FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2000

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom May 1 will issue its first annual report, which will contain recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress for significant changes in U.S. policy towards China and Sudan. Rabbi David Saperstein, the Commission Chair, and Dean Michael Young, Vice Chair, will hold a press conference along with other Commissioners to discuss highlights of the report and its implications for foreign policy, including the upcoming congressional vote on Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China. The report is required annually under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Who:U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

What:Press Conference

When:Monday, May 1, 2000, 10:00 am

Where:The National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Lisagor Room

Copies of the executive summary and the annual report will be available at the press conference and will also be posted on the Commission Web site at www.uscirf.gov beginning at 10:00 a.m.. Interviews with Commissioners may be arranged by contacting Lawrence J. Goodrich, Director of Communications, at (202) 523-3240.

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." 

Rabbi David Saperstein,Chair

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2000

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today condemned the government of Vietnam's actions in preventing Hoa Hao Buddhists from freely assembling to commemorate one of the holiest days of their calendar.

"Such interference by the authorities with a peaceful religious group's celebration of one of its holy days is totally unwarranted and a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Rabbi David Saperstein, the Commission's chairman. "It's past time for the Hanoi government to respect its own constitution, fulfill its international obligations, and stop such repression of religion."

The Commission had earlier written to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to request that the State Department closely monitor the situation. "We have been assured that they did so," Chairman Saperstein said.

Some of the 2 million to 4 million Hoa Hao Buddhist practitioners tried to assemble March 29 and 30 on their "sacred ground" in Hoa Hao village (their founder's birthplace), in Chau Doc Province in the Mekong Delta. Vietnamese authorities, however, forcibly prevented any of the faithful from entering the grounds. According to reliable reports reaching the Commission, key leaders were arrested or their houses were surrounded by police. Other devotees were threatened or detained on their way to the site. Eventually only about 1,000 people made it to Hoa Hao village, where a phalanx of police met them.

By comparison, last year about 300,000 adherents were able to evade police and assemble for the movement's 60th anniversary. In that case, the government ultimately authorized the gathering, but as a one-time event. The government last year also hand-picked a tightly controlled Hoa Hao committee - the first in 25 years - but authorities continue to restrict public gatherings and distribution of the community's scriptures. Permission this year for Hoa Hao practitioners to gather at the site and pray for the return of Master Huynh Phu So, their founder, was denied.

The Hoa Hao movement emphasizes the importance of home worship and opposes the use of temples or pagodas for devotion. They reject ceremonial "extravagance" such as statues, gongs, and burnt offerings and are strong advocates of assisting the poor. With a long history of anticommunism, they have suffered severe repression since 1975, when the Communists assumed control in the south.

"The Vietnamese authorities must understand that their treatment of Hoa Hao Buddhists and other religious groups is being closely watched," Saperstein said. "Their interests and the nation's would be better served by allowing religious groups to practice freely. That includes the right of the Hoa Hao to assemble for religious celebrations."

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." 

Rabbi David Saperstein,Chair

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2000

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Friday wrote to President Clinton to raise the issue of ongoing violations of the Coptic Christian community's religious freedom rights. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrives in the United States on a state visit today. The text of the letter follows:

March 24, 2000

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States Of America
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Re: Treatment of Coptic Christians by Egyptian Government

Dear Mr. President,

Next week President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt will return to the United States on a state visit. On behalf of the U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom, I urge you to raise with him his government's ongoing violations of certain religious freedom rights of the Coptic Christian community, an issue raised by the Commission in our letter dated June 24, 1999, written to you on the eve of President Mubarak's last visit to Washington.

We are particularly concerned about the Egyptian government's response to repeated violence against Copts in the village of Al-Kosheh, 300 miles south of Cairo, in Sohag governate. Local police, in the course of investigating the murder of two Copts, arrested and tortured or abused hundreds of Copts from the village.

Not surprisingly, this cycle of violence against the largest religious minority in Egypt recently reignited in the same village of Al-Kosheh. On January 1-3, 2000, crowds of Muslims attacked their Coptic neighbors in their homes, shops and fields, killing 21 Copts and firebombing homes and businesses. One Muslim was also killed. Local police reportedly withdrew from the scene immediately prior to the attack.

The Egyptian government has offered to provide token compensation to the victims in Al-Kosheh. However, the Commission fears that local prosecutors will again resort to blaming the victims and that justice will once again languish. Our Government's reiteration to Mr. Mubarak that promotion of religious freedom is critical to Egyptian-American relations can be a step toward mitigating that possibility.

Egypt remains a home in which six million members of the Coptic Orthodox Church experience serious and pervasive religious discrimination. According to the State Department's most recent Human Rights Report released February 25, Christians who proselytize are subject to arrest. Permits to build Christian churches can only be issued by President Mubarak, and obtaining permits to repair churches can be difficult and delayed interminably. Yet mosques and the salaries of their imams are paid for out of public funds.Therefore, we hope and urge that President's Mubarak's visit provides an occasion for a serious discussion of religious freedom in Egypt.

Respectfully,

Rabbi David Saperstein
Chair

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." 

Rabbi David Saperstein, Chair

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