FOR YOUR INFORMATION

September 5, 2013 | By Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Hill on September 5, 2013.

Last week, on August 26, Saudi Arabia's appointed Shura Council approved legislation, which, if seriously implemented and applied, would provide historic protection against domestic violence in the Kingdom.

A month earlier, on July 29, Saudi Arabia sentenced Raif Badawi, a web editor, to 600 lashes and seven years in jail after being convicted on blasphemy and other charges.

What do these two diverging developments have in common? Taken together, they highlight a paradox about Saudi Arabia and human rights. On the one hand, the country has reformers who back progress. On the other hand, despite their efforts, few nations rival Saudi Arabia in the scope, intensity, and longevity of its abuses of fundamental rights, from the rights of women to those of freedom of expression and religion.

When it comes to freedom of religion, Saudi Arabia continues to ban and punish severely most forms of expression other than its own interpretation of one particular school of Sunni Islam. The Saudi government still uses criminal charges of apostasy and blasphemy to suppress discussion and debate and silence dissenters from the dominant, state-supported ideology.

Due to Saudi Arabia's systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious liberty and related rights, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, again recommended in 2013 that the State Department designate the Kingdom as a "country of particular concern,” or CPC, as it has done every year since 2004.

It appears that no vehicle of expression has been immune from the scrutiny of Saudi censors: perceived transgressors have been subjected to penalties ranging from physical beatings and lengthy prison terms to capital punishment.

The editor of the Free Saudi Liberals site, Badawi was arrested in Jeddah in June 2012 and charged with apostasy, "insulting Islam through electronic channels," and "going beyond the realm of obedience." While in January of this year, a Saudi court declined to pursue the apostasy accusation, which carries the death penalty, the court ordered that the web site be taken down, according to Badawi's lawyer.

Badawi is far from alone. Those like him who use the Internet to offer perspectives which contradict government orthodoxy have not escaped punishment.

Among them is Hamza Kashgari.

Since February 2012, authorities have detained Kashgari, a blogger who continues to face possible apostasy and blasphemy charges.

Saudi officials told our commissioners during their visit to the Kingdom earlier this year that Kashgari was detained because he wrote statements on Twitter which "disturbed the public order," a charge he denies. They also made the dubious claim that the government is holding him for his own safety and is "educating” him to express his opinions in a way that doesn't arouse conflict or injure the feelings of others.

Make no mistake: these and other Saudis are being held against their will for no other reason than daring to use cyberspace to discuss what is on their hearts and minds or those of their fellow Saudis. Attempts to stifle their voices through any form of punishment constitute a blatant violation of their rights under international law. The Saudi government should honor its international commitments and release both of these individuals - and others like them -- immediately and unconditionally.

Our commission applauds the State Department for immediately raising concerns about Badawi a day after his conviction. We believe it also should lift the indefinite waiver it has placed on applying penalties against the Saudis as a consequence of the CPC designation. We support instead a 180-day waiver, giving the Saudis a firm deadline for advancing and completing genuine reforms, particularly those it had promised in talks with the United States seven years ago, back in 2006.

Both creating a platform on the Internet for the peaceful exchange of ideas and participating in discussions about those ideas merit complete protection by any government. Indeed, all nations must affirm and protect the full scope of universal human rights, from the rights of women to freedom of religion or belief. As Saudi reformers agree, Saudi Arabia should be no exception to this rule.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 3, 2013 | By USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC - President Barack Obama on August 30, 2013 announced his intent to appoint Dr. James J. Zogby to serve on the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

"USCIRF warmly welcomes Dr. Zogby as our newest incoming Commissioner. My fellow Commissioners and I eagerly await Dr. Zogby adding his voice to ours in support of humanity's first freedom,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George. "Given his knowledge, experience and commitment, I am confident that 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.”

