FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2008

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 Felice D. Gaer to succeed Michael Cromartie as Chair. Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou and Mr. Cromartie were elected as Vice Chairs. The officers will serve for one year effective July 1.

"I am very pleased to see Felice Gaer returning to lead the Commission,” Mr. Cromartie said. "Her expertise and stature as an internationally renowned advocate for respect for human rights and religious freedom will continue to enhance the Commission"s impact.”

Ms. Gaer is Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. She is a veteran analyst, advocate, and negotiator on human rights protections in global institutions. She is the first American to have served as an Independent Expert on the UN Committee against Torture. In addition, Ms. Gaer, who was appointed to the Commission in 2001, has served twice as Chair and twice as Vice Chair of USCIRF. She writes and lectures on U.S. and UN human rights policy, including on advancing the human rights of women and resolving complex conflicts.She was appointed to the Commission by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Mr. 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. Mr. Cromartie, who has served twice as 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.

Under Mr. Cromartie"s chairmanship, the Commission traveled to Turkmenistan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Iraq and neighboring countries affected strongly by the Iraqi refugee crisis. It held two hearings on religious minorities, sectarian violence, and the refugee crisis in Iraq, a hearing on the aftermath of the "Saffron Revolution” in Burma, and a hearing on religious freedom in and U.S. policy toward Iran. In addition to its "Policy Focus” studies on Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan, the Commission published "Prison Without Bars,” a follow-up report to its 2005 study of religious repression in North Korea.

Dr. Prodromou is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Boston University, where she is also a Research Associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. She has published widely on issues of religion and human rights, democracy, and security in Europe and the United States. A regional expert on Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Prodromou has been an invited policy consultant in the United States and Europe, and has received academic awards and grants from Harvard, New York, and Princeton Universities, as well as the Commission of the European Union.

"I commend Michael Cromartie on guiding the Commission through a difficult year of transition, following the death of Executive Director Joseph Crapa. Visits to Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Iraq, and Syria, as well as hearings on Iran, Burma, and Iraqi refugees helped the Commission make a mark on U.S. human rights policy concerning severe violations of religious freedom,” Ms. Gaer said. "I am delighted that Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou will bring her academic rigor and perspective to help guide the Commission"s ongoing program of activities."

Other members of the Commission are Donald H. Argue, Preeta D. Bansal, Imam Talal Y. Eid, Leonard A. Leo, Richard D. Land, and Nina Shea. As the State Department"s Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Ambassador John V. Hanford III by statute serves in an ex-officio, non-voting capacity.

The Commission, established by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), monitors 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. It provides independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress, and 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2008

Contact: Judith Ingram,

Communications Director,

(202) 523-3240, ext. 127

[email protected]

WASHINGTON--TheUnited States Commission on International Religious Freedom will travel to South Korea this week to release the Korean-language version of its latest report on religious freedom and related human rights in North Korea, entitled A Prison Without Bars: Refugee and Defector Testimonies of Severe Violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in North Korea. The Commission will also confer with government officials, academics, religious leaders, and former North Korean refugees to discuss current human rights conditions in North Korea and ways to address human rights and humanitarian and refugee issues there. The Commission, a bipartisan, independent federal body is mandated by the U.S. Congress to monitor abuse of freedom of religion or belief and related human rights around the world and to make recommendations to the President, State Department, and Congress on ways to address international religious freedom concerns.

The report offers new evidence that the North Korean government, through both its border patrols and security agencies, is seeking to halt the growth of religious activity and views religious activity as a security threat. North Korean refugees repatriated from China are interrogated about their religious affiliation and associations while in China. Refugees are mistreated and tortured in detention by border guards. In addition, North Korean security agents receive religious training in order to infiltrate Korean-Chinese churches and set up mock "prayer meetings" to entrap new converts, particularly those who have become Protestants while in China. Despite efforts to curtail all religious activity, the report shows that clandestine religious activity does exists in North Korea, including Buddhism, Christianity, and Shamanism. The situation for North Korean refugees in China and the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees by the Chinese government is of particular concern to the Commission.

