Dec 22, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 21, 1999

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

As United States and international policymakers wrestle with the important question about how best to express their deepest concern over Russian behavior in Chechnya, they should bear in mind that religious bigotry is helping fuel the conflict, said Rabbi David Saperstein, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

"The Russian war on the tiny Chechen nation is more than ethnic-- Moscow is exploiting and inciting deep-seated and historic religious prejudices among the Russian population," Chairman Saperstein said. "This is most apparent in the constant reference to 'Islamic' or 'Muslim' terrorists or 'bandits.'" Almost all Chechens are Muslims, while the majority of Russians identify with the Russian Orthodox Church, a Christian denomination.

Saperstein noted that while the Russian government blames Chechen separatists for a series of apartment bombings in Moscow and elsewhere earlier this year that killed hundreds, it has to date presented no evidence as to who was responsible. "One has to wonder how a police force that reportedly hasn't solved a single murder case involving businessmen can be so certain about who is to blame for the bombings," the chairman said. "And at any rate, the entire Chechen nation is not responsible for the alleged crimes of a few."

Saperstein called upon the U.S. government "to press Russia to stop playing upon popular prejudice against and fear of Muslims to justify its military excesses. The West must make clear to the Russian government that, while we value our relationship with them and want no return to a cold war, they cannot behave in this fashion and expect no repercussions."

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." 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

 

 

 

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

Dec 21, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 20, 1999

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today announced creation of a task force to examine possible capital-market sanctions against companies investing or doing business in countries that severely violate religious freedom. Commission Chairman David Saperstein announced that commissioners Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, and Nina Shea would form the task force.

The task force will:

Monitor the announced intention of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) or a holding company under a different name to list on the New York Stock Exchange and proceed in a multibillion-dollar initial public offering. CNPC reportedly owns 40 percent of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, Sudan's government oil consortium.

  • Keep abreast of the campaign by human-rights groups to encourage Talisman Energy, Inc. of Canada to divest its reported 25 percent stake in the Greater Nile oil project.

  • Evaluate the advantages and limitations of private and government financial-market sanctions versus traditional trade sanctions.

  • Meet with outside experts and market participants to explore voluntary adoption of human rights and religious-freedom criteria as part of the market's "due diligence" processes.

  • Assess foreign entities already in U.S. debt and equity markets -- or seeking to enter them -- that have been linked directly or indirectly to religious persecution in China, Sudan, and Russia, the Commission's three priority countries of interest.

The task force will periodically present its findings to the full Commission, which will develop recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

On Oct. 19, the Commission met with President Clinton and raised its concern that revenues from the Sudanese pipeline would insulate Sudan's repressive regime from U.S. sanctions and perpetuate the 16-year-old civil war, which has already killed about 2 million people. It asked the President to apply his 1997 Executive Order imposing economic sanctions on Sudan to bar CNPC and other companies from using U.S. capital markets to finance the pipeline. The Commission also urged the President to meet with experts on Sudan to design future actions aimed at ending egregious religious persecution by that country's government.

"The Commission strongly supports the free flow of capital into and out of the United States and opposes broad capital controls and other measures that could harm U.S. competitiveness and market leadership," said Rabbi David Saperstein, the Commission's chairman. "In creating the capital-markets task force, the Commission wants to ensure that U.S. sanctions against 'countries of particular concern' for repression of religious freedom not be undercut or evaded by foreign entities entering the U.S. stock and bond markets." The State Department in September designated Sudan as a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

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" />

Rabbi David Saperstein,Chair
  • Dean Michael K. Young,Vice ChairHon. Elliott AbramsLaila Al-Marayati, M.D.Hon. John R. BoltonFiruz KazemzadehArchbishop Theodore E. McCarrickNina SheaJustice Charles Z. SmithAmbassador Robert Seiple,Ex-OfficioSteven T. McFarland,Executive Director

Dec 17, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 16, 1999

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

The U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today decried the Sudanese government's use of food aid as a weapon of war and called on the U.S. government to take a series of actions to ensure food aid reaches all hungry people in Sudan's war-torn southern region.

Civil war has raged in Sudan for more than 16 years between an Islamist regime in Khartoum and mostly Christian and animist rebels in the south, at a cost of about 2 million lives. A major cause of the war has been repeated attempts by the central government to impose Islamic law on the south. Food aid has been organized under the United Nations World Food Programme's "Operation Lifeline Sudan," but that aid has been subject to repeated Sudanese government bans on flights to distressed regions when they are under rebel control, effectively cutting off aid. Such flight bans are currently in effect.

"This is clearly a war with a religious-persecution dimension," said Rabbi David Saperstein, the Commission's chairman. "The Sudanese government is deliberately starving people for religious, as well as political, military, and ethnic reasons."

In order to ensure that hungry people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds get food, the Commission recommended that:

  • The U.S. government should work with the international community to pressure the Sudanese government to immediately stop banning food flights, which is an undeniable use of food as a military and political weapon and has caused hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians to starve.

  • In addition to its participation in Operation Lifeline Sudan, the U.S. government should continue its policy of shipping food into southern Sudan outside the program and increase the percentage of food thus delivered.

  • The U.S. government should undertake an active diplomatic campaign to encourage other nations and humanitarian organizations to move food aid directly into Sudan outside Operation Lifeline Sudan, regardless of Sudanese government strictures but consistent with international law.

"We strongly condemn the Sudanese government's ongoing policy of politicizing food aid in the south, affecting thousands of innocent civilians," Chairman Saperstein said. "What's important is that religious persecution stop and that hungry people get the food they need."

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."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

 

 

 

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
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