May 1, 2012 | by USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC - - The U.S. Congress has appointed the Honorable Sam Gejdenson to serve as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recommended Mr. Gejdenson.

"USCIRF welcomes Representative Gejdenson as our newest incoming Commissioner,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair. "He will make significant contributions to our work on behalf of the cherished right of freedom of religion or belief and its fuller integration into U.S. foreign policy and national security.”

Sam Gejdenson served as a Member of Congress from 1981 until 2000 as the U.S. Representative from the Second Congressional District in Connecticut. During his tenure in Congress, he rose to be the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. While on the Committee, he was widely recognized for his expertise in, among other areas, human rights, democracy and global engagement. His leadership on curbing international trafficking of women and children is reflected in his co-authorship of the groundbreaking Trafficking Victims Protection Act (which was reauthorized in 2008). Since leaving office, Mr. Gejdenson has, among other activities, worked to help build democracy in Eastern Europe and nations of the former Soviet Union. He has served on numerous boards including American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), monitored elections in Bangladesh, Belarus, Georgia, Peru and Ukraine, and advised NDI's country offices worldwide on promoting democracy and good government.

Gejdenson, the first child of Holocaust survivors elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in 1948 in a U.S. displaced persons camp in Eschwege, Germany. He received an A.S. degree from Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut in 1968 and a B.A. from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut in 1970. In 1974, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, serving two terms before accepting a post in the administration of Connecticut Governor Ella T. Grasso.

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 solutions 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 Paul Liben at [email protected] or (703) 870-6041.

March 28, 2012 | by USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is pleased to report that the U.S. Congress has appointed Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett as a new Commissioner.

"USCIRF welcomes Dr. Lantos Swett as our newest incoming Commissioner,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair. "I am confident that Dr. Swett will make significant contributions to our work on behalf of the cherished right of freedom of religion or belief and its fuller integration into U.S. foreign policy and national security.

"Together with our current Commissioners, Azizah al-Hibri, William Shaw, Theodore Van Der Meid, Robert George, and Zuhdi Jasser, I also commend our departing colleagues, Don Argue, Felice Gaer, Richard Land, Elizabeth Prodromou and Nina Shea, for their years of committed service as USCIRF Commissioners. We are grateful for their powerful advocacy of religious freedom as humanity's first freedom, and for their dedicated work in advancing USCIRF's mission.”

The President and leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives appoint USCIRF Commissioners. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed Dr. Lantos Swett who will serve on the Commission, an independent, nine-member, 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. On March 20, the Commission issued its 2012 annual report which recommended to the Secretary of State that the President designate 16 nations as "countries of particular concern” (CPCs) under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, which she founded in 2008 to carry on the human rights legacy of her father, the late Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress. Dr. Lantos Swett teaches human rights and American foreign policy at Tufts University. She also served as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Senator Joe Biden. She also has experience in broadcasting, where as the co-host of a political show, she interviewed major figures from across the nation and world. Dr. Lantos Swett also served as Director of the Graduate program in Public Policy at New England College and is a member of the Board of HRNK Human Rights in North Korea and the Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest. A graduate of Yale University, Dr. Lantos Swett earned her J.D. at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and her Ph.D. in History from the University of Southern Denmark.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Paul Liben at [email protected] or (703) 870-6041.

March 26, 2012 | by USCIRF

The U.S. Congress has appointed two individuals, Dr. Robert P. George and Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, to serve as Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Comprised of nine commissioners, USCIRF monitors and advocates for religious freedom abroad wherever that right is being abused. USCIRF also offers policy solutions to improve conditions at the critical juncture of foreign policy, national security, and international religious freedom standards. On March 20, the Commission issued its 2012 annual report which recommended to the Secretary of State that the Obama administration designate 16 nations as countries of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.

Dr. George was appointed by The Speaker of the House John Boehner. Dr. Jasser was appointed by the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"USCIRF welcomes the appointments of Dr. George and Dr. Jasser,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair. "Along with my fellow Commissioners, Azizah al-Hibri, Rev. William Shaw, and Theodore Van Der Meid, we look forward to the many contributions they will make to the Commission's work. USCIRF has accomplished much, but much is left to be done. The Commission will continue to work with Congress and the Executive Branch to ensure that religious freedom is upheld as a universal human right, and that policies advancing its protection are fully integrated components of U.S. foreign and national security policy.”

Dr. Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has served on the President's Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, Professor George earned a doctorate in philosophy of law from Oxford University. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Swarthmore, and received a Knox Fellowship from Harvard for graduate study in law and philosophy at Oxford. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a recipient of the United States Presidential Citizens Medal and the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy which advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the U.S. Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. He is also a founding member of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition which represents a diverse group of reform minded American Muslim leaders. The son of Syrian immigrants, Dr. Jasser is a former Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy where he served 11 years. Dr. Jasser is a nationally recognized expert who is widely published and has spoken at hundreds of national and international events and given testimony to Congress on the value of the centrality of religious liberty in the contest of ideas within Islam. Dr. Jasser is an author and a physician currently in private practice in Phoenix Arizona specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Paul Liben at [email protected] or (703) 870-6041.