Nov 21, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2003
Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commends the House of Representatives for passing, and in particular Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez for introducing, House Resolution 427 expressing support for the courageous leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and the urgent need for religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam.
"The Commission believes that the passage of House Resolution 427 will send an important message to the Vietnamese government, that better relations between our two countries will only be achieved when there are notable improvements in human rights," said USCIRF Vice Chair Nina Shea.
The Vietnamese government has shown, again and again, that it is determined to suppress religious freedom and maintain strict control over speech, including the media and Internet. There is incontrovertible evidence that the Vietnamese government has initiated crackdowns on religious leaders and believers, free speech advocates, political reformers, and those championing the rights of ethnic minorities.
Said Shea, "Advancing free speech, free press, and freedom of religion represents not only core American values but also international standards of human rights-standards that the Vietnamese have already acceded to in various international treaties and covenants. Working to protect and promote these basic freedoms furthers the interests of both the United States and the people of Vietnam."
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.
Dean Michael K. Young,Chair
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Nov 17, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2003
Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
November 18 USCIRF hearing on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON - Last week the Saudi government said that it does not fund radical madrassas. Numerous credible reports suggest otherwise. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has reportedly raised the issue of whether the United States should combat the madrassas as part of its efforts to combat terrorism. His deputy, Under Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has described madrassas as "schools that teach hatred, schools that teach terrorism." The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that Congress authorize and fund a public study to determine whether the Saudi government is directly or indirectly funding efforts to propagate globally, including in the United States, an ideology that promotes hate, intolerance, and other human rights violations, and in some cases violence, toward members of other religious groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim. What we seek are facts - whether they vindicate or implicate Saudi Arabia. This hearing will be a step in that process.
WHAT:"Is Saudi Arabia a Strategic Threat: the Global Propagation of Intolerance"
WHEN:Tuesday, November 18, 2003, 9:30a.m. - 11:30a.m.
WHERE:253 Russell Senate Office Building
The Commission will hear testimony from the following confirmed participants:
The Honorable David Aufhauser , former General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury and Chair of National Security Council Policy Coordinating Committee on Terrorist Financing.
Robert Baer , former CIA operative and author of Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.
Ambassador Martin Indyk , Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution, and former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Dr. Mai Yamani , Research Fellow, Middle East Program, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London.
View the Hearing Transcript
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.
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Dean Michael K. Young,Chair
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Nov 10, 2003
Wall Street Journal
November 10, 2003
By Khaled Abou El Fadl
The religious extremists who form al Qaeda and similar terrorist groups are a threat not only to the U.S., but also other parts of the world -- including Saudi Arabia. Since Sept. 11, there have been numerous reports that funding coming from Saudi Arabia has been used to finance religious schools and other activities that are alleged to support the kind of intolerance practiced by Islamic militants world-wide. The Saudis have denied these allegations, and the U.S. has praised the Saudi government for its cooperation in the war on terror. Yet a recent Time magazine cover story rightly questioned whether the Saudi brand of Islam is compatible with that war. Saturday's attacks in Riyadh only make that question more urgent, and piquant.
The Saudis fund mosques, university chairs, Islamic study centers, and religious schools known as madrassas, all over the world, from New York to Nigeria. During the Afghan war against the Soviets, madrassas emerged in Pakistan that were concerned less with scholarship than with war on infidels. They provided ideological training for those who went to fight in Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan -- and many still do. The peaceful propagation of religious beliefs, including Islam, is a human right. But the concern is that the Saudi government may be propagating an Islam that promotes violence against non-Muslims and disfavored Muslims. The line separating the brand of Islam allegedly preached by the Saudis from the violence of radicals is a fine one. Just how one moves across this line warrants investigation.
After Sept. 11, Saudi leaders admitted that up to 10% of their curriculum contained objectionable material, including hatred of other religious groups, and vowed to address the issue. Yet there has been no examination of the extent to which these materials are found in Saudi-funded religious schools and mosques outside the Kingdom -- including Islamic religious literature available in U.S. prisons and the U.S. armed forces.
In an effort to provide answers, the Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan, independent federal agency, has recommended that Congress fund a study to determine whether and how -- and the extent to which -- the Saudi government, members of the royal family, or Saudi-funded individuals or institutions, are propagating globally, including in America, a religious ideology that explicitly promotes hate and violence toward members of other religious groups. What we seek are facts -- whether they vindicate or implicate Saudi Arabia. In undertaking such a study, the U.S. should first request that the Saudis provide an account of the religious institutions they fund in America. The study should then commission experts to survey literature found in Saudi-funded religious schools; speak to Muslims who frequent Saudi-funded mosques; analyze Saudi-funded pamphlets, newsletters, radio, and TV; interview officials in countries where intolerant materials have been identified; and call on Saudi officials to account for the religious materials it exports. Findings should be reported to Congress.
The Saudi foreign minister has acknowledged that it is possible individual Saudis have funded Wahhabi schools abroad, and has said that he would welcome information about this funding, now considered a crime in Saudi Arabia. The study we have proposed would not only help fulfill his request, but would also reveal whether or not his government is involved. In the age of global terrorism, the U.S. should be concerned when there are credible allegations that Saudi Arabia is propagating globally a brand of Islam that is not only incompatible with the war against terrorism, but may well be promoting it.
Mr. El Fadl, a law professor at Yale, is on the Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Copyright 2003 Wall Street Journal