A Prison Without Bars is an update to the Commission's first study on North Korea utilizing interviews with North Korea refugees living in South Korea, "Thank You Father Kim Il Sung": Eyewitness Testimonies to Severe Violations of the Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion in North Korea.

Click here to access the English-language version of A Prison Without Bars

Click here to access the Korean-language version of A Prison Without Bars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2008

Contact: Judith Ingram

Communications Director

(202) 523-3240, ext. 127

[email protected]

WASHINGTON-The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is concerned that a recent joint ministerial decree will significantly curtail the religious practice and may criminalize the religious activities of the Ahmadiyah Muslim community in Indonesia. The Commission recommends that the U.S. government urge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reverse the decree and prosecute anyone using violence to intimidate the Ahmadiyah community or other religious minorities in Indonesia.

The joint decree was issued by the Home Minister, the Minister of Religious Affairs, and the Attorney General and permits criminal prosecutions of up to five years in prison for "spreading interpretations and activities which deviate from the principal teachings of Islam,” including belief in the teachings of any prophet following Prophet Mohammed. Adherents of Ahmadiyah Islam believe that their nineteenth-century founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet. There are an estimated 200,000 Ahmadiyah community members in Indonesia.

"The joint ministerial decree contradicts Indonesia"s constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and violates religious freedom protections in international human rights instruments to which Indonesia is a party, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” said Commission Chair Michael Cromartie. "The decree also seems to violate the principles of religious tolerance and pluralism on which the modern state of Indonesia was founded.”

Mob violence against and the imposition of local legal restrictions on the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia have mounted since July 2005, when the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MOU) issued a fatwa condemning Ahmadiya Islam as a "heretical” sect. Extremist groups have attacked mosques and other properties as well as individuals associated with the Ahmadiyah community. Vice President Jusef Kalla condemned violence against the Ahmadiyah and President Yodhoyono"s own spokesman said that a ban on Ahmadiyah Islam would set a "bad precedent.” However, mobs continue to attack Ahmadiyah venues and supporters of the Ahmadiyah. In one June 1 attack during an interfaith rally in support of religious tolerance in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, extremists punched, kicked, and beat participants with sticks. Dozens reportedly were injured.

In May, the UN Committee Against Torture warned against the then-impending announcement of the joint ministerial decree. "The Committee is especially concerned that State party officials who may authorize a decree banning the Ahmadiyah, thereby putting members of this community at further risk of ill-treatment and physical abuse, are also expressing the view that the Ahmadiyah must refrain from ‘provoking" members of the community-in effect blaming the group at risk,” the Committee said. It reiterated that the Indonesian government should ensure protection of groups particularly at risk of abuse, guarantee investigations into all ethnically motivated violence and discrimination, "including that directed against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities,” and work to eliminate incitement including public officials" participation or acquiescence in it.

The decree also reflects a larger, troubling trend in Indonesia. Under the banner of promoting Islamic orthodoxy, a growing number of groups are vandalizing or destroying religious venues and pressing for the arrest and detention of allegedly heterodox Muslims and some non-Muslims. Meanwhile, provincial governments detain, arrest and sentence allegedly heterodox Muslims and some Protestant Christians for "denigrating religion,” "deviancy,” or "blasphemy” under Articles 156 and 156a of the Indonesian criminal code. The articles state that "expressing feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt against religions” and "disgracing a religion” are punishable by up to five years in jail.

Islam in Indonesia is known historically for its tolerance and accommodation of a variety of indigenous cultural traditions. If radical religious groups were to build a unified political base, there would be legitimate fears that Indonesia"s culture of pluralism, moderation, and tolerance would be eroded. "Indonesia"s commitment to democracy, religious tolerance and pluralism is harmed by the decree issued Monday,” Cromartie said. "The Commission calls on the U.S. government and its allies to forcefully raise this issue with the Indonesian government, with the aim of overturning the decree and allowing members of the Ahmadiyah Muslim community, as well as of other religious groups, to exercise full freedom of religion and experience freedom from fear of being attacked by extremist groups.”