Feb 26, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2003
Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, yesterday wrote President Bush, urging him to impress upon Afghan President Hamid Karzai in their February 27 meeting the need to ensure that basic human rights are fully guaranteed in Afghanistan. The Commission is seriously concerned about reports on continued human rights abuses in Afghanistan and indications that Afghanistan is being reconstructed - without significant U.S. opposition - as a state in which an extreme interpretation of Shariah is enforced by the authorities of a government which the United States supports and with which we are closely identified both within Afghanistan and internationally. The Commission has recommended that President Bush appoint a high-ranking official to the American diplomatic mission in Afghanistan with the sole responsibility to promote, coordinate, monitor, and report on implementation of international standards of human rights, including religious freedom, in connection with the reconstruction effort.
The text of the letter follows:
Dear Mr. President:
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, pursuant to its advisory responsibilities under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, respectfully urges you to impress upon President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan the need to ensure that basic human rights are fully guaranteed in his country. A personal message from you at this time could reverse otherwise disturbing trends undercutting freedom as Afghanistan rebuilds its government and legal system.
In your last State of the Union address, you spoke eloquently of our country's commitment to freedom in Afghanistan. Yet the Commission is seriously concerned by reports of continued human rights abuses in Afghanistan and by indications that Afghanistan is being reconstructed - without significant U.S. opposition - as a state in which an extreme interpretation of Shariah is enforced by the authorities of a government which the United States strongly supports and with which we are closely identified both within Afghanistan and internationally. A preliminary draft of Afghanistan's new constitution is expected to be issued for public comment in March, in preparation for the convening of the Constitutional Loya Jirga later this year. This is the crucial time to ensure that basic rights are fully guaranteed.
Mindful of these reports, the Commission held a public forum, on January 29 of this year, to raise concerns about negative trends in the current phase of Afghanistan's judicial and constitutional reconstruction and to encourage Afghans and members of the international donor community to ensure that Afghanistan's new institutions, laws, and practices reflect internationally-accepted human rights standards, including those relating to religious freedom.
Based on the information presented at the forum as well as other research, the Commission's concerns regarding human rights in Afghanistan continue. These include:
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Reported efforts to deny equal rights to women and religious minorities in Afghanistan's new constitution, retreating even from the guarantees provided in the 1964 constitution (which declared that "The people of Afghanistan, without any discrimination or preference, have equal rights and obligations before the law.");
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Misguided judicial activism by Afghanistan's Chief Justice endorsing amputations and other abusive corporal punishments and his public threats of death toward recalcitrant non-Muslims, activism that has not been publicly opposed by the Karzai government;
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Coercive measures by official agencies, including religious police organizations, that require Afghans to follow specific religious practices or to suffer the consequences of non-conformance;
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Abuses against women and girls, sometimes with the apparently active support of the police and the courts;
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The use of charges of blasphemy against reformers, including a female member of the cabinet of the previous Interim Administration who is also one of Afghanistan's leading human rights officials (a charge later dropped under international pressure, but one that effectively barred her from the current Transitional Administration's cabinet);
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Torture and other maltreatment of prisoners, including reports of incidents resulting in mass death, about which there have as yet been no thorough, credible investigations;
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Mistreatment of returning refugees and internally displaced persons, including reports of forced repatriation; and
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The prevention of a Karzai appointee from assuming her post as head of the Red Crescent because an interim appointee, a member of the Northern Alliance, refuses to leave the position.
The Commission believes that religious tolerance and respect for human rights are essential both to Afghanistan's security, recovery, and reconstruction and to regional stability. Last June, we recommended that the U.S. government should, among other things, appoint a high-ranking official to the American diplomatic mission in Afghanistan with the sole responsibility to promote, coordinate, monitor, and report on the implementation of international standards of human rights, including religious freedom, in connection with the ongoing reconstruction effort.
The United States has already made a tremendous investment in Afghanistan. A renewed and enhanced commitment by the U.S. government to promoting respect for human rights and religious tolerance in the process of Afghanistan's reconstruction would strengthen the moderate, reformist elements of which President Karzai is a leading member. The Commission therefore urges you to use the occasion of President Karzai's visit to lend the weight of your office once again to make clear how vital freedom is to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and that President Karzai must take stronger measures to guarantee human rights protections for all Afghans.
