For Your Consideration
December 15, 2011

By FELICE D. GAER and RICHARD D. LAND

Each year, asylum seekers come to the United States seeking refuge from religious and other forms of persecution. Desiring new lives of freedom and dignity, many confront a system that, in the name of security, treats them like criminals.
 

The Hill's Congress Blog - Where Lawmakers Come To Blog
December 12, 2011

By Felice D. Gaer and Nina Shea
Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)

While Americans routinely enjoy religious freedom, most people live in places where it is seriously restricted.

In 1998, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), committing America to support this universal human right abroad. As Congress attends to the issue of the reauthorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which IRFA created and on which we've served, it's time to address some myths about backing religious freedom overseas:

• Myth:  Promoting religious freedom supports a minor, narrow right to practice religious rites.

From food to clothing, work to play, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, worship to prayer, and almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion or belief is an integral part of identity and daily living for billions of people.
 

For Your Consideration
December 10, 2011

The following essay appeared as follows in the Yale Journal of International Affairs:

http://yalejournal.org/2011/12/international-standards-for-constitutional-religious-freedom-protections/ 

Recommendations by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)

Several countries in the world are or soon will be drafting new constitutions.  It is vital that these constitutions protect universal human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief.   Based on its experience analyzing constitutions against international standards,[1] the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) offers the following guideposts for the full protection of religious freedom consistent with international human rights law:

Freedom of Religion or Belief is a Universal Right

The 193 member states of the United Nations have agreed, by signing the UN Charter, to “practice tolerance” and to “promot[e] and encourag[e] respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”  These rights and freedoms include the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, which is protected and affirmed in numerous international instruments, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
 

December 1, 2011 | by Azizah Y. al-Hibri and Richard D. Land 

The following article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on November 30, 2011:

On Nov. 6, Burmese soldiers burst into a church in the state of Kachin, burning and looting it, severely beating its pastor, the Rev. Yajawng Hkawng, and kidnapping 50 of its members for forced labor, including women whom they reportedly raped.

Despite the government's recent words and deeds suggesting reform, such stories remain disturbingly common in Burma, now officially known as Myanmar. Rohingya Muslims, for example, are routinely arrested and tortured when they cannot pay extortion money. Hundreds of Buddhist monks are in prison for peaceful criticism of the government, including U Gambira, who has been so badly beaten that his relatives worry about his physical and mental health.

When she arrives in Burma on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should stress to her hosts the imperative of fundamental reform. Despite some positive steps taken by the new civilian government, including the release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and 200 other prisoners of conscience and an easing of some Internet controls, Burma remains one of the world's most egregious human rights and religious freedom violators and continues to face economic and political sanctions for its misconduct.

November 9, 2011 | By Leonard A. Leo and Elizabeth H. Prodromou 

Education is a powerful force that shapes how individuals respond to fundamental differences of opinion and belief. It can encourage tolerance and respect for all, but it can also foster disdain and contempt for those who dissent from prevailing orthodoxies.

October 29, 2011 | by Commissioners Leonard Leo and Don Argue

Whether or not Iran's top leaders were aware of the recent alleged plot to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington, one thing is clear: They are fully aware of and complicit in severely violating the rights of their own people at home, including the right to religious freedom. They are responsible and must be held accountable.

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August 26, 2011 | by Elizabeth H. Prodromou and Nina Shea  

The following article appeared in The Hill on August 26, 2011.  To access the original article, go to http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/178317-religious-freedom-for-turkey

The recent resignation of Turkey’s military high command, along with reports that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will subordinate the military to civilian rule, could mark a new era for that nation.  Sweeping constitutional changes, however, are still needed to ensure fundamental rights and avoid exchanging one form of repression for another.  The United States should challenge Turkey’s civilian leadership to make such long-overdue changes, especially regarding religious freedom, including for religious minorities.

ROLL CALL        Opinion

Special to Roll Call
Aug. 2, 2011, 4:05 p.m.

In its global struggle against violent religious extremism and terror, the United States has had an increasingly strained relationship with Pakistan, which has failed to counter these forces effectively, especially in recent years.

Last month, the U.S. responded by suspending $800 million of its military aid to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. It's time for the administration to take other steps, beginning with designating Pakistan a "country of particular concern" under U.S. law for severe violations of religious freedom.

For Your Information

July 6,2011| By: William Shaw and Nina Shea

The following op-ed appeared in The Hill on July 6, 2011. 

On July 9, the world will witness the birth of a new nation and a triumph for religious freedom and related rights. The people of South Sudan chose independence in a January referendum mandated by a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA), of which the United States was the primary broker. Signed in 2005, the agreement ended Sudan’s 22-year north/south civil war.

July 1, 2011 | by Leonard A. Leo and Elizabeth H. Prodromou

The following article appeared in the Harvard International Review.  To access this article, go to http://hir.harvard.edu/protecting-religious-freedom-abroad 

For much of the world, there is no greater human right than the freedom to practice one’s religion or belief system according to the dictates of conscience, without fear of coercion or retaliation.

Yet, across much of the globe, religious freedom and related human rights are egregiously and routinely violated.   The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reports on countries that it deems serious or severe violators -- based on criteria laid down by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) which created the Commission -- and provides independent policy recommendations for US government action.  

When most people picture violations of religious freedom, they imagine governments either preventing people from worshipping or otherwise abusing them for their beliefs.   They may think of China, the world’s most populous country, where disfavored religious groups, from Tibetan Buddhists to Uighur Muslims, and from the Protestant house church movement to the Falun Gong, are ruthlessly suppressed.   They may picture Iran, where a theocratic regime still provides for the execution of all individuals, regardless of faith or confession, who are convicted of the charge of “waging war against God”-- thus targeting reformers among the Shi’a majority, as well as members of religious minorities, including Sunni and Sufi Muslims, Baha’is, and Christians, while stirring up anti-Semitism by promoting Holocaust denial.

June 22, 2011 | by Don Argue and Ted Van Der Meid  

The following article appeared in The Hill on June 22, 2011.  For a link to the original article, go to http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/167905-a-voice-for-irans-freedom

The week of June 20 marks the second anniversary of the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old Iranian who was slain during demonstrations in Tehran against her country’s fraudulent June 12, 2009 presidential election.