FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2000

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

WHAT:The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will testify Thursday on the State Department's second Annual Report on International Religious Freedom before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee. During the Senate hearing, Robert A. Seiple, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and ex officio member of the Commission, will present the State Department's report. Commissioners John R. Bolton, Firuz Kazemzadeh, and Michael K. Young will testify on behalf of the Commission. Ambassador Seiple and Commissioner Kazemzadeh will testify later in the day during the House hearing.

WHEN and WHERE:
Senate: Thursday, September 7, 2000 at 9:30 a.m. in room 419 of the Dirksen Building.
House: Thursday, September 7, 2000 at 1:30 p.m. in room 2172 of the Rayburn Building.

BACKGROUND:On September 5 the State Department issued its second Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The Commission praises the work of the Department's Office on International Religious Freedom, but urges the Administration and Congress to take a tougher stand towards the worst violators of religious freedom. The full report can be found on the Commission's Web site at www.uscirf.gov or at www.state.gov.

During the testimony the Commission will discuss a letter it recently sent to National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger regarding the situation in Sudan. The text of that letter is attached.

August 14, 2000

Mr. Samuel R. Berger
National Security Advisor
The White House
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Mr. Berger:

As you know from your meeting with members of our Commission, the situation in Sudan has been a central preoccupation of ours over the last year. Recent reports have greatly increased our concern. Last week various newspapers reported that the UN had suspended relief flights into southern Sudan as a result of bombings conducted by the government of Sudan. Last month we received reports from church leaders in Sudan alleging that needed food aid is still not reaching the so-called "no-go" regions and that the government has been using food aid to force religious conversions. I am writing to (1) express our alarm over these reports, (2) learn more about the relevant facts and current U.S. policy, and (3) follow up on our May 1, 2000 recommendation that the Administration strengthen the Sudan Sanctions Regulations.

We respectfully request that you respond to this letter before the end of August, prior to the return of the Congress. Our sense of urgency about Sudan is high. Not only have we received these reports regarding the suspension of relief flights, starvation and disease in the "no-go" regions, and forced conversions, but the government of Sudan apparently is continuing to engage in the bombing of civilian populations and aid centers and to consolidate its ability to do so through the development of the oil fields in southern Sudan. The overall situation seems only to be worsening.

First and foremost, we would like to know your assessment of, and the Administration's plans for responding to, the UN suspension of relief flights. How soon is the UN likely to resume flights? What are the prospects for an increase in human suffering in the meantime? What is the Administration doing or planning to do to assure that civilians in southern Sudan will receive the humanitarian aid they need?

We have detailed below our concerns about the "no-go" regions, forced conversions, and sanctions.

A. Food Aid

1. Availability in Non-OLS Areas of Sudan

The government of Sudan has long barred the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) from providing humanitarian aid in some areas of the country. Over the past several months, representatives of the Administration have given assurances that U.S. aid to such areas would be increasing. But church leaders on the ground in the Nuba Mountains and other "no-go" zones report that their people are again dying from starvation and disease and that U.S. humanitarian aid is not being delivered to them.

This apparent discrepancy between stated policy and actual practice may be explained by the following finding in the State Department's Interagency Review of U.S. Civilian Humanitarian & Transition Programs (January 2000), Annex 3, p. 4-5:

4) Lines of authority and accountability within the U.S.
for some key humanitarian issues related to Sudan
remain unclear. Some examples include:

a) The reform and revitalization of OLS

OLS's inability to effectively address issues related to access to vulnerable groups has been cause for concern. Lack of access was identified by USAID as a contributing factor to the 1988 [sic] famine. While a U.S. Action Plan called for aggressive efforts at UN/OLS reform, it was unclear to those interviewed for this Case Study how to make this happen. Should the State Department or USAID be in the lead? Is it a UN reform question or a regional, Sudan-specific one? What Agency and what level of staff in that Agency have the authority to engage other donors, the UN and the Sudanese government and rebel movements on this question?