Thank you, Mr. President, for considering the Commission's views.
Respectfully,
Felice Gaer
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."
Felice D. Gaer,Chair
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Jan 22, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2003
Contact:
Eileen A. Sullivan
Deputy Director of Communications
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
800 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790
Washington, DC 20002
tel: (202) 523-3278, fax: (202) 523-5020
[email protected]
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in partnership with The George Washington University Law School, will convene an international forum on the reconstruction of Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 29.
Distinguished speakers include Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan and Ambassador-at-Large to Free Iraqis; Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Sponsor of the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act and Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Andrew Natsios, Administrator, US Agency for International Development.
Participants will discuss how the protection of religious freedom and other human rights can be incorporated into Afghanistan's new constitution, judicial system, and laws; how tolerance can be instilled in a society which has known enmity and war for the last thirty years; and what the United States can do to assist.
Prominent Afghan and U.S. government officials, along with experts on religious freedom, human rights, Islamic law, judicial reform, and rule of law, will address these issues in a day-long event. Lorne Craner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Wendy Chamberlin, USAID Assistant Administrator for Asia and Near East; Amb. Karl F. Inderfurth, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, the Elliott School, The George Washington University, and former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs (1997-2001); Mavis Leno, Chair, Feminist Majority's Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls; and Sima Wali, President of Refugee Women in Development will also participate. Abdul Rahim Karimi, Minister of Justice, will lead the Afghan delegation, which includes other members of the Transitional Islamic Government of Afghanistan. The program follows:
"Reconstructing Afghanistan: Freedom in Crisis," Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Introduction 9:00 - 9:30am [GW Media Center, 805 21st Street, NW - set of CNN's "Crossfire"]
Welcome by Commission Chair Felice D. Gaer, GWU Law School Dean Michael K. Young, and Ishaq Shahryar, Afghan Ambassador to the United States
Keynote and Featured Speakers 9:30 - 10:30am
Zalmay Khalilzad (Keynote), Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan and Ambassador-at-Large to Free Iraqis
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Sponsor of the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act and Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Andrew Natsios, Administrator, US Agency for International Development
Panel One:The Human Rights Challenge in Transitional Afghanistan 10:30am - Noon
Dr. Abdul Aziz Sachedina, Director, Institute on Islam and Democracy, University of Virginia
Robert Templer, South Asia Program Director, International Crisis Group
Dr. Frank Vogel, Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School
Luncheon 12:15 -1:15pm
Afternoon Speakers:1:30-2:00pm [The Jacob Burns Moot Courtroom, 2000 H Street, NW]
Judge John R. Tunheim, U.S. Dist. Ct. (D.Minn.); a leader in the judicial reconstruction of Kosovo
Mavis Leno, Chair, Feminist Majority's Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls
Panel Two:Implementing Human Rights Protections 2:00 - 3:30pm
Ian Martin, Vice President, International Center for Transitional Justice
Neamat Nojumi, former USAID consultant in Kabul
Sima Wali, President, Refugee Women in Development
Gay McDougall, Executive Director, International Human Rights Law Group
Panel Three:The U.S. Role in Promoting Human Rights in Afghanistan 3:45 - 5:15pm
Lorne Craner, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Amb. Wendy Chamberlin, USAID Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East
Amb. Karl F. Inderfurth, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, the Elliott School, George Washington University, and former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs (1997-2001)
Marin Strmecki, Vice President and Director of Programs, Smith Richardson Foundation
Amb. Peter Tomsen, Diplomatic Associate, Center for Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and former Special U.S. Envoy to the Afghan Resistance
Members of the Afghan delegation will join the various panels:
Abdul Rahim Karimi, Minister of Justice
Mahbuba Hoquqmal, Minister of State for Women's Affairs
Dr. Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, Deputy Minister of Justice
Bahauddin Baha, Chairman, Judicial Reform Commission
Quadir Amiryar, Judicial Reform Commission
Hanagama Anwari, National Human Rights Commission
Mohammad Farid Hamidi, National Human Rights Commission
Musa M. Maroofi, Constitutional Drafting Committee
Gul Rahman Qazi, Chairman, Department of Public Policy, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Kabul University
Fatima Gailani, Advocate for women's rights and social development
U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Commissioners in Attendance:
Felice Gaer (Chair), Director, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Human Rights
Michael Young, (Vice-Chair), Dean, George Washington University Law School
Firuz Kazemzadeh, Professor Emeritus, Yale University
Richard Land, President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention
Leila Nadya Sadat, Professor, Washington University School of Law
Nina Shea, Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House
Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Professor, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
John Hanford, Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State
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.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair
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Jan 15, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2003
Contact:
Eileen A. Sullivan
Deputy Director of Communications
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
800 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790
Washington, DC 20002
tel: (202) 523-3278, fax: (202) 523-5020
[email protected]
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, will make an official visit to Russia January 17-25 to examine threats to religious freedom there. The Commission is also seeking to visit Belarus.
