FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for an on-the-record briefing regarding the troubling rise of religious intolerance in the Former Soviet Union, and efforts that are being made to combat it.

The discussion will feature a leading human rights advocate in Russia, Valentin Gefter, General Director of the Human Rights Institute, Moscow; and representatives of an innovative religious tolerance program operating in Russia, Colonel Boronbekov of Russian Law Enforcement (MVD), and Pnina Levermore, Executive Director of the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal.

Mr. Gefter is currently in Washington, D.C. as a Galina Starovoitva Fellow at the Kennan Institute. Ms. Levermore is the founder of the Climate of Trust program, which is an exchange of Russian and American police officers, District Attorneys, judges and community leaders to promote tolerance and fight anti-Semitism in the Former Soviet Union. Colonel Boronbekov is the Russian Coordinator of the Climate of Trust program.

WHO:Colonel Sultonbek Boronbekov, Ms. Pnina Levermore, Mr. Valentin Gefter

WHEN: April 26, 2005, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
800 North Capitol St. NW, Suite #790
Washington, DC 20002

Please RSVP to Caroline Gobble at  [email protected] or (202) 523-3240, ext. 24.

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
April 21, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - Please join us for an on-the-record briefing about the work of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), a non-partisan organization based in New Haven, Connecticut that seeks to remedy a deficit in the systematic, objective, and analytical documentation of human rights violations committed in Iran since the 1979 revolution. The presentation will focus on the deteriorating situation of religious freedom in Iran, especially the plight of religious minorities and Muslim dissidents.

In 2004, the U.S. Department of State provided $1 million in funding for the IHRDC through its Human Rights and Democracy Fund to "promote respect for human rights and democracy in Iran." Last month, the State Department announced it would provide grants in 2005 totaling $3 million for educational institutions, humanitarian groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights.

The IHRDC was co-founded by Roya Hakakian, Ramin Ahmadi, and Payam Akhavan. Hakakian, a former television producer, is a documentary filmmaker and the author ofJourney from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran. Ahmadi is professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and founder of the Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights. Akhavan, a former Legal Advisor to the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda at the Hague, is an international human rights lawyer and Senior Fellow at Yale Law School and the Yale University Genocide Studies Program.

WHO:Roya Hakakian, Ramin Ahmadi, and Payam Akhavan, Co-Founders of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

WHEN: 2:00 - 3:30 pm, Tuesday, May 3, 2005

WHERE: The Offices of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 800 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790, Washington, DC 20002

** Seating is limited, so please RSVP by calling Caroline Gobble at (202) 523-3240 , ext. 24 or email [email protected] no later than Monday, May 2nd **

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
April 18, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed concern that the deadline has passed for the United States to take action on the designation of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Eritrea as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) for their systematic and egregious religious freedom violations.

In September 2004 the State Department designated these three countries for the first time as CPCs, which followed the Commission's own recommendations. The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) requires that the President not only name those countries that are the most egregious violators of religious freedom, but also take specific policy actions within 90 days.

The statute also allows for a 90 day extension. When the extension deadline was up on March 15, a State Department spokesman explained at a press briefing that they had asked Congress for "a little extra time," noting there had been "real engagement" with Saudi Arabia. The United States is now one month beyond the statutory deadline.

The bipartisan USCIRF has seen no evidence of specific progress on the ground in Saudi Arabia on freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief. Last month, the Saudi government's announcement of a national campaign against extremism designed to educate Saudis about the importance of tolerance and moderation was followed by the destruction of a Hindu temple by the religious police. In Vietnam, the government continues to harass, detain, imprison, and discriminate against leaders and practitioners of all religious communities. In Eritrea, the government continues to ban the activities of all unregistered religious groups and closed their places of worship.

"These persistent delays in the process serve only to signal that the United States does not take seriously IRFA's stated-and mandated-commitments to promote religious freedom and other human rights throughout the world," said USCIRF Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "The Commission believes it is time for the United States to act and not waive this obligation."

The Commission recommended specific actions in a February 7 letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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.