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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2001

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom October 5 wrote President Bush, urging him "to continue to declare that the United States will defend religious freedom and to demonstrate its commitment to doing so."

Together with its support for the fight against terrorism, Commission Chair Michael K. Young wrote, the Commission "is concerned that, in forging alliances against terrorism, the United States not compromise its commitment to human rights - including religious freedom - and democracy. We oppose such policy trade-offs."

The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr. President:

The members of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom condemn utterly the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, and mourn the terrible loss of life sustained that day. We support the U.S. government's strong commitment to respond. The Commission stands with our country and the world in fighting terrorism.

The Commission is concerned that, in forging alliances against terrorism, the United States not compromise its commitment to human rights - including religious freedom - and democracy. We oppose such policy trade-offs.

The United States has sought cooperation from several governments that are among the world's most egregious violators of religious freedom and other human rights, and that have been designated as "countries of particular concern" for those religious-freedom violations by the U.S. government, or recommended for that status by this Commission. Some of the countries are also on the State Department's list of states that sponsor international terrorism. As the United States works with these governments, it should make clear that their current commitment to cooperate to eradicate terrorism does not mean that the United States will lose interest in the conditions of human rights in their countries. The U. S. government should not, in effect, signal to these governments that it is indifferent to the violent persecution they inflict on their own populations as long as they stop exporting terrorism to the United States. Cooperation in the fight against terrorism does not grant them license to continue to abuse the rights of their own people. The U. S. government should continue to press human rights both publicly and privately and to protect human rights worldwide.

In doing so we demonstrate our commitment to our principles and values, including the very rights and freedoms the terrorists would destroy. We may also be more effective in our efforts to eradicate terrorism. The United States, which is doing so much to stand up to terrorism, should insist that our partners eradicate the types of violations of human dignity that are themselves a threat to peace, justice, democracy, and the rule of law-so necessary to global security and stability.

Mr. President, the International Religious Freedom Act affirms the policy of the United States to condemn violations of religious freedom and to implement effective and principled responses. We urge you to continue to declare that the United States will defend religious freedom and to demonstrate its commitment to doing so.

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." src="https://www.uscirf.org/images/layout/subbottomtext1.gif" />