Apr 30, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2014 | USCIRF
Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal advisory body the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) created to monitor religious freedom abuses abroad, today released its 2014 Annual Report, and recommended that the State Department add eight more nations to its list of “countries of particular concern,” defined under law as countries where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. USCIRF also recommended that the following eight countries be re-designated as “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.
This year’s report, the 15th since the Commission’s creation in 1998, documents religious freedom violations in 33 countries and makes country-specific policy recommendations. The report also examines U.S. international religious freedom policy over the past decade and a half, reviewing what IRFA requires, assessing the record on implementing its provisions, and recommending ways to strengthen U.S. engagement on and promotion of religious freedom.
“With religious freedom abuses occurring daily around the world against people of all faiths and those without religious faith, the United States must by words and deeds stand in solidarity with the persecuted,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George. “Religious freedom is a fundamental human right recognized by international law that guarantees to all human beings the freedom to believe or not believe as their conscience leads, and live out their beliefs openly, peacefully, and without fear. Religious freedom also is essential to national and global security. Thus, the defense of religious freedom is both a human rights imperative and a practical necessity and merits a seat at the table with economic, security and other key concerns of U.S. foreign policy.”
Along with recommending CPC designations, USCIRF also announced the placement of 10 countries on its 2014 “Tier 2” list, a USCIRF designation for governments that engage in or tolerate violations that are serious, but which are not CPC-level violators. USCIRF urged increased U.S. government attention to these countries, which include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Russia, and Turkey.
The USCIRF report also highlights religious freedom concerns in countries/regions that do not meet the Tier 1 (CPC) or Tier 2 threshold, but should also be the focus of concern, including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, and Western Europe.
“America’s commitment to religious freedom abroad, embodied in the IRFA law enacted more than 15 years ago, must be renewed and strengthened,” said Chairman George. “IRFA was prescient in recognizing that religious freedom needs to be a key component of U.S. foreign policy. The United States must fully utilize IRFA’s provisions including: faithfully designating CPCs each year, ensuring that the CPC list expands or contracts as conditions warrant, and consider taking Presidential actions unique to each situation.”
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.
Apr 14, 2014
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
April 14, 2014 | By Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser
The following op-ed appeared in the Global Post on April 10, 2014.
WASHINGTON — Last week's Formula 1 automotive racing event spotlighted the host country of Bahrain, which remains home to the region’s largest United States naval base. As a recent fact-finding visit revealed, the Kingdom continues to be a stark study in contrasts facing its share of challenges and fateful decisions ahead.
In one respect, Bahrain has served as a regional model for modernization, including the tolerant treatment of non-Muslim religious minorities, from Christians and Hindus to Jews and Baha’is.
But on the other hand, the minority Sunni government has inadequately addressed the legitimate grievances of its peaceful Shi’a majority, including religious freedom violations perpetrated against its members.
The recent shocking bomb attack by extremists outside the capital city of Manama, which killed three police officers, underscores the increasingly uncertain environment faced by Bahrain’s people and government. This should be a concern to the United States on the security front as well as for human rights reasons.
Three years ago in February, predominantly Shi’a protestors demanding reform and an end to anti-Shi’a discrimination were met by a heavy-handed response resulting in dozens of deaths and the destruction of Shi’a mosques and other structures.
While Bahrain since has taken steps toward progress, it must act with greater urgency and purposefulness to end religious discrimination and embrace lasting reform. Otherwise, events could well overtake Bahrain, undoing its achievements, unraveling its society, and emboldening the forces of instability and strife, not only in Bahrain, but also elsewhere in the region. If Bahrain acts wisely and expeditiously, it likely will not only avert deeper trouble, but usher in a brighter and more secure future.
During our January visit as representatives of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, we heard an expressed commitment to making demonstrable progress, particularly on the rebuilding of the Shi’a mosques and other structures. Bahrain has allocated $8 million for rebuilding, a two-fold increase from its initial pledge.
Moreover, the government has set an end-of-2014 deadline, as opposed to its original deadline of 2018, to complete construction of the 30 structures that were destroyed during the 2011 disturbances.
Nevertheless, while the government told us it had completed construction of 10 of these Shi’a structures, it acknowledged that the Shi’a community had actually paid for and built six of them.
Officials said they arranged to secure legal permits for each of them, and several stated they were open to reimbursing the community. Reimbursement would be an appropriate follow-through on the government’s commitment, but would also be a welcome gesture of sincerity and good will.
A serious concern is that the government still is not holding the guilty accountable for the 2011 abuses that included targeting, imprisoning, torturing, and killing protestors. Only a few lower-level police officers have been prosecuted and convicted. There is little transparency about these cases, raising questions as to whether the convicted officers actually are serving jail time. It appears that no high-level officials have been held accountable.
Shi’a Muslims are still being arrested and detained arbitrarily, while incendiary sectarian rhetoric in the media continues against them. Discrimination persists, including in the Bahraini military and police, where no Shi’a serve at senior levels. Shi’a human rights defenders like Nabeel Rajab remain in jail.
One encouraging sign is that the Crown Prince has met with Shi’a and other opposition leaders. The Crown Prince’s involvement is a hopeful step forward and could pave the way for genuine progress toward reform. Such high-level engagement is essential.
In the end, both Bahrain’s successes and challenges highlight the crucial fact — seen across the globe — that religious freedom and tolerance promote stability and strength while discrimination and repression risk destabilization and strife.
Today, Bahrain stands at the crossroads between those two paths. It is time for Bahrain to follow the path toward reconciliation and inclusion by bringing Shi’a and Sunni together and by making the necessary reforms to end discrimination and build on its foundation of tolerance by fully respecting religious freedom.
Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser serve as vice chairs for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal commission, the first of its kind in the world, dedicated to defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at 202-786-0613 or [email protected].
Apr 11, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2014 | USCIRF
WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on April 9, 2014 announced his reappointment of USCIRF Commissioner Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on March 28, 2014 announced his reappointment of USCIRF Commissioners Mary Ann Glendon and Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser to the USCIRF.
“USCIRF is very pleased with the reappointments of Dr. Lantos Swett, Professor Glendon and Dr. Jasser,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George. “They have provided the Commission with invaluable insight and knowledge throughout their time as Commissioners. Their contributions have been and will continue to be essential toward helping USCIRF fulfill its mandate of highlighting serious threats to religious liberty throughout the world and making policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress on behalf of the cherished right of freedom of religion or belief and its fuller integration into U.S. foreign policy and national security.”
Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett established the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice in 2008 and serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer. This human rights organization is proudly carrying on the unique legacy of the late Congressman Tom Lantos who, as the only survivor of the Holocaust ever elected to Congress, was one of our nation’s most eloquent and forceful leaders on behalf of human rights and justice. In addition to managing the Lantos Foundation, Dr. Lantos Swett teaches human rights and American foreign policy at Tufts University. Her varied professional experiences include working on Capitol Hill as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Sub-Committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee for then Senator Joe Biden and as a consultant to businesses, charitable foundations and political campaigns. Dr. Lantos Swett is finishing her first two-year term and currently serves as vice-chair.
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. She writes and teaches in the fields of human rights, comparative law, constitutional law, and political theory. Glendon is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1991, the International Academy of Comparative Law, and a past president of the UNESCO-sponsored International Association of Legal Science. She served two terms as a member of the U.S. President's Council on Bioethics (2001-2004), and has represented the Holy See at various conferences including the 1995 U.N. Women's conference in Beijing where she headed the Vatican delegation. Glendon has contributed to legal and social thought in several articles and books, and has lectured widely in this country and in Europe. Professor Glendon is finishing her first two-year term with the Commission.
M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. is the President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) based in Phoenix, Arizona. A first generation American Muslim, Dr. Jasser’s parents fled the oppressive Baath regime of Syria in the mid-1960’s for American freedom. A devout Muslim, he and his family have strong ties to the American Muslim community having helped lead mosques in Wisconsin, Arkansas, Virginia and Arizona. He is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander with 11 years of service. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Dr. Jasser and a group of American Muslims founded AIFD. AIFD promotes diverse Muslim voices as advocates for liberty through the separation of mosque and state, in order to counter what it regards as the root cause of Islamist terrorism--the ideology of political Islam (Islamism) and the supremacy of the Islamic state. An internationally recognized expert on Islamism, Dr. Jasser is widely published on domestic and foreign issues related to Islam, Islamism, national security, and modernity. He has spoken at hundreds of national and international events including multiple testimonies before the U.S. Congress. He is author of the book “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save his Faith” (Threshold Editions). Dr. Jasser is finishing his first two-year term, and currently serves as vice-chairman.
Comprised of nine commissioners, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal body that is principally responsible for reviewing the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and making policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF offers policy recommendations to improve conditions at the critical juncture of foreign policy, national security, and international religious freedom standards. The President and leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives appoint USCIRF Commissioners.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.