Dr. Zogby is President of the Arab American Institute, which he founded in 1985. He is also Managing Director of Zogby Research Services, and a Visiting Professor of Social Research and Public Polling at New York University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In 1982, he co-founded Save Lebanon, Inc., a non-profit relief organization which funds social welfare projects in Lebanon. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zogby co-founded the Palestine Human Rights Campaign and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He is the current Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Committee for SkyNewsArabia News. He has hosted various television programs, including A Capital View on MBC from 1993 to 2001, and Viewpoint with James Zogby on Abu Dhabi Television from 2001 to 2011. His column, "Washington Watch,” is currently published in 14 Arab and South Asian countries. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Zogby received a B.A. from Le Moyne College and a Ph.D. in Comparative Religions from Temple University.

Comprised of nine members, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at (202) 523-3258 or [email protected] .

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

August 21, 2013 | By Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Washington Post on August 21, 2013.

Although religious freedom is a pivotal human right, critical to national security and global stability, key provisions of the landmark International Religious Freedom Act are being neglected years after its passage. A number of studies demonstrates the link between freedom of religion and societal well-being, while its absence correlates closely with instability and violent religious extremism, including terrorism. Many governments, including those topping the U.S. foreign policy and security agendas, perpetrate or tolerate acts of religious repression, such as arbitrary detention, torture and murder.

The International Religious Freedom Act provides vital tools, including identifying and sanctioning the world's worst violators. But over many years and different administrations, the executive branch has not employed them fully or in a timely manner. With a key deadline for action arriving this month, it is time to confront this unwise failure to act.

When the act was passed in 1998, it made the promotion of religious freedom an official U.S. foreign policy priority and established at the State Department an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The legislation also created a bipartisan and independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom , on which we serve, to monitor this right worldwide and make policy recommendations to Congress, the secretary of state and the president.

Congress gave the legislation real teeth through a groundbreaking enforcement mechanism: requiring annual administration review and designation of "countries of particular concern,” defined as those governments engaging in or allowing "systematic, ongoing, egregious” violations.

While the law provides the administration with flexibility in how it will pressure those countries, the review and designation process is not discretionary. The law requires it. Whatever one's view of appropriate sanctions for violators, there can be little disagreement on the imperative of bearing witness to abuses.

Unfortunately, neither Republican nor Democratic administrations have consistently designated countries that clearly meet the standard for offenders. The Bush administration issued several designations in its first term but let the process fall off track in its second. The Obama administration issued designations only once during its first term, in August 2011.

The result? Violators such as Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam are escaping the accountability that the International Religious Freedom Act is meant to provide.

Even those nations currently designated as "countries of particular concern” could escape accountability if there are no designations this month; under the law, countries remain designated until removed, but any corresponding penalties expire after two years. Without new designations, sanctions attached in 2011 to Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea and Sudan will expire this month. And while those countries are subject to sanctions under other U.S. laws, allowing the International Religious Freedom Act's sanctions authority to expire would send the disturbing message that the United States won"t implement its own law on religious freedom.

To be sure, the Obama administration has taken some positive steps. It created a State Department working group on religion and foreign policy and this month established a new faith-based office , both tasked with religious engagement.

Also this month, Secretary of State John Kerry announced a U.S. Strategy on Religious Leader and Faith Community Engagement . As our commission has recommended, promoting religious freedom is among the three key objectives of this engagement.

Engagement should be part of any strategy for the promotion of religious freedom. But what will move gross offenders to stop persecuting individuals if not the credible threat of consequences? By letting the process of designating offenders atrophy, the United States surrenders its leverage while creating a chilling precedent for other rights. If this process is allowed to wither, what will happen to similarly designed programs such as the tiered system of the Trafficking in Persons Report, which was modeled on this approach?

The process of designating countries of particular concern works when deployed as intended - that is, not as a single bludgeon but as a targeted tool. When diplomacy is combined with the prospect or reality of such designations and attendant sanctions or other specific diplomatic and related actions, repressive governments - including Vietnam and Turkmenistan - have made meaningful changes. Moreover, countries often consider such a designation a stigma and blow to their world standing. Because a designation of concern is rightly perceived as an important factor in a country's relationships with the United States, it can create political will for reform where none otherwise would exist.

For the sake of freedom and security, it is time to apply the International Religious Freedom Act fully and the country designation process decisively. Congress has the right and the duty to press the executive branch to do so.

Robert P. George is chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Katrina Lantos Swett is a vice chairwoman of the commission.

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