FOR YOUR INFORMATION

August 1, 2014 | By Katrina Lantos Swett and Mary Ann Glendon

The following op-ed appeared in The Miami Herald on July 31, 2014.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of Cuba’s current government and July 26 commemorated the 61st anniversary of the revolution which swept it into power. After coming to power, the Castro government broke its pro-democracy pledges and, despite recent improvements, maintains a problematic record on human rights, including religious freedom.

This was confirmed by the State Department’s international religious freedom annual report, which was released this week. It also was exhibited when the government recently detained more than 100 members of the Ladies in White, relatives of imprisoned dissidents who draw inspiration from their Catholic faith.

Religious freedom and other rights are spelled out in international documents — including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) — which most nations, including Cuba, endorsed. It was a Cuban diplomat, Guy Perez-Cisneros, who together with other Latin Americans helped drive its drafting and passage. Thus, whenever Havana violates human rights, it betrays not only its past promises, but Cuba’s legacy of liberty. The world should affirm this legacy by standing steadfastly for Cuban religious freedom and related rights.

The seeds for that legacy already were being sown in early 1945, just prior to the San Francisco conference that founded the United Nations, when Latin American delegates meeting in Mexico adopted a resolution supporting a human rights declaration for the U.N. Charter. They lobbied for it vigorously once the conference opened.

The Charter mentioned human rights seven times, along with an agreement to establish a Human Rights Commission. This commission prepared an international bill of rights which became the UDHR and Perez-Cisneros spoke eloquently for the pro-freedom coalition that made it possible.

As detailed by the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan federal body on which we serve, the Castro government has yet to own this heritage. Instead, it controls and monitors religious activities and requires an invasive registration process.

What happens when a religious community refuses to register? It cannot receive foreign visitors, import religious materials, meet in approved places of worship, or apply for travel abroad for religious purposes.

What happens when it agrees to register? Local communist officials must approve its activities and the government interferes with its leadership and internal affairs. Havana often seeks to change church structure, freeze church assets, close churches, and intimidate pastors of churches such as the Western Baptist Convention.

Independent religious communities often suffer the most. The fast-growing Apostolic Reformation faces government harassment, including arrests of leaders; confiscation or destruction of property; aggressive surveillance of church members and relatives; heavy fines; and potential loss of job, housing, and educational opportunities.

It is not just religious communities that authorities often target. They also interfere with human rights activists exercising religious freedom, denying them access to religious services and pressuring church leaders to do likewise. They regularly detain Ladies in White members on their way to Sunday services, block their entry, and send others to harass and intimidate them.

As in prior years, the past year saw signs of improvement.

The government eased some restrictions, allowed registered groups to build or expand houses of worship, and permitted churches more opportunities for charity work. But the question remains whether it still views religious practices as privileges to be granted or withheld, rather than inherent rights to be affirmed or protected. At stake is the legacy of an entire generation, led by Guy Perez-Cisneros, who helped bring the world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is time to honor this great gift that Cubans helped bestow on humanity. While people disagree on how to deal with Cuba on various fronts, including the U.S. embargo, all should agree that the United States must press Havana to cease interfering with religious activities; allow unregistered religious groups to operate freely and legally; refrain from mistreating human rights activists and blocking them from attending churches; and cease arresting and harassing religious leaders.

USCIRF would also welcome Cuba’s allowing its members a visit. Other countries, including Latin American and European nations, should weave human rights, including religious freedom, into discussions with Cuba. Cuba once stood for the world’s freedom; the world should do likewise for Cubans.

Katrina Lantos Swett serves as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Mary Ann Glendon serves as a USCIRF Commissioner. 

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

July 30, 2014 | By Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed appeared on RNS on July 29, 2014.  This op-ed also appeared in the Washington Post.

While last month marked the 25th anniversary of China’s silencing freedom in Tiananmen Square, this month China has been cementing this grim legacy — particularly regarding religious freedom.

From repressing Muslims to bulldozing churches and tearing down crosses, Chinese officials have been denying the internationally guaranteed right to believe or not believe. The simple proposition that individuals have the right to live out their beliefs openly and peacefully, without fear or intimidation, clearly frightens Chinese authorities, as evidenced by their repressive persecution of numerous faith communities.

During the just-concluded month of Ramadan, China denied Uighur Muslim students, teachers, professors and government employees the freedom to fast and fulfill related duties. With Ramadan coinciding this year with the commemoration of the Communist Party’s founding, Chinese authorities used the occasion to identify fasting Muslims, particularly in Xinjiang province. Those defying the ban have been subject to threats, detention and arrests.

