FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2004

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

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has appointed Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou of Massachusetts to a two-year term on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Dr. Prodromou succeeds Commissioner Patti Chang.

"Dr. Prodromou brings to the Commission a distinguished record of scholarship in international relations," said Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "We look forward to her insights as we work to advance freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief globally. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Patti Chang for her contributions to the Commission over the past year."

Professor Prodromou 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, including the Journal of Democracy, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Orbis, Social Compass, Survival, European Journal of Political Research, and Mediterranean Quarterly. She is currently working on two books, both forthcoming in 2005, on Orthodox Christianity, Civil Society and Democracy in Post-Communist Russia and Orthodox Christianity in American Public Life: The Challenges and Opportunities of Religious Pluralism in the 21st Century.

She has been a policy consultant to the State Department, the Defense Intelligence Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. She has received numerous awards and grants, including research fellowships from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Center for European Studies, New York University's Center for European Studies, and Princeton University's University Committee on Research in Humanities and Social Sciences. She is active and has held elected positions in many professional organizations, and is listed in Whose Who of American Women, 21st Edition of Outstanding Women of North America. She helped found and sat as Executive Director at the Cambridge Foundation for Peace, a non-profit, public charity dedicated to sustainable peace building in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Prodromou holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a B.A. in International Relations and History from Tufts University. Prodromou is married to Dr. Alexandros K. Kyrou, and they have one daughter, Sophia.

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
October 6, 2004

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

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Preeta D. Bansal testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee (HIRC) on the  State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2004  and Secretary Powell's designation of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs). Bansal welcomed the designation of three new CPCs - Eritrea, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia - noting that the Commission has long called for these designations, particularly that of Saudi Arabia, and reinforcing that designation is a beginning and not an end. The full text of Commissioner Bansal's testimony may be found on USCIRF's Web site www.uscirf.gov in either  PDF  or  HTML  format.

"The designation of CPCs is one of the most significant human rights acts of the U.S. government. In welcoming these designations, I would underscore that IRFA is very clear that more is required of the U.S. government than just naming these three countries as CPCs. Important obligations, in the form of consequent actions, flow from the CPC designation," said Bansal. "The Commission plans soon to issue recommended responses for the President, Secretary of State, and Congress pursuant to the IRFA statute to follow up on the CPC designations."

Bansal noted that the 2004 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom contains no country report on Iraq. She testified that the absence of a report should not in any way be construed as an indication that religious freedom is not essential to the development of a stable and democratic Iraq. As the Iraqi people embark upon the historic task of crafting a permanent constitution in the coming months, the U.S. government cannot lose sight of the vital need to ensure that the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief is guaranteed in Iraq's permanent constitution.

Bansal voiced the Commission's concern that it is critical that what happened in Afghanistan not be repeated in Iraq. She noted that the Annual Report does not address the "fatal flaw" in Afghanistan's new constitution. With no guarantee of the individual right to religious freedom and a judicial system instructed to enforce Islamic principles and Islamic law, the new Afghan constitution does not fully protect individual Afghan citizens. There are also fewer protections for Afghans to debate the role and content of religion in law and society, to advocate the rights of women and members of religious minorities, and to question interpretations of Islamic precepts without fear of retribution. This could stifle voices that seek to debate and dissent from state imposed religious orthodoxies.

On the report as a whole, Bansal commented that while many individual country reports continue to be lengthy and revealing, the Commission remains concerned about a number of informational inaccuracies in several important reports. In addition, she added, "The Annual Report is meant to be a report on U.S. policies and activities to promote those policies, and not only a report on conditions. However, it is not apparent from the information presented in the Annual Report that the State Department has conducted its activities in a coordinated way to implement particular policies and to achieve specific goals."

Finally, Bansal discussed the Commission's work with regard to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which covers a vital region including all of Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada and the United States. The need to recognize and to combat growing anti-Semitism in the region, together with the need to promote religious freedom for the growing Muslim minority populations in OSCE countries, cannot be understated.

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
October 5, 2004

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

WASHINGTON - Preeta D. Bansal, Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), will testify tomorrow at a hearing on the State Department's 2004 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and its designation of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs). The hearing is being held by the House International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives (HIRC). You can access this testimony online at our website (www.uscirf.gov) in either PDF or HTML format.

In a September 15 press release, the Commission welcomed the release of the Annual Report and lauded the announcement by Secretary of State Powell of the designation of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Eritrea as (CPCs) for severe religious freedom violations. In addition, Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan were re-named as CPCs. Though the USCIRF supports the new designations of these three countries, the Commission would like to call attention to the fact that CPC designation is not an end point, but only the beginning of focused diplomatic activity to promote freedom of religion or belief.

What: Hearing on the State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Designations of Countries of Particular Concern

Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172

When: Wednesday, October 6, 2004, 10:30 a.m.

Others testifying are:

The Honorable John V. Hanford III, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State;

Mark B. Levin, Executive Director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry;

Paul Marshall, Senior Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House;

Timothy Shah, Senior Fellow in Religion and International Affairs, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life; and

Ali Al-Ahmed, Director, Saudi Institute.