Feb 16, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2007
Contact:
Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127
Turkey: USCIRF/Wilson Center Panel Discussion on Turkish Attitudes Toward Religion and Politics
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in cooperation with the Southeast Europe Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, invites you to a panel discussion on "Religion and Politics in Turkey: a Survey of Turkish Attitudes" on Monday, February 26 from 3:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. The discussion will focus on the findings of a recent country-wide poll by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV).
During a Commission trip to Turkey in November 2006, the delegation heard a preliminary report on the TESEV poll. The meeting Monday will offer an opportunity to more fully discuss the poll findings and hear the views of experts in Washington's policy and academic communities.
Introduction:
Felice D. Gaer, Chair, USCIRF
Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Vice-Chair, USCIRF
Panelists:
Dr. Can Paker, Chairman, TESEV, and Chairman, Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation in Turkey
Etyen Mahcupyan, Director, Democratization Program, TESEV, and columnist
Moderator:
Dr. Henri J. Barkey, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centerand Bernard and Bertha Cohen Professor of International Relations, Lehigh University
5th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow Wilson Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC 20004
RSVP Acceptances only, [email protected]
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.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair•Michael Cromartie,Vice Chair•Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair•Nina Shea,Vice Chair•Preeta D. Bansal•Archbishop Charles J. Chaput•Khaled Abou El Fadl•Richard D. Land•Bishop Ricardo Ramirez•Ambassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-Officio•Joseph R. Crapa,Executive Director |
Feb 14, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2007
Contact:
Judith Ingram , Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 127
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
On behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I am writing to congratulate you on the formation of the Iraq Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Task Force. For some time, the Commission has argued that the increasing numbers of IDPs and Iraqi refugees in the region demand urgent U.S. attention.
The Commission urges you to make the question of Iraqi refugee resettlement one of your top priorities on the agenda in your upcoming meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres this week. It is our understanding that the U.S. government and UNHCR are in discussions regarding Iraqi refugee resettlement to the United States and that UNHCR is looking to resettle approximately 20,000 Iraqi refugees here. In particular, the Commission urges that Iraqis fleeing religious persecution, particularly ChaldoAssyrians, Sabean Mandaeans and Yazidis, be given access to the U.S. Refugee Program and included in this 20,000. Specifically, because of the well-documented threats these groups face in Iraq, the Commission recommends that you:
Although they comprise only three percent of the population, UNHCR has estimated that ChaldoAssyrians and Sabean Mandaeans constitute up to 40 percent of all registered refugees and the International Organization for Migration estimates they constitute seven percent of all IDPs.
Knowing your concern for human rights and the plight of Iraqi refugees in the region, the Commission urges you to act on the above recommendations. This issue belongs on the agenda along with the refugee crisis in Darfur and the deplorable situation of North Koreans in China, problems the Commission has in the past reported on and written to you about.
Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Felice D. Gaer
Chair
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.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair•Michael Cromartie,Vice Chair•Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair•Nina Shea,Vice Chair•Preeta D. Bansal•Archbishop Charles J. Chaput•Khaled Abou El Fadl•Richard D. Land•Bishop Ricardo Ramirez•Ambassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-Officio•Joseph R. Crapa,Executive Director |
Feb 9, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2007
Contact:
Judith Ingram , Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 127
WASHINGTON-Two years after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published the congressionally authorized Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, the problems it identified remain and the majority of its recommendations have not been implemented.
Congress intended Expedited Removal, written into law in 1996, to protect U.S. borders and bona fide asylum seekers. As this policy is being implemented, though, it has put asylum seekers at risk of being returned to countries where they face persecution.
That has helped turn the United States, a nation founded by people fleeing repression, into a country of bureaucratic walls and mazes where victims are sent back to their tormentors or thrown into U.S. jails alongside criminals pending a judgment on asylum.
On Feb. 8, 2005, USCIRF made 18 recommendations to the agencies responsible for implementing the Expedited Removal program, all designed to further both the aims of protecting U.S. borders and ensuring fair and humane treatment for bona fide asylum seekers.
Today USCIRF issued a report card assessing how well the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DOJ) have implemented the recommendations, to assure that Congressional safeguards for bona fide asylum seekers are translated into practice.
USCIRF chair Felice D. Gaer noted that "we see no significant difference between the situations of then and now-with the exception that Expedited Removal was expanded in spite of our explicit recommendation to hold off on that."
DHS has widened Expedited Removal from a port-of-entry program to one that covers the entire land and sea border of the United States.
Customs and Border Protection did not institute any of the five recommendations USCIRF made to improve oversight, including measures as simple as adding videotape monitoring systems to all border patrol stations and ports of entry or employing so-called testers to verify that procedures are followed correctly. As a result, Customs and Border Protection earned the lowest grade, with an overall score of "F."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken no steps to improve the prison-like conditions under which asylum seekers are detained or ensure that release criteria are applied uniformly. ICE earned an overall grade of "D."
However, the picture isn't entirely bleak. The Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review has taken steps to reinstate judicial training and expand its legal orientation program for detained asylum seekers, earning an overall grade of "C+."
The report card summary and the full report of USCIRF's two-year review of its recommendations on expedited removal are posted on its web site, www.uscirf.gov.
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.
Felice D. Gaer, Chair • Michael Cromartie, Vice Chair • Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair •Nina Shea, Vice Chair • Preeta D. Bansal•Archbishop Charles J. Chaput• Khaled Abou El Fadl• Richard D. Land• Bishop Ricardo Ramirez• Ambassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-Officio • Joseph R. Crapa, Executive Director |