As outlined in a January 14 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Commission's concern has been heightened by a recent draft report by Russian officials that identifies a variety of religions, including the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants, and Muslims as threats to Russian national security. The Commission has received reports of measures directed against Roman Catholic religious leaders, restrictions on new and minority religious movements, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, recurrent anti-Semitic incidents, and the equation of Islam with terrorism.
The Commission wrote to Secretary Powell, urging U.S. efforts to forestall steps that would set back religious freedom there. "Because of Russia's influence in the region, negative changes in Russian policy on religion may have a detrimental effect for the respect for religious freedom in other countries as well," Commission Chair Felice D. Gaer stated in the letter (text follows).
Dear Mr. Secretary,
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom respectfully urges you to raise concerns about religious freedom in Russia as part of your ongoing discussions with Russian officials. Our concern has been heightened by a recent draft report by 35 Russian officials that identifies a variety of religions, including the Roman Catholic Church, as threats to Russian national security. While the findings of this draft report have not yet been finalized by the Russian government, the fact that senior Russian officials are contemplating policies based on these findings poses a potential threat to religious freedom that we believe should be discouraged at an early stage. Further, it reflects a disturbing trend in Russia that includes the exclusion of representatives of the Catholic Church, restrictions on the rights of new and minority religious movements, recurrent anti-Semitic incidents, as well as the equation of Islam with terrorism.
As the draft report is expected to be considered by Russian officials in the near future, the United States has an opportunity to act in a timely manner to forestall steps that would be a further setback to promoting respect for religious freedom in Russia. Moreover, because of Russia's influence in the region, negative changes in Russian policy on religion may have a detrimental effect for the respect for religious freedom in other countries as well.
The Commission believes, therefore, that this is an appropriate and important moment to raise the concerns associated with the draft report.
The Commission is sufficiently concerned about the developments that we are dispatching in January a team of Commissioners to visit Moscow and meet with relevant secular and religious personnel, including government officials. It is our aim, with this visit, to signal how seriously these recent problems are being taken by the Commission, as well as to show support for religious communities in Russia, as we conduct further research into the dimensions of the current situation. We are grateful to you and the Department's officials for assistance in undertaking this visit. In our view, it would be of additional help to our efforts - and to the situation of religious freedom in Russia - if American officials also independently conveyed the concerns outlined in this letter.
The draft report on religious extremism, authored by Russia's Minister of Nationalities Policy, Vladimir Zorin, and its top Chechen official, Akhmad Kadyrov, and 33 other officials, will be presented to, among others, the Russian Security Council. Ominously, the report identifies the Catholic Church, Protestants, so-called "cults," including long-established religious groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Islamic fundamentalism as primary threats to Russian national security. Such broadly-defined branding of religious groups as security threats can create an atmosphere of intolerance. In addition, the draft report recommends the creation of administrative structures and legal requirements to combat religious extremism, among them, a new federal ministry for church-state relations. These recommendations harken back to the Soviet era of repressive bureaucratic oversight and interference with religious communities. They threaten to undercut the progress that Russia has made in protecting religious freedom since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Commission notes that since the draft report became public, Minister Zorin and others have made statements down-playing its importance. However, there have, as yet, been no clear statements that the Russian government has stopped preparation of, or that it will not consider, the draft report. Therefore it is still a matter of serious concern.
Unfortunately, the draft report also reflects several ongoing problems regarding respect for religious freedom in Russia. For example, over the last year, numerous representatives of both Protestant and Catholic churches