FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2003

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

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent and bipartisan federal agency, is disappointed that a scheduled visit to China in early August 2003 could not proceed as planned due to unacceptable last-minute conditions imposed upon the Commission's visit by the Chinese government.

Since its inception, the Commission has made several formal requests for an official invitation to visit China. In December 2002, at the U.S.-China bilateral human rights dialogue in Beijing, the Commission was informed that Chinese officials conveyed to Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner the Chinese government's decision to invite the USCIRF to visit China. The Commission believes that a successful visit is in the mutual interests of the United States and China, and should have gone forward with the full access to relevant areas and people as was promised to Assistant Secretary Craner.

Since February 2003, when the Commission began negotiations with the Chinese government regarding the parameters of a visit, the Commission made it clear that Hong Kong was an integral part of the visit. The Chinese government has always assured the United States that Hong Kong is an open city not requiring special access. The USCIRF was also given assurances by Chinese Embassy staff that Hong Kong would not be a problematic part of our itinerary. The Commission proceeded with that assumption until two weeks ago when it was informed that the Chinese government "strongly discouraged" our visit to Hong Kong. The Chinese government's position then moved from discouragement to "insistence" that the Commission drop Hong Kong from its itinerary.

"This action on the part of the Chinese government suggests a degree of Chinese control over foreign access to Hong Kong that is unprecedented and in contradiction to the concept of ‘one country, two systems.' It further raises the concern that just six years after the handover, Hong Kong's autonomy is already seriously in doubt. As a commission concerned with religious freedom and related rights, we cannot possibly accede to such a condition," said USCIRF Chair Michael K. Young.

In addition, the Commission is deeply concerned that just one week before the Commission delegation's scheduled arrival in China, the Chinese government did not provide the Commission with an itinerary of confirmed meetings with government and Communist Party officials responsible for religious policy and its implementation in each of the places the Commission requested. Nor did the Commission receive assurances it would be able to visit prominent religious houses of worship and meet privately with religious leaders. Instead, the Commission was simply told that there would be meetings appropriate to the important nature of its visit.

In light of the circumstances and last-minute limitations that the Chinese government imposed, the Commission could not accede to the conditions and the trip was postponed.

"The Commission fully anticipates and hopes that the Chinese government will honor its commitment to Assistant Secretary Craner and allow the trip to proceed as originally promised," said Young.

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
July 29, 2003

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

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Vice Chair Felice D. Gaer testified today at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's hearing on "Will Religion Flourish under China's New Leadership." "As China continues its political and economic transformation, the United States must consistently remind the Chinese government that the protection of human rights, including religious freedom, is critical to a strong and vibrant society and economy. The rights of the Chinese people must be protected, and the United States should be prepared to assist in this regard," said USCIRF Vice Chair Gaer.

To that end, the Commission makes the following recommendations:

• First, the Secretary of State has designated China as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) under IRFA for its egregious violations of religious freedom. The State Department should use the full range of policy tools available under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to take additional actions with respect to China.

• Second, the State Department should provide to the Congress its evaluation of the impact that current U.S. rule of law and democracy programs have on the promotion of religious freedom and other human rights in China. A recent State Department report mentions multi-million dollar programs but does not assess their impact.

• Third, the U.S. government should enhance its public diplomacy efforts, focusing serious attention on the plight of the Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists. This includes the expansion of broadcasts by Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America.

• Fourth, the United States must be consistent in our message that religious freedom will remain a priority in U.S. foreign policy and in our assessment of progress in China's human rights practices. The United States should propose and promote a resolution to censure China at the UN and its Commission on Human Rights. The U.S. stands virtually alone in striving to focus world attention on China's specific violations of human rights.

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
July 21, 2003

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent and bipartisan federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, has elected Dean Michael K. Young to serve as Chair. Commissioner Young succeeds Felice D. Gaer, who was elected Vice Chair together with Nina Shea. The election follows the Commission's practice of alternating the post of Chair yearly between Democratic and Republican appointees. The Chair is chosen by the Commissioners themselves.

Commissioner Young is dean of the George Washington University Law School. Prior to that, he was the Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law and Legal Institutions at the Columbia University School of Law. At Columbia, he also served as Director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies, the Center for Korean Legal Studies, and the Project on Religion, Rights and Religious Freedom. Dean Young has been a Visiting Professor and Scholar at the Law Faculties of the University of Tokyo, Waseda University and Nihon University. He has also been a Japan Foundation Fellow at Columbia University. During the Administration of President George H. W. Bush, he served as Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Legal Advisor to the U.S. Department of State. He currently serves as a member of the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission and the Trade and Environmental Policy Committee, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President.

Commissioner Gaer is the Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. She is a member of the Committee Against Torture, a United Nations treaty monitoring body that reviews governmental compliance with the Convention Against Torture. Nominated by the United States and elected in 1999, she is the first American to serve on the Committee. Felice Gaer was appointed as a public member of nine U.S. delegations to UN human rights negotiations between 1993 and 1999, including the UN Commission on Human Rights, the World Conference on Women, and the World Conference on Human Rights. She is also a member of the steering committee of Human Rights Watch/Europe and Central Asia and the International Human Rights Council of the Carter Center. Ms. Gaer is the author of more than 25 articles on international human rights topics. In 1995, she was awarded the Alumnae Achievement Award from Wellesley College.

Commissioner Shea is the Director of the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House in Washington, D.C. She has been an international human rights lawyer for 25 years and has for 18 years focused specifically on the issue of religious persecution. Before her appointment to this Commission, on which she has served from the beginning, Ms. Shea served on the Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom to the U.S. Secretary of State. She has organized and sponsored numerous fact-finding missions to Sudan, China, Egypt, and elsewhere and has testified regularly before Congress about the governments of these countries. She is the author of In the Lion's Den, a book on anti-Christian persecution around the world. She was appointed as a public delegate on the U.S. delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2001.

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.