USCIRF Commissioners on U.S. delegation to OSCE conference in Cordoba, Spain

Jun 6, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2005

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has been named by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a member of the nine-member U.S. delegation to the Conference on Anti-Semitism and on Other Forms of Intolerance sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which will be held June 8-9 in Cordoba, Spain. USCIRF Vice Chair Nina Shea and Commissioner Michael Cromartie have been named as advisors to the U.S. delegation. The U.S. delegation will be led by New York Governor George E. Pataki.

The Cordoba conference will focus on practical steps to combat intolerance, including discrimination against religious and other minorities, building on last year's OSCE Conference on Anti-Semitism in Berlin and the Conference on Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination in Brussels. The OSCE consists of 55 nations, including the nations of Europe and Eurasia, the United States and Canada.


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.

Preeta D. Bansal,Chair
  • Felice D. Gaer,Vice ChairNina Shea,Vice ChairArchbishop Charles J. ChaputMichael CromartieKhaled Abou El FadlElizabeth H. ProdromouBishop Ricardo RamirezMichael K. YoungAmbassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-OfficioJoseph R. Crapa,Executive Director