FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2001

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today announced the election of Dean Michael K. Young of George Washington University Law School as Chairman for the term to end in May 2002.

Commissioner Young served as the Commission's Vice Chairman from June 1999 to June 2000. He joined the George Washington University Law School as Dean in 1998 after serving as the Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law and Legal Institutions at the School of Law of Columbia University. He also served as Director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies, the Center for Korean Legal Studies, and the Project on Religion, Rights, and Religious Freedom at Columbia University. During the administration of President George Bush, he served as Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State. Commissioner Young is now serving his second term on the Commission.

Commissioners Felice Gaer, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee, and Charles R. Stith, former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania and director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University, were elected to serve with Chairman Young on an executive committee.

Also serving as Commissioners are Firuz Kazemzadeh, senior advisor, National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States; Richard Land, president and CEO of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention; Bishop William F. Murphy, bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.; Leila Nadya Sadat, professor of law, Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Mo.; Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House; and The Hon. Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli, director of the South Asia Program of the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. All Commissioners' terms expire May 14, 2003.

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" />

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2001

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

President George W. Bush yesterday appointed Dr. Richard D. Land of Nashville, Tennessee, the Most Reverend William Francis Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Dr. Shirin Raziuddin Tahir-Kheli of Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. All nine voting Commissioners have now been appointed and will serve until May 14, 2003.

Dr. Richard D. Land is currently the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to joining the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Land was the Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. Land received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University in Oxford, England, and a Master's of Theology from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Most Reverend William Francis Murphy is currently Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York. Bishop Murphy was the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston. He served as the Director of the Office of Social Justice and the Secretary of Community Relations for the Archdiocese of Boston from 1987 to 1993, and from 1980 to 1987 he was the Under Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Justitia et Pax. Bishop Murphy is a graduate of St. John's Seminary and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Shirin Raziuddin Tahir-Kheli is the Director, South Asia Program of the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She headed the United States delegation in 2001 to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. From 1992 to 1993, she was a member of the National Advisory Council on the Public Service, and from 1990 to 1993, she was the Alternate U.S. Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations. From 1984 to 1989, Dr. Tahir-Kheli was a member of the National Security Council, first as the Director of Political-Military Affairs and then as Director of Near East and South Asian Affairs. She is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, and received a Master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Commission consists of nine voting Commissioners and the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, who is a non-voting member. Three Commissioners are selected by the President, two by the leaders of the President's party in Congress, and four by the congressional leaders of the other party. Commissioners serve for a two-year term and are eligible for reappointment.

Dr. Land, Bishop Murphy, and Dr. Tahir-Kheli join Felice Gaer, Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, Leila Nadya Sadat, Nina Shea, Ambassador Charles Stith, and Dean Michael Young. The President has yet to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, a position that has been vacant for a year.

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" />

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2001

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has written to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice asking her to urge President Bush "to raise prominently religious freedom concerns" in his upcoming meeting with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The text of the letter follows:

September 13, 2001

Dear Dr. Rice:

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urges President Bush to raise prominently religious freedom concerns in his upcoming meeting with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

In the past two years, severe violence among religious communities has become widespread in Indonesia. Of particular concern to the Commission is the violence between Muslims and Christians in the Moluccan Islands, where since January 1999 between 5,000 - 8,000 people from both communities have been killed and 500,000 displaced. While the causes behind the violence are multi-faceted, the fighting almost immediately took on a sectarian character and the ensuing violence has been based principally on religious affiliation. Houses of worship have been pointedly targeted and hundreds of mosques and churches have been destroyed. In addition, thousands of extremist Muslim fighters ("Laskar Jihad") from outside the Moluccas arrived on the Islands soon after the outbreak of the conflict and raised the fighting to more deadly levels.

Since the slaughter began, the Indonesian government has made inadequate efforts to halt the conflict and, indeed, has not given it serious attention. When she was vice-president, Ms. Megawati was appointed by then-President Abdurrahman Wahid to lead reconciliation efforts between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas, but her efforts proved ineffective and little government action was taken. Moreover, there are numerous reports that the Indonesian military and local police forces have not done enough to stop the fighting and that some elements of those institutions may even be responsible for prolonging or participating in it.

There are other tragic conflicts in Indonesia that are of concern to the Commission, in many of which religion or tension between religious communities plays a significant role. In Aceh, local support for a referendum to determine the region's political status has been met with violence from government forces. Indonesian security forces are also clashing with a movement for greater autonomy in the Papua region. And in Sulawesi, Christians and Muslims are killing each other in gruesome tit-for-tat battles.

The Indonesian government has made some effort to halt the worst violence and promote reconciliation. Such efforts have not been sufficient, however, and the killing has continued.

Moreover, the role of individuals or groups from the Indonesian military in provoking, prolonging, or participating in the fighting has not been adequately addressed.

In light of the continued religion-based fighting in the Moluccas and the spreading sectarian violence in other areas of the country, the Commission recommends that the President offer Indonesia funding for reconciliation programs and the training of Indonesian police and prosecutors in human rights, the rule of law, and criminal investigation, as detailed in chapter IV of the Commission's report of May 1, 2001, a copy of which is enclosed (see also www.uscirf.gov).

The Commission further recommends that you urge President Megawati to make much greater efforts to stop religiously-based violence, including:

• to ensure that those responsible for the killings in the Moluccas are brought to justice, including elements from the Indonesian military that may have been involved either in fomenting or exacerbating the fighting;

• to make more concerted efforts to pursue serious reconciliation programs between Muslims and Christians, especially in the Moluccas;

• to ensure that outside militia forces on the Moluccas, particularly Laskar Jihad forces, are removed from the Islands and disarmed and also that rogue elements in the Indonesian security forces be brought under control;

• to take effective steps to promote reform of the military in Indonesia, ensuring that the institution respects the rule of law and civilian control; and

• to ensure that all humanitarian relief and human rights organizations are permitted access to areas where sectarian violence has occurred.

We take note of President Megawati's recent statements in which she acknowledges the human rights violations that have been perpetrated by the armed forces against citizens of Indonesia. The new president has also recognized the need for significant reform of the military. We hope that her visit to Washington provides an occasion for serious discussion of religious freedom and the urgent need to take steps to halt the sectarian violence in Indonesia.

Respectfully,

U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

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

• Firuz Kazemzadeh, Leila Nadya Sadat, Dean Michael K. Young, Nina Shea, Rev. Charles R. Stith, Steven T. McFarland,Executive Director