements, as well as in two separate opinion-editorial articles, in The Washington Post and The New York Times. With regard to Iraq, the Commission worked successfully with senior Administration officials, Members of Congress, and others to ensure that explicit guarantees of this right for every Iraqi is included in the country's interim constitution, a document which potentially stands as a model for the region. Unfortunately, in Afghanistan, there was more limited success with respect to the constitution. Details about the crucial significance of individual rights in the protection of human freedom, as well as about the Commission's numerous activities in this important effort, can be found in the following chapter on Ensuring the Rights of Every Person in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the Commission's chief responsibilities is to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion or belief. Under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), those countries that meet the statutory criteria must be designated by the Secretary of State as "countries of particular concern," or CPCs. In February 2004, the Commission wrote to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to recommend that 11 countries be designated as CPCs this year. It identified six countries not previously designated by the U.S. government: Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. It also recommended that five countries remain on the CPC list: Burma, China, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, Iran, and Sudan, but that Iraq should no longer be designated a CPC. The simple designation by the U.S. government of a severe violator of religious freedom as a CPC is not sufficient action, however, as IRFA makes clear that the policy of the United States also must be to take active steps in response those countries deemed to be particularly egregious religious freedom violators.

In addition, the Commission wrote that Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan would remain on the Commission's Watch List of countries where religious freedom conditions do not rise to the statutory level requiring CPC designation but which warrant close monitoring because of violations engaged in or tolerated by their governments, and that Belarus, Cuba, and Georgia would be added to that list. More information can be found in the chapter on the Commission's CPC recommendations and Watch List countries.
In its May 2003 report on Saudi Arabia, the Commission recommended that Congress authorize a study to determine whether, how, and the extent to which the Saudi government, members of the royal family, or Saudi-funded individuals or institutions are propagating globally a religious ideology that explicitly promotes hate and violence toward members of other religious groups, including disfavored Muslims. In November 2003, The Wall Street Journal published a Commission opinion-editorial on the subject entitled, "Al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia." In April 2004, the Commission's recommendation was implemented when several Members of Congress wrote to the Comptroller of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) requesting that the agency undertake a study to determine what the U.S. government is doing to identify and monitor sources of Saudi funding for institutions that advocate violence and intolerance, and what the U.S. government is doing to counter that influence. In pursuing this study, GAO was asked to seek information from relevant U.S. government agencies, including this Commission, as well as outside experts. More information on the problem of Saudi support for intolerance and the Commission's recommended study can be found in the chapter entitled Country Reports: Middle East.

Throughout the past year, the Commission held public events highlighting critical religious freedom concerns. In March and in July 2003, the Commission hosted roundtables with members of the Administration, Members of Congress, academics, and representatives of religious groups and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to discuss U.S. efforts to advance freedom of religion or belief in China. In November 2003, the Commission held a hearing entitled Is Saudi Arabia a Strategic Threat?: the Global Propagation of Intolerance to explore Saudi Arabia's involvement in the global spread of religious extremism. And in January 2004, the Commission held a field hearing in Los Angeles entitled North Korea: Human Rights Ground Zero. The hearing focused on the human rights conditions in North Korea, the plight of North Korean refugees, and appropriate U.S. foreign policies on these issues and included witnesses from the Administration and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as from the local community. More detail about these and other events is found in the sections on the individual countries.

As part of its extensive work on Afghanistan, which included the holding in January 2003 of an international forum, "Reconstructing Afghanistan: Freedom in Crisis?" in cooperation with George Washington University Law School in January 2003, the Commission undertook a mission to Afghanistan in August 2003. The Commission delegation, which traveled to Afghanistan during a crucial period when Afghan experts were drafting the new constitution, met with senior officials of the Transitional Administration, the chairs and other members of the Constitutional, Human Rights, and Judicial Reform Commissions, representatives of NGOs, religious leaders, and others. In January 2004, the Commission traveled to Hong Kong to hold meetings with religious leaders, experts, and human rights advocates. In addition, during the past year the Commission participated on several U.S. delegations to human rights meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including special meetings on Freedom of Religion or Belief and on Anti-Semitism.

Commissioners testified before Congress on various issues in the past year. Commission Chair Michael K. Young testified in February 2004 before the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Human Rights at a hearing entitled the Status of International Religious Freedom: an Analysis of the State Department's 2003 Annual Report. Also in February, Chairman Young testified on Vietnam before the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Protecting Religious Freedom in Vietnam: Balancing Interests and Principles. In July 2003, Commission Vice Chair Felice D. Gaer testified at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China entitled Will Religion Flourish under China's New Leadership. In October, Commission Vice Chair Nina Shea was the initial speaker at a briefing held by the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on Vietnam entitled Vietnam: A People Silenced. The individual country reports below contain more information about these events as well as other Commission activities.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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