The authors of the Interagency Review in their next sentence reached the disturbing conclusion that:

No steps have been taken on this important issue, even as access issues again loom as a cause for concern in southern Sudan.

At hearings on the United Nations and Africa before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 12, 2000, more than six months after the Interagency Review was issued, United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke acknowledged that he has "never worked on Sudan at all in the UN context." After no less than four Senators raised the issue of the United Nations policy allowing the government of Sudan to veto the delivery of OLS food aid, he then agreed to communicate this concern to the United Nations Secretary General.

In identifying religion as a major factor in the conflict raging in Sudan, the Commission stated in its May 1,2000 report that the Sudan government is committing atrocities at "genocidal" levels. A principal weapon of the

Sudan government has been mass, selective starvation. As a result of Khartoum's banning of delivery flights of international food aid to designated "no-go" areas, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians have already died of hunger and related illnesses. These deaths could have been averted since U.S. aid was available for Sudan. Senator Bill Frist, who has made several fact-finding visits to Sudan, stated at the Senate hearings on July 12 that he "conclude(s) the United Nations has not even put up a struggle to the restrictive terms that have been used to allow these so-called no-go zones."

We respectfully ask for an update on the efforts of the United States to assure that humanitarian aid reaches the "no-go" areas, including efforts to resolve the coordination issues highlighted by the Interagency Review. We request your personal engagement to assure appropriate and timely distribution of U.S. humanitarian aid within Sudan, especially to the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile region and other "no go" areas where thousands of lives are at risk.

2. Forced Conversions

The Commission has received reports from credible sources that UN-provided humanitarian aid for Sudan, including U.S. aid, is being manipulated to force religious conversions among the country's displaced and needy religious minorities.

In mid-July, Sudan's Anglican Bishop Peter Munde of Yambio diocese in southern Sudan and Catholic Bishop Macram Gassis of El Obeid diocese in the Nuba Mountains and northern Bahr al Ghazal reported separately to the Commission that, under the influence of the government of Sudan some relief groups distribute UN aid with the precondition that those receiving the aid convert to Islam. Such coercive practices would directly violate fundamental principles of religious freedom.

Bishop Munde attested in a written statement to the Commission as follows:

One of the tactics of the NIF government is to force conversion by withholding food for those who who will not convert to Islam. My wife, nine children, and I were denied food for four days because we are Christians. I have witnessed people dying from hunger in towns where food is plentiful, especially in Juba town in the south of Sudan. In Juba I have seen food brought in, but after offloading, the food disappears. It is sold at a higher price to people other than those for whom it is intended, or it is withheld from those who will not convert to Islam.

According to the two church leaders, a conversion-to-eat policy is routinely enforced in the government-controlled camps outside Khartoum where two million Christian and animist refugees are wholly dependent on international aid. Although we do not know how many people are being affected, both bishops reported that such coerced conversions are "longstanding practices," "common," and "well-known" throughout government-controlled areas in Sudan. They said they have received many reports of such practices from their priests and parishioners who had escaped from the camps. "If you want to eat, you must convert," reported Bishop Gassis about the relief practices in areas of his diocese of El Obeid.

The bishops identified [NAME OMITTED] and [NAME OMITTED] as NGOs that engage in such coercive practices.

We are deeply disturbed by these reports. We respectfully request that you take urgent action to investigate and put a stop to any use of U.S. humanitarian aid for coercing religious conversion, whether the aid is delivered through the UN or NGOs outside the OLS system, and that you inform us by the end of August of the steps you have taken or plan to take. For your information, we have also brought these reports to the attention of USAID.

B. Strengthening the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations

In our May 1 Report, the Commission made recommendations to the President about the ongoing and severe violations of religious freedom in Sudan. We were especially concerned that the accelerating development of the oil fields in Sudan is increasing the ability of the government of Sudan to wage what has become a genocidal war. We urged the President, among other things, to strengthen the economic sanctions against Sudan so as to further restrict the ability of companies that are helping to develop those oil fields from raising capital on the U.S. market. We respectfully request that you provide us with a response to that recommendation.

