FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2007

Contact:
Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240

EVENT ADVISORY

When: Wednesday, July 25, 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Where: Russell Senate Office Building, Room 485

RSVP: [email protected]  or (202) 523-3240

Iraq 's communities of antiquity-including Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Sabaean Mandaeans, Yazidis and others-face grave violence and targeted persecution that threatens their continued existence on the territory they have inhabited for millennia. Amid the current debate over U.S. policy, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is convening a hearing to gather expert testimony from representatives of those ancient communities.

The hearing is the first of two. The second will examine the status and treatment of Iraqi refugees-both Muslim and non-Muslim-who have fled sectarian violence and religious persecution.

The July 25 hearing will open with testimony by The Rev. Canon Andrew White, Vicar of St. George's Anglican Church, Baghdad, and President and CEO, Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East. The Rev. Canon White has served as the Archbishop of Canterbury's Special Representative to the Middle East, and negotiated in many conflicts. He is author of the book Iraq: Searching for Hope. Other witnesses invited to testify at the July 25 hearing include:

* Ms. Pascale Warda, President, Iraqi Women's Center for Development, former Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displacement
* Dr. Donny George, Professor, State University of New York, Stony Brook, former Chairman, Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and former Director General, Iraqi National Museum
* Mr. Michael Youash, Iraq Sustainable Development Project
* Dr. Suhaib Nashi, General Secretary, Mandaean Associations Union

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to monitor violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in IRFA and set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. It is the first government commission in the world with the sole mission of reviewing and making policy recommendations on the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom globally.

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
July 16, 2007

Contact:
Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127

WASHINGTON-Felice D. Gaer, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee, and Nina Shea, a senior scholar at the Hudson Institute, where she directs the Center for Religious Freedom, have been reappointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

"Felice Gaer's expertise on human rights abuses and her watchful eye on women's rights and religious intolerance have strengthened the Commission's work globally," said Commission Chair Michael Cromartie. "Nina Shea has steadfastly held the Commission to its commitment to the fundamental concerns of our founding legislation, the International Religious Freedom Act, and served as a voice for repressed believers the world over."

Gaer, who has served on the Commission since 2001, including two terms as chair, was reappointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). She heads the Jacob Blaustein Institute, which conducts research and advocacy to strengthen international human rights protections and institutions. Gaer is an independent expert member of the Committee Against Torture, a United Nations treaty-monitoring body that reviews government compliance with the Convention Against Torture. The Encyclopedia Judaica credits Gaer with "the key role in ensuring passage by consensus of the UN General Assembly's first condemnation of anti-Semitism" in 1998, and being "the architect of many initiatives linking women's rights to human rights." In 2002 and 2003 she was cited in The Forward's annual "Forward Fifty" list of Jewish leaders. Gaer is author of more than 40 articles about human rights, the UN, and US.

Shea, a former USCIRF Vice Chair, has served on the Commission since its formation in 1999. She was reappointed by House Minority Leader John Boehner. For the decade prior to joining Hudson last January, Shea was associated with Freedom House, where she directed the Center for Religious Freedom, an office she helped found in 1986 as the Puebla Institute. She authored and edited two widely acclaimed reports, Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance and Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques. Her 1997 book on anti-Christian persecution, In the Lion's Den, remains a standard in the field. Shea is a graduate of Smith College and American University's Washington College of Law.

The Commission was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to monitor violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in IRFA and set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. It is the first government commission in the world with the sole mission of reviewing and making policy recommendations on the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom globally.

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
July 2, 2007

Contact:
Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127

WASHINGTON—The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, has elected Michael Cromartie as chair to succeed Felice D. Gaer, who has served in this capacity since 2006. Preeta D. Bansal and Richard D. Land were elected Vice Chairs. The officers will serve for one year effective July 1.

Cromartie is Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directs the Evangelicals in Civic Life program and the Media and Religion program. Cromartie, who has served previously as Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission, is also a Senior Advisor to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and a Senior Fellow with The Trinity Forum. President George W. Bush appointed him to the Commission.

“In his three years on the Commission, as well as throughout his professional life, Michael Cromartie has manifested a strong and continuing commitment to advancing the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief. I am grateful he is willing to serve again and provide leadership to the Commission in the coming year,” Gaer said. “The challenges to these and related freedoms of expression and association are more virulent than ever,” said Gaer, “and the Commission will greatly benefit from the intensity, sincerity, and universality of focus that Michael Cromartie brings to the subject.”

Cromartie thanked Gaer for chairing the Commission over the past year, which included official Commission visits to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and publication of reports and policy briefs on Russia, Bangladesh, and the implementation of Commission recommendations on treatment of asylum seekers in the U.S. Expedited Removal program. Through testimony to the Iraq Study Group, op-eds, and high-level meetings, the Commission directed public attention to the plight of Iraqi religious minorities. Gaer represented the Commission at official commemorations of the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Religious Intolerance. Through the participation of Gaer and other Commissioners in meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the publication of timely op-eds, the Commission emphasized the need to create mechanisms to counter growing anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and other religious intolerance worldwide. Gaer will continue to serve as a Commissioner.

“We all appreciated Felice Gaer’s leadership of the Commission, bringing her human rights expertise into the Commission’s analyses and actions. Her unique insights and leadership helped keep the Commission’s work front and center in the vital effort to end repression worldwide—and particularly to end severe violations of human rights targeted at religious minorities or in the name of religion,” Cromartie said.

Bansal is a lawyer whose career has spanned government service and private practice. A former Solicitor General of the State of New York, Bansal heads the appellate litigation group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a major Wall Street law firm. She also serves on the advisory boards of several leading human rights and civil rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the National Women’s Law Center.

Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He hosts three nationally syndicated radio programs:For Faith & Family,For Faith & Family’s Insight, andRichard Land Live!He is also Executive Editor ofFFV, a magazine covering traditional religious values, Christian ethics, and cultural trends, and is the author of several books, most recentlyThe Divided States of America?(2007).

Other members of the Commission are Donald H. Argue, Imam Talal Y. Eid, Leonard A. Leo, Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Nina Shea, and John V. Hanford III. As the State Department’s Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Hanford serves in anex-officio, non-voting capacity.

The Commission was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to monitor violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in IRFA and set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. It is the first government commission in the world with the sole mission of reviewing and making policy recommendations on the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom globally. Its Executive Director is Joseph R. Crapa; the Deputy Directors are Tad Stahnke and David Dettoni.

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.