In recent years, officials have shut down religious sites; conducted raids on independent schools, leading to multiple injuries and even deaths; confiscated religious literature; restricted private study of the Quran; monitored the sermons of imams and forced them to undergo political training; restricted Muslim dress and religious expression; banned children from being brought to mosques; and arbitrarily deemed religious gatherings and activities “illegal.”

In neighboring Tibet, religious freedom conditions for Buddhists are deteriorating. Since May 2011, more than 130 Buddhists, including at least 61 monks, nuns and former nuns, have immolated themselves. Their desperate protests are tied directly to Beijing’s brutal repression of Tibetan religious practice and culture.

Beijing also continues its relentless 15-year campaign to obliterate the Falun Gong, maintaining an extrajudicial security apparatus, the 6-10 Office, to further that aim. There have been reports of deaths in custody, the use of psychiatric experiments and the harvesting of organs.

And China continues to persecute Christians.

Catholic and Protestant groups refusing to register with the government face arrests, fines and the shuttering of their churches. China’s government has issued a chilling directive to “eradicate” unregistered Protestant churches over the next decade. In January and March, officials seized 20 members, including the pastor, of the Holy Love Fellowship, an unregistered home church in Beijing, detaining them in space set aside for violent criminals.

Since January, China’s Christians have confronted an ominous new threat to worship and practice — governmental targeting of registered churches and their leaders. In Zhejiang province, where Christianity has grown dramatically, the government has targeted more than 100 churches, demolishing dozens, forcing others to make major alterations and removing steeples and crosses. In April, authorities bulldozed the Sanjiang Church, which housed a congregation numbering in the thousands.

There are signs that this latest persecution of Christians may not be limited to Zhejiang province. On July 4, Pastor Zhang Shaojie of the Nanle County Christian Church, a fast-growing registered church in Henan province, was convicted on trumped-up criminal charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Church members have been harassed and prevented from holding services.

The 12-year prison sentence of a pastor marks a chilling turn for the worse in an already bleak scene. China’s appalling religious freedom record underscores the obvious: Little has changed since Beijing shamed itself before the world 25 years ago, massacring its own people for the “crime” of demanding their rights.

China’s leaders undoubtedly believe — as did their predecessors — that repression and fear will solidify their control and bring security. They are mistaken. By denying the bedrock freedoms of conscience and religion, China risks more restiveness and instability.

If China is to assume a truly honored place among the community of nations, its leaders must reject the dark ways of repression and embrace the light of liberty for all.

Katrina Lantos Swett serves as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. M. Zuhdi Jasser serves as a USCIRF commissioner

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2014 | USCIRF

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of State yesterday released its 2013 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and made designations of “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.  The White House also announced their nominee for the position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein.

“USCIRF welcomes the release of the State Department’s annual international religious freedom report and the designations of CPCs,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett. “We commend the State Department for designating CPCs at the same time it issues the annual report on international religious freedom.  Making yearly CPC designations in conjunction with the issuance of the annual International Religious Freedom report  will help ensure that offending governments understand that the United States is deeply concerned about protecting this fundamental human right and that they may face consequences for engaging in religious persecution.” 

“USCIRF also welcomes the expansion of the CPC list to include Turkmenistan, a country USCIRF has recommended for designation since 2004,” said Lantos Swett.  “However, there were disappointing omissions on the CPC list, such as Pakistan.  Pakistan represents the worst situation in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently designated by the U.S. government as CPCs.  The State Department’s own report documents numerous violations in Pakistan, and yesterday’s mob attack on an Ahmadi home which resulted in three deaths demonstrates that Pakistan clearly meets the CPC threshold.”

The 2014 USCIRF Annual Report recommended the re-designation of eight countries as CPCs – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.  USCIRF also called for the designation of eight additional countries that the Commission concluded met the CPC threshold. Along with Turkmenistan, these countries are:  Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.

Finally, USCIRF applauds the nomination of a new Ambassador for Religious Freedom. “With the challenges to religious freedom increasing worldwide, we warmly welcome the nomination of Rabbi David Saperstein as the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom,” said Lantos Swett. “He is knowledgeable and passionate about these issues, and served as USCIRF’s first Chair after the Commission was established.  We look forward to working closely with Rabbi Saperstein and deepening our cooperation with the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.”

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.