The Commission's recommendations appear in the Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, May 1, 2000, a copy of which is enclosed. The relevant recommendations are Recommendations 1.8 and 1.9, which provide as follows:

1.8 The United States should prohibit any foreign-organized corporation from obtaining capital in the U.S. markets as long as it is engaged in the development of the oil and gas fields in Sudan, including exploration, extraction, piping or refining.

1.9 In view of the linkage between oil and gas revenues and the human rights violations of the government of Sudan, the United States should mandate that any foreign-organized corporation engaged in the development of the oil and gas fields in Sudan must:

(a) in the event it intends to make an IPO in the United States, disclose fully whether or not it intends to use the proceeds of the IPO for development of those oil and gas fields before it may proceed with the IPO; and

(b) in the event it is engaged in revenue-generating activities in the United States, submit periodically for public review reports on the nature, extent and duration of its involvement in developing those oil and gas fields and its revenue-generating activities in the United States.

C. Conclusion

Because of the urgency and severity of the situation in Sudan, we ask that you respond to this letter by the end of August. I or our Vice-Chairman, Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, would be pleased to respond to any questions you or your staff may have. Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely yours,

Elliott Abrams

Chairman

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" />

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2000

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today issued the following statement by Chairman Elliott Abrams in reaction to the release of the State Department's second annual Report on International Religious Freedom:

"The State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom and outgoing Ambassador-at-Large Robert Seiple are to be commended for another masterful job in compiling in unvarnished form the tragic story of religious persecution around the globe. I am pleased to note that the report incorporates several of the suggestions for improvement made by the Commission in its May 1 Annual Report and by non-governmental organizations."

"Once again the facts are in. The real question is what will the Administration and Congress do with them. The record during the almost two years since passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998 leaves much to be desired. While many fine words have been spoken, little action has followed."

"The evidence contained in the report would justify the State Department's listing for a second year of Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan as ‘countries of particular concern,' as well as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the government of Serbia - which, while not countries, also remain ‘particularly severe violators of religious freedom.' The report also gives additional weight to the Commission's July 28 recommendation that the Department add Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan to the list, and we again urge the Department to do so."

"The Commission is also disappointed in the Administration's policy towards several countries of particular concern following their designation in 1999. In the cases of Sudan and China, the sanctions it identified are grossly inadequate and ineffective. In Sudan, access to U.S. capital markets for companies involved in the Sudanese oil industry has not been closed, and the government of Sudan remains able to control most food aid supplied by the international community, thereby using food as a weapon in its civil war. The Administration has continued to push for Permanent Normal Trade Relations status for China without requiring any improvements in that government's egregious and deteriorating record on religious freedom."

"The Commission also notes that with the upcoming departure of Ambassador Seiple his crucial position threatens to be vacant for many months. We will strongly urge the next president to move quickly to fill the vacancy with a person as knowledgeable and distinguished as Ambassador Seiple."

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" />

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2000

Contact:
Lawrence J. Goodrich, Communications Director, (202) 679-7655 (cell)
Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director, (202) 679-7653 (cell)

In a Los Angeles speech two weeks ago, Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of the government-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association claimed that China is entering a "golden age" for religion. At a Washington press conference later the same week, Bishop Fu asserted that "there is no religious persecution in China."

The facts say otherwise. Just since the May vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, China's record on religious freedom, already deplorable, has further deteriorated. There are reliable press reports of the following:

• The brutal campaign against the Falun Gong and Zhong Gong spiritual movements continues. Estimates of the number of Falun Gong practitioners who have died as a result - usually from police beatings - ranges from 27 to more than 30. At least 35,000 have been detained, with 5,000 sent to labor camps without trial. Several leaders have received prison terms of more than a decade. Zhong Gong's founder, Zhong Hongbao, has fled to Guam, where he has filed an asylum request, while the Chinese authorities have charged him with sexual crimes. An estimated 600 Zhong Gong organizers have been detained and 3,000 businesses linked to the group shut down, leaving some 100,000 people jobless. In July, Chinese authorities arrested Shen Chang, leader of the Shen Chang Body Science meditation group, and charged him with "disrupting social order" and tax evasion.

