Commission Chair to Congratulate Abe Rosenthal on Receipt of Presidential Medal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2002

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

WHAT:Commission Chair Felice Gaer will offer congratulatory remarks to journalist Abe Rosenthal at a reception celebrating his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

WHEN:July 8, 2002, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

WHERE:Ballroom, Freedom House, 1319 18th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20015

BACKGROUND: On July 9, President Bush will award Abe Rosenthal the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his forceful and effective writing in defense of religious freedom and human rights. Mr. Rosenthal is a syndicated columnist and former executive editor of The New York Times. His ground-breaking columns on religious persecution abroad made a significant contribution to passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which created the Commission. Throughout the years he has not hesitated to educate readers about violations of religious freedom, whether in China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or other countries of concern to the Commission.

The reception is sponsored by Freedom House; Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and the American Jewish Committee. For more information about this reception or to RSVP, please contact Lisa Hess, Wilberforce Forum, at [email protected] or 703-904-7322.

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.