Commission To Testify on its 2001 Annual Report Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Jun 1, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2001

Contact:
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WHAT: The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on its 2001 Annual Report. Commissioners Nina Shea, Michael Young, and former Commissioners Firuz Kazemzadeh and David Saperstein will testify. (The Commissioners' terms expired on May 14; Commissioners Shea and Young have been reappointed to another term.)

WHEN:Tuesday, June 5, 2001 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE:Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room 419

BACKGROUND:The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued its second Annual Report on May 1 containing policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. The Annual Report addresses religious-freedom issues in almost two dozen countries, with individual recommendations on the following: China, India, Indonesia, Iran, North Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Vietnam, access to U.S. capital markets, and U.S. foreign assistance. An Addendum to the Annual Report, issued May 14, addresses Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Annual Report and Addendum are available on the Commission's Web site at 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." src="https://www.uscirf.org/images/layout/subbottomtext1.gif" />

Hon. Elliott Abrams,Chair
  • Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh,Vice ChairRabbi David SapersteinLaila Al-Marayati, M.D.Hon. John R. BoltonDean Michael K. YoungArchbishop Theodore E. McCarrickNina SheaJustice Charles Z. SmithAmbassador Robert Seiple,Ex-OfficioSteven T. McFarland,Executive Director