FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2006

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Michael Cromartie will speak on a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) titled Consolidating Peace in Sudanon Monday, June 5, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. He will join Ibrahim Gambari, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Jendayi Frazer, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, as well as Francis Deng of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group. The session will discuss implementation of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement, implications of the recently signed Darfur Agreement, and the way forward in ensuring security, humanitarian access, and consolidation of the peace.

The Commission visited Sudan in January 2006 to assess the state of religious freedom and the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a two-decades-long civil war between the North and South. The Commission found that there have been significant delays and shortcomings in the CPA's implementation, raising questions regarding the sincerity of the commitment of the National Congress Party in the Government of National Unity. Moreover, the religious freedom and other human rights protections agreed to in the CPA and enshrined in Sudan's Interim National Constitution have yet to result in significant changes in practice in government-controlled areas of the North.

In March, the Commission was joined by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) at a press conference on Capitol Hill for the release of the Commission's Policy Focus on Sudan, which includes recommendations for U.S. policy as a result of the findings from the Commission's visit. At that press conference, Congressman Frank Wolf and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for a special envoy to be appointed to coordinate U.S. efforts on achieving implementation of the CPA and ending atrocities in Darfur. The Commission supports this proposal, as do 119 members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans. The Commission believes that the difficult task of keeping Sudan on track toward a comprehensive and permanent peace requires the full attention of an envoy-one with national prominence and wholehearted Administration support.

Sudan is a strategic nation where U.S. influence has already made a difference and should continue to do so. Toward that end, in his presentation at CSIS on June 5, USCIRF Chair Cromartie will call attention to the Commission's recommendations for U.S. policy

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2006

Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 14

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders of the House and Senate have reappointed Commissioners Preeta D. Bansal and Elizabeth H. Prodromou to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The Commission consists of nine voting Commissioners and the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, who is a non-voting,ex officiomember. Three Commissioners are selected by the President, two by leaders of the President's party in Congress, and four by congressional leaders of the party that is not in the White House. Commissioners serve two-year terms and are eligible for reappointment. Commissioners Bansal and Prodromou will serve through May 14, 2008.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid reappointed Preeta D. Bansal, who previously served as Chair of the Commission. She is a constitutional lawyer whose career has spanned government service, private law practice, and academia. She is currently a partner at the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She served as the Solicitor General of the State of New York from 1999 through 2001. As Solicitor General, Ms. Bansal helped supervise a staff of 600 lawyers in the New York Department of Law and directly oversaw 45 lawyers in the Solicitor General's Office who handle appeals for the State of New York and its agencies in state and federal courts, write Attorney General opinions to state and municipal agencies on issues of state law, and provide advice and counsel to State agencies on constitutional and statutory matters. Ms. Bansal argued cases in the United States Supreme Court, the en banc Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the New York Court of Appeals on behalf of New York State.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reappointed Elizabeth H. Prodromou, who is the Associate Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University. Prior to joining the faculty at Boston University, she taught at Princeton University in the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs. A regional expert on Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Prodromou's scholarship and policy work concentrate on religion and international relations, nationalism and conflict resolution, and non-traditional security threats. Prodromou has published articles and chapters in books in several languages in numerous academic and policy journals in the United States and Europe. She has been a policy consultant to the State Department, the Defense Intelligence Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2006

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Michael Cromartie will testify on Wednesday, May 10, before the House International Relations (HIRC) Subcommittee on Africa, Human Rights, and International Organizations at a hearing on "Current Issues in U.S. Refugee Protection and Resettlement." The hearing will be held at 2:00 p.m. in 2172 Rayburn House Office Building.

Last year, the Commission released a major Congressionally authorized study, Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, an examination of the process that authorizes immigration officials to summarily return people arriving in the United States without proper documentation to their country of origin. Congress asked the Commission to study whether asylum seekers subject to Expedited Removal are being detained under inappropriate conditions and whether they are being returned to countries where they might face persecution.

The study found that while the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) included provisions to protect asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants, including those who have fled severe violations of religious freedom, and the Department of Homeland Security had established sound procedures for asylum seekers in Expedited Removal, there are serious and systemic problems in the implementation of the process. These shortcomings put legitimate asylum seekers at risk of being returned to countries where they may face persecution.

The Commission also last year raised concerns with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case Li v. Gonzales, which involved an asylum claim by a Chinese Christian who organized an unregistered house church in China. Justice Department attorneys had argued that China had a "sovereign right" to criminalize unregistered religious activity, but following the Commission's statement of concern that this position undermined well-settled U.S. foreign policy to promote religious freedom in China, the Justice Department reversed its position and the Fifth Circuit Court vacated its ruling.

The Commission subsequently was invited to train attorneys at the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Justice Department's Office of Immigration Litigation.

"While we welcome these efforts, the Commission continues to be concerned by positions taken by DOJ and DHS attorneys concerning religious freedom conditions, particularly in China and Iraq," said USCIRF chair Michael Cromartie.

The Commission has recommended that both the Board and the Office of Immigration Litigation should be subject to mandatory training under IRFA. Border Patrol agents, despite IRFA requirements, receive no training on religious persecution. The Commission is also concerned that training of State Department consular officers in the Refugee Program continues to fall far short of IRFA requirements.

In addition, the Commission is concerned that some who are fleeing religious prosecution do not have adequate access to the U.S. Refugee Program. A statutory bar on admissibility for anyone who has provided "material support" to terrorists applies even to those who have been forced to provide such support against their will.

The full text of USCIRF Chair Cromartie's testimony will be available after 2:00 p.m. on May 10 on the Commission's web site a www.uscirf.gov.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.