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December 22, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the UN General Assembly’s passage on December 18 of a resolution that condemns North Korea’s “ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights” and transmits a UN report on these violations to the Security Council.  The UN’s annual resolution on human rights in North Korea passed by a 116-20 vote, with 53 abstentions. 

“North Korea is one of the world’s most repressive regimes, with a deplorable record on human rights and religious freedom,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF Chair.  “Many have been arrested, tortured, and executed, and thousands are imprisoned in North Korea’s notorious penal labor camps, including refugees wrongly repatriated from China.  The UN General Assembly acted appropriately by overwhelmingly approving a resolution that calls global attention to North Korea’s gross violation of rights.”

The resolution recommends targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses. Further, it calls for North Korea to be referred to the International Criminal Court. Both recommendations are new additions to a resolution that the General Assembly has passed annually for nearly a decade.  They are part of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s February report which details the North Korean government’s grave human rights abuses and condemns North Korea for having no “parallel in the contemporary world.”  The report found “an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association.”

“USCIRF commends those willing to stand up for human rights in North Korea and around the world.  Those countries that refuse to condemn North Korea are on the wrong side of both history and humanity.  North Korea must be held accountable for its longstanding human rights violations,” said Lantos Swett.

North Korea’s government severely restricts religious freedom other than activities of officially recognized groups.  Those attempting to practice their faith outside these officially sanctioned channels -- such as through underground churches -- face arrest, beatings, torture or death.  Religious prisoners in North Korea’s infamous penal labor camps – who constitute as many as 15,000 out of the estimated 150,000-200,000 total prisoners – reportedly are treated worse than other inmates and are subject to abuse to compel forced renunciations of faith.  While North Korea is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international treaties, the government clearly neither recognizes nor respects these obligations in principle or practice.

USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report recommends North Korea be designated a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for its systematic, egregious and ongoing religious freedom violations, a recommendation the Commission has consistently made for more than a decade.  The U.S. Department of State has designated North Korea as a CPC repeatedly since 2001, most recently in July 2014.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

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December 11, 2014 | By Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Daniel I. Mark

The following op-ed appeared in Deseret News on December 11, 2014.

Today, Dec. 10, as we commemorate Human Rights Day and the landmark 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we recall how last year at this time, what many consider the world’s oldest human rights declaration — inscribed on the Cyrus Cylinder — concluded its U.S. tour in Los Angeles. More than 300,000 people viewed it before its return to the British Museum.

Excavated from the ruins of ancient Babylon in 1879 in what is now Iraq, the Cyrus Cylinder includes words from Cyrus of Persia (now Iran), the most powerful ruler of his time, after capturing Babylon more than 25 centuries ago. Setting a lofty standard for that time, Cyrus’ words are a haunting rebuke for our own era — for the Islamic State group in Iraq, the theocracy of Iran and today’s world as a whole: More than three quarters of the world’s people live in countries which perpetrate or tolerate serious religious freedom abuses.

Cyrus’ words heralded an exemplary policy of religious tolerance, producing stability across his vast multicultural domain — and suggesting that more freedom, rather than less, can be a recipe for a safer and more secure world.

Here is part of the British Museum’s translation of the Cyrus Cylinder:

“I am Cyrus, … king of Babylon … Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world ….

“I went as [a] harbinger of peace into Babylon. … My … troops marched peaceably. … I sought the welfare of … Babylon and all its sanctuaries. As for [its] population … I freed them from their bonds ….

“I collected together … their people and returned them to their [homelands].”

One of the proclamation’s many paraphrases includes this excerpt:

“I ordered that all shall be free to worship their gods without harm … I ordered closed places of worship … to be reopened. … I brought their people together and rebuilt their homes.”

At least two notable things distinguish Cyrus’ utterances from those of his contemporaries. First, his words contain plenty of carrots and no discernible sticks. Cyrus makes no fear-inducing references to horrors inflicted on foes. He implicitly rejects Islamic State-like atrocities. This forbearance was nearly unheard of among preceding conquerors.

Second, the Cyrus Cylinder appears to affirm human rights and champion religious tolerance.

Of course, words are one thing; actions are another. Did Cyrus’ deeds match his words?

The evidence suggests they did. Cyrus’ description of his treatment of the Babylonians neatly parallels the Bible’s depiction of how he treated the Jews, whom the Babylonians had conquered and deported. As the Bible relates, upon capturing Babylon, Cyrus released the Jews from captivity and repatriated those desiring to return to their homeland, as he did with other peoples.

Thus, if both the Cylinder and the Bible are accurate about Cyrus, he managed to treat both the Babylonians and the Jews with equal respect for their religious rights.

There is one final bit of evidence that validates Cyrus’ words: Other writers of antiquity, including Herodotus and Xenophon, bestowed similar accolades on his governance. According to Xenophon: “[T]hose who were subject to him, he treated with esteem and regard, as if they were his own children, while [they] … respected Cyrus as their ‘Father.’ … What other man … after having overturned an empire, ever died with the title of ‘The Father’ from the people whom he had brought under his power?”

This praise is noteworthy because both men were Greeks, who had no love lost for their Persian adversaries.

Today, researchers are confirming what Cyrus recognized more than 25 centuries ago: Tolerant governments can produce stable societies by winning people’s confidence and trust. The Islamic State group and other tyrants reject this approach, as do dozens of nations, from Burma to China, Eritrea to Pakistan and Russia to Uzbekistan, as documented by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which we serve. The outcome is insecurity and strife.

While much of the world remains darkened by tyranny, Cyrus’ vision lives on through Human Rights Day, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the hopes and aspirations of billions.

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December 9, 2014 I USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To commemorate International Human Rights Day tomorrow, December 10, the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlights the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world, particularly those imprisoned due to their faith or belief. 

On International Human Rights Day in 2012, USCIRF, along with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) and Amnesty International, launched the Defending Freedoms Project (DFP).  Through this project, Members of Congress advocate on behalf of prisoners of conscience from around the world. 

“Through their actions, Members of Congress stand in solidarity with these imprisoned individuals, letting them and their families know that they are neither alone nor forgotten,” said USCIRF Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett.  “By shattering the silence, Congressional attention seeks to, and has helped, improve the conditions under which prisoners are held and, in some cases, secured their freedom.

“The Defending Freedoms Project is about people who have been detained for who they are, what they believe, and how they have chosen to express their convictions. We must shine a light on them and the governments of the countries that have imprisoned them, not just on International Human Rights day, but every day.  We must continue our advocacy until these countries have implemented needed reforms that reflect internationally approved standards that many have agreed to in writing but violate in practice,” said Lantos Swett.

Defending Freedoms Project prisoners include Tun Aung (Burma), Ilham Tohti (China), Saeed Abedini, Ayatollah Mohammad Boroujerdi, and the Baha’i Seven  (Iran), Asia Bibi (Pakistan), Raif Badawi (Saudi Arabia), Gaybullo Jalilov (Uzbekistan) and Father Ly (Vietnam).  Other prisoners come from countries including: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.

USCIRF applauds Representatives Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), the co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, for their leadership of this project and their support for human rights and religious freedom.  “The Commission especially wants to thank Representative Wolf who is retiring from Congress this year for his indefatigable and long-standing efforts in support of the oppressed.  He is an example for us all, and we will miss him,” said Lantos Swett.

More information about the Defending Freedoms Project.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-9812.