• At least eight Uighur Muslims from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region were executed in June and July on charges of "splitting the country." Muslim Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer remains in jail serving an eight-year sentence for "harming national security." Her crime: sending her husband in the U.S. clippings from Chinese newspapers, on which he commented over Radio Free Asia.

• Harassment of Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians who refuse to join state-controlled organizations proceeds apace. Dozens of Protestants have been arrested for participating in unauthorized house-church services, including 31 in Hubei Province on Aug. 2, 12 in Henan Province on Aug. 10, and 24 in Shanxi Province on Aug. 24. On Aug. 23, police in Henan arrested 130 evangelical Christians of the China Fangcheng Church at a religious meeting, along with three visiting Chinese-American evangelists. The Chinese government has banned the Fangcheng Church as an "evil cult," but American evangelicals say it follows traditional Christian beliefs. The three Americans were beaten, released, and deported, and 70 of the Chinese Christians were jailed. On June 24 and Aug. 6, Bishop Fu ordained a number of bishops and priests without Vatican approval. An underground Vatican-recognized priest was arrested in Fujian Province Aug. 19 for celebrating Mass in a private home. He was released Aug. 29, but the next day police in Fujian arrested another priest, a seminarian, 20 nuns, and two laypersons. Two nuns were released after parishioners paid police a large sum of money, but the other 22 persons were still detained as of Sept. 1.

• Police have ransacked homes in Tibet, seizing and destroying Buddhist religious objects and pictures of the Dalai Lama. Thirty monks were expelled in July from the Jokhang Temple, one of Tibetan Buddhism's holiest shrines. The Tibet Daily newspaper on July 4 published an article threatening government officials who participate in religious activities, along with a phone number for informants to call and report them if they do. In August, authorities expelled the German and Portuguese directors of the Tibet Heritage Fund, an international agency working in Lhasa, the capital, to restore Tibetan cultural sites, including monasteries. China successfully lobbied the organizers of the Millennium World Peace Summit of religious leaders to exclude the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, from events scheduled in the United Nations building in New York. Perhaps most incredibly, Chinese customs officials seized 16,000 copies of a book of photographs of President Clinton by Robert McNeely, his official photographer, because one of the photos showed the President meeting with the Dalai Lama. The books, which were printed in Hong Kong and sent to China for binding, were published by a New York firm for sale in the U.S.

As the sharp deterioration in freedom of religion in China continues unabated, if not at a stepped-up pace, the U.S. government has a moral obligation to speak out and let the Chinese government know that these abuses are unacceptable. On the eve of the Senate debate on granting China PNTR status, the Commission reiterates the recommendations from its May 1 Annual Report that Congress should grant PNTR status only after China makes substantial improvement in respect for religious freedom, measured by the following standards. China should:

a) open a high-level and continuing dialogue with the U.S. on religious freedom-issues;

b) ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which it has signed;

c) permit the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and international human rights organizations unhindered access to religious leaders, including those imprisoned, detained, or under house arrest;

d) respond to inquiries regarding persons who are imprisoned, detained, or under house arrest for reasons of religion or belief, or whose whereabouts are not known, although they were last seen in the hands of Chinese authorities; and

e) release from prison all religious prisoners.

Also, before granting PNTR, the U.S. Congress should:

a) announce that it will hold annual hearings on human rights and religious freedom in China; and

b) extend an invitation to the Dalai Lama to address a Joint Session of the Congress.

Further, the United States should use its diplomatic influence to ensure that China is not selected as a site for the Olympic Games until it makes significant improvement in human rights, including religious freedom.

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." 

Hon. Elliott Abrams, Chair

• Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, Vice Chair, Rabbi David Saperstein, Laila Al-Marayati, M.D.Hon. John R. Bolton, Dean Michael K. Young, Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, Nina Shea, Justice Charles Z. Smith, Ambassador Robert Seiple, Ex-Officio, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director