Jun 4, 2012
June 4, 2012 | by USCIRF
One year ago tomorrow, June 5, the Government of Sudan in Khartoum launched its current brutal campaign against the Nuban people, bombarding civilians and denying humanitarian assistance in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, in gross violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and in defiance of continued UN and United States condemnations.
Interviewing more than 80 refugees from Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states in Yida refugee camp and Juba, South Sudan in October 2011, USCIRF documented reports of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and government-backed militia arresting and killing people in the Nuba Mountains based solely on their religious, ethnic, and political identifications. USCIRF also documented Khartoum's bombing houses of worship and denying humanitarian assistance, leading to nearly half a million people being displaced.
"The situation was dire last October and is far worse today. People have been forced to hide in caves and face starvation, because Khartoum refuses to tolerate Sudan's religious and ethnic diversity,” said Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, USCIRF's Executive Director. "The international community must do its utmost to protect civilians and prevent Khartoum from displacing or slaughtering hundreds of thousands more innocent Sudanese. We cannot remain silent and allow a repeat of Darfur and the North-South civil war.”
Khartoum's aggression began on June 5, 2011 in Southern Kordofan. On September 1, fighting commenced in Blue Nile when Blue Nile Governor and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) chairman Malik Aggar was illegally removed from his post and his house torched. In early July, President Bashir denounced the Addis Ababa Agreement on political and security arrangements reached just days earlier, and has since banned the SPLM-N and refused to enter into bilateral or multilateral peace negotiations. As the U.S. government warned of near- famine conditions in Southern Kordofan by mid-March, the United Nations, African Union, and Arab League in February proposed humanitarian assistance for the two states. While the SPLM-N agreed to the terms of the tri-party proposal, Sudan has been silent.
"Khartoum is defying the international community by denouncing the African Union-led Addis Ababa Agreement and remaining silent on the tri-party agreement,” said Ambassador Wolcott. "The international community must ratchet up its efforts to protect civilians, continue its calls for peace and unrestricted humanitarian access, and tighten the sanctions regime if Sudan continues breaking its international commitments.”
USCIRF continues to recommend that the U.S. government support a national, inclusive, and transparent constitution drafting convention to address nationwide political and economic injustices, including those in Southern Kordofan and Blue Niles states, as well as religious freedom violations throughout Sudan.
Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile are religiously and ethnically mixed states bordering South Sudan. Many of the Nuban people in Southern Kordofan and in southern Blue Nile sided with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) during Sudan's 20-year North-South civil war. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the North-South civil war, called for the two states to hold "popular consultations” in 2011 to address core political, cultural, and economic tensions. However there have been no popular consultations and political tensions continued to fester after the North-South civil war ended in 2005.
May 25, 2012
May 25, 2012 | by USCIRF
This month marks two important anniversaries that underscore the continuing deterioration of religious freedom and related human rights in Eritrea: the 2007 house arrest of Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios and the 2002 imposition of onerous registration requirements on all but four officially recognized religious communities. Since 2002, 2,000-3,000 people have been imprisoned for the peaceful practice of their religious beliefs. President Isaias Afweki has ruled Eritrea since 1993 and his regime is among the most repressive in the world.
"The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns Eritrea's egregious religious freedom violations and the continued house arrest of Patriarch Antonios, who has been denied medical assistance for his severe diabetes and deteriorating health,” said Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, USCIRF's Executive Director. "Eritrea should unconditionally release all persons imprisoned for their religious beliefs and abide by international religious freedom standards.”
Since 2004, USCIRF has recommended - and the State Department has designated - Eritrea as a "country of particular concern” (CPC), for its "systematic, ongoing and egregious” religious freedom abuses. Spotlighting Eritrea is particularly timely given the discovery of mineral resources there and Eritrea's foreign capital and investment goals. Besides continuing existing actions against Eritrea, USCIRF recommends that the U.S. government impose targeted sanctions against Eritrean religious freedom and human rights abusers through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; bar any foreign developer of Eritrea's mineral resources from raising capital or listing its securities in the United States; work with international partners to spotlight Eritrea's religious freedom abuses: and advocate for the release of religious prisoners, including Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios.
"These two anniversaries highlight how the people of Eritrea continue to be denied the universal right to religious freedom and other fundamental freedoms,” said Ambassador Wolcott. "The world should not be silent in the face of such abuses.”
On May 27, 2007 the regime illegally deposed Patriarch Antonios and placed him under arrest at an undisclosed residence. Patriarch Antonios was first removed from his post in 2006 after refusing the regime's order to excommunicate 3,000 parishioners who opposed the Afweki government and after he called for the release of political prisoners.
Individuals imprisoned for religious reasons often are beaten, tortured, and pressed to renounce their faith. Those who were released reported having been confined in 20-foot metal shipping containers or in underground barracks, and have suffered the medical consequences of extreme temperaturefluctuations.
On May 17, 2002 the government imposed a registration requirement on all religious groups other than the four officially-recognized religions: the (Coptic) Orthodox Church of Eritrea; Sunni Islam; the Roman Catholic Church; and the Evangelical Church of Eritrea, a Lutheran-affiliated denomination. No religious group has since been approved and the religious activities of groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses, and Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, have been deemed "illegal,” with their places of worship closed and worship services and other activities banned. Mass detentions of people engaging in such activities now routinely occur. The government also routinely interferes in the internal affairs of registered religious groups, and imprisons Muslims and Orthodox Christians for protesting government interference in their internal affairs.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Samantha Schnitzer at [email protected] or (202) 786-0613.
May 24, 2012
May 24, 2012 | by USCIRF
WASHINGTON, DC - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on May 23, 2012 announced his appointment of Mary Ann Glendon to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
"USCIRF welcomes Mary Ann Glendon,” said Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, Executive Director of USCIRF. "Given her remarkable depth of knowledge, experience, and commitment, I am confident that she will be a great asset to our Commission and its mandate, helping us advance the cherished right of freedom of religion or belief around the world and support its integration into our country's foreign policy and national security strategy.”
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University and President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, 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.
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 Samantha Schnitzer at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.