FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2006

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will announce its 2006 recommendations to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for "countries of particular concern," or CPCs, at an on-the-record press conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on May 3, 2006. The Commission will also release its 2006 Annual Report and discuss its findings and recommendations for U.S. policy for the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress. The Commission will also be joined at the press conference by Tibetan nun  Phuntsog Nyidron , who was recently released from China in advance of the visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao. The press conference will be held from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in the 6^thfloor Board Room of the Woodrow Wilson Center at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.The press conference is open to all members of the media, the non-governmental, faith-based, and policy communities. Please see below for RSVP information.

The Commission is mandated by Congress to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief. Under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), those countries may be designated by the Secretary of State as "countries of particular concern," or CPCs. IRFA also requires that the U.S. government take follow-on policy actions to CPC designation.

In addition to announcing CPCs, the Commission will announce its list of Watch List countries, those countries where religious freedom conditions do not rise to the statutory level requiring CPC designation but which require close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the governments. The2006 Annual Report includes the Commission's findings and policy recommendations for China, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Egypt, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, among others.

Copies of the Commission's 2006 CPC recommendations to Secretary of State Rice and its 2006 Annual Report will be available at the press conference and will also be posted on the Commission's Web site at www.uscirf.gov. They can also be obtained by contacting the Commission's Communications department at (202) 523-3240. Interviews with Commissioners may be arranged by contacting Anne Johnson, Communications Director, at (202) 523-3240, ext. 27.

Please RSVP to Anne Johnson at  [email protected]  or (202)523-3240, ext. 27.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2006

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Vice Chair Felice D. Gaer testified before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus at a Members' briefing titled "Anti-Conversion Laws and Religious Freedom in South Asia and the Middle East: The Case of Abdul Rahman" on Friday, April 7.

In August 2003, Gaer led a delegation from the Commission that traveled to Afghanistan. During this visit, the country was in the process of finalizing its new constitution. On March 22, 2006, the Commission issued a statement concerning the reported arrest and threatened death sentence for Abdul Rahman, a convert to Christianity. The Commission stated that that it had previously noted that the absence of a guarantee of the right to religious freedom in Afghanistan's constitution, together with a judicial system structured to enforce Islamic principles and Islamic law, leaves the door open for a harsh, unfair, or even abusive interpretation of religious orthodoxy to be officially imposed on all Afghans, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, potentially leading to unjust criminal accusations of apostasy and blasphemy.

"Clearly, Mr. Rahman's case reveals the weak state of human rights protections in Afghanistan today, and reminds us that freedom and democracy are still in peril," said Vice Chair Gaer.

Continued Gaer, "Five years after the Taliban regime, Islamic law governs Afghanistan at the expense of universal human rights. Despite U.S. and international involvement in its development, the country's new post-Taliban constitution does not serve as a strong enough countervailing force to protect human rights. The freedom to adopt a religion or belief should be guaranteed everywhere, and the United States should stand with all who seek to protect it. As President Bush has said, freedom is a universal norm and the United States should not shy away from expressing the desire for there to be universal liberty."

Felice D. Gaer is Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute of the American Jewish Committee and has been a Commissioner appointed since 2001. Her testimony will be available on the Commission's website 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2006

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Michael Cromartie spoke today at an event in Washington sponsored by The International Campaign for Tibet and The Capital Area Tibetan Association welcoming into freedom Tibetan Nun Phuntsog Nyidron. Phuntsog Nyidron was a nun at the Michungri nunnery when she was detained in 1989 for holding a peaceful demonstration celebrating the Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize award and sentenced to eight years in prison. Her sentence was extended by nine years when recorded songs she and 13 other female prisoners recorded about Tibet and the Dalai Lama were smuggled from prison. According to numerous witnesses, Phuntsog Nyidron, and the other nuns imprisoned with her, were routinely beaten during their imprisonment. Phuntsog Nyidron was the last singing nun to be released from prison.

The Commission welcomed Phuntsog Nyidron's arrival in the United States on March 15. After repeated requests to the Chinese government, the Commission was permitted a brief meeting with Phuntsog Nyidron in Lhasa, Tibet, during its official delegation to China in August 2005 and pressed the Chinese government to allow her to travel abroad to seek medical attention. The Commission was the first group to be allowed to see Phuntsog Nyidron in over a year. The Commission worked with Congress, the White House, and the State Department, U.S. Ambassador Randt and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, as well as with the International Campaign for Tibet and other groups, on her behalf."

"During its visit to China the Commission raised a number of individual cases of prisoners detained or sentenced on account of religious belief or practice, including other Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Falun Gong, Protestants, and Uighur Muslims," said USCIRF Chair Michael Cromartie. "The Commission urges President Bush to press Chinese President Hu Jintao during their April 20 meeting for additional prisoner releases and to vigorously raise the issue of legal reform so that arbitrary detentions, ‘enforced disappearances,' and harassment of China's diverse and vital religious communities will end."

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.