FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2001

Contact:
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government agency advising the executive branch and Congress, October 30 wrote Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, urging the Administration "to promote ... the idea of a future Afghan political system that practices religious tolerance and respects the basic human rights of all, including religious minorities and women."

The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Secretary Powell:

The members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom applaud your efforts to marshal support from the international community in our nation's campaign against terrorism. We are heartened by your statements that show a deep appreciation of the need to work with the international community following the current military campaign in Afghanistan "to create hopeful conditions within the country so that they (i.e., the Afghans) are not vulnerable to this kind of a threat again in the future." At the same time, we urge you, as we did President Bush in our letter to him of October 5, to continue to uphold, in all your efforts, our nation's firm commitment to protection of human rights, including religious freedom, for all.

The Commission believes strongly that the United States needs to be laying the groundwork now for a future Afghanistan that respects the rights of all persons, including the right to freedom of religion and belief, and strengthens elements of religious tolerance.

The U.S. cannot and indeed should not act alone in reconstructing a post-war Afghanistan. Without strong U.S. leadership to ensure the protection of religious freedom and tolerance, we fear that egregious persecution will soon again be the norm.

Many Afghans' experience of society, politics, and religion has been marred by the intolerant and harsh example of the Taliban who have violently coerced those under their control to follow a radically narrow interpretation of Islam in all aspects of life. Muslim Afghan women and girls have suffered in particular, at tremendous cost to the future of Afghan society.

Recognizing that the future form of Afghanistan's government is for the Afghans themselves to decide, the Commission urges the Administration to promote, in all of its programs for Afghanistan and contacts with the Afghans, with interested governments, and with the United Nations, the idea of a future Afghan political system that practices religious tolerance and respects the basic human rights of all, including religious minorities and women. Afghanistan's new political system should be committed to ensuring that religious belief and practice are based on conscience and personal values, rather than imposed by coercion and violence. It should uphold the international human rights norms guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the other international covenants to which Afghanistan is a party.

The Commission recognizes that political reconstruction in Afghanistan will be a tremendously complex and difficult task. We appreciate the fact that balanced ethnic representation has been publicly stressed by the Administration as a necessity for the stability of a post-Taliban government. But a commitment of such a future government to religious tolerance and pluralism, also central to stability, has not been so openly recognized as a U.S. policy priority. The Commission believes that it should be.

Thank you for considering the Commission's recommendations.

Respectfully,

Michael K. Young

Chairman

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress." 

Michael K. Young,Chair

• Felice D. Gaer, Firuz Kazemzadeh, Richard D. Land, Bishop William Francis Murphy, Leila Nadya Sadat, Nina Shea, The Hon. Charles R. Stith, The Hon. Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2001

Contact:
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today strongly condemned the harsh, 15-year sentence Vietnamese authorities have reportedly handed down to Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Roman Catholic priest. Fr. Ly was charged with disobeying probation rules and "undermining national unity."

"This kind of behavior does not help the Vietnamese government make its case that it deserves additional trade benefits and international loans," said Commission Chair Michael K. Young. "In order to have credibility on other issues, Vietnam must uphold its international human rights and religious-freedom commitments."

Fr. Ly is an advocate of religious freedom in Vietnam who has been persistently critical of the Vietnamese government's failure to protect religious freedom - criticism that led to his imprisonment for close to a decade. Since 1994, Fr. Ly has issued, on different occasions, a "10-point statement" publicly calling for religious liberty in his country. The Commission invited Fr. Ly to testify at its February 2001 hearing on religious freedom in Vietnam, and he submitted written testimony. Fr. Ly's testimony and his participation in a meeting (also in February) with other Vietnamese religious dissidents to establish an interfaith council resulted in his arrest and "administrative detention" in March 2001.

The Vietnamese government took action against Fr. Ly despite protests by this Commission, members of Congress, and the State Department. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly raised the issue of Fr. Ly's arrest during May 2001 meetings with Vietnamese officials in Vietnam (Fr. Ly was reportedly arrested on the day before Assistant Secretary Kelly met with the Vietnamese) and in June 2001 the State Department publicly called for the release of Fr. Ly and other religious dissidents.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress." 

Michael K. Young,Chair

• Felice D. Gaer, Firuz Kazemzadeh, Richard D. Land, Bishop William Francis Murphy, Leila Nadya Sadat, Nina Shea, The Hon. Charles R. Stith, The Hon. Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2001

Contact:
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
WASHINGTON - A delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom met October 10 with officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Religious Affairs to discuss the Commission's concerns about religious-freedom violations in China.

The Commission members noted the Chinese government's resumption of the Chinese-American Human Rights Dialogue as the Commission recommended in its May 2000 and May 2001 reports. They expressed the hope that this would lead to specific and measurable improvements. More remains to be done: The dialogue must continue at high levels and open up avenues to address human rights and religious-freedom questions at all levels. The Chinese government should accede to the Commission's long-standing request to visit China. Most important, the Commissioners stressed, the Chinese government must also respond with improvements in religious freedom and human rights for its citizens.

The Commissioners raised a number of concerns and recommendations from the Commission's May 2001 report. They highlighted the cases of a number of adherents of various faiths who are currently in detention for their religious activities and noted that they are illustrative of widespread religious freedom problems in China. As the Secretary of State concluded in September 1999 and again in 2000, the Chinese government severely and systematically violates the religious freedom of its citizens and respect for religious freedom has "deteriorated markedly" in recent years. In the last year, the government of China has expanded its crackdown on unregistered religious communities and tightened its control on official religious organizations. The government has intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong movement and its followers. It has arrested many leaders of the unofficial Roman Catholic and Protestant "house church" movements. Provincial officials confiscated or destroyed up to 3,000 unregistered church buildings and Buddhist shrines in one district alone in southeastern China last November. Government control over the official Protestant and Catholic churches has increased, through which officials interfere in the training, ordination, and assignment of clergy. At the same time, the government continues to close Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and to maintain tight control over Uighur Muslims in the northwest.

Commissioners Felice Gaer, Nina Shea, and Shirin Tahir-Kheli participated in the meeting, which was arranged with the help of the State Department.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress." 

Michael K. Young,Chair

• Felice D. Gaer, Firuz Kazemzadeh, Richard D. Land, Bishop William Francis Murphy, Leila Nadya Sadat, Nina Shea, The Hon. Charles R. Stith, The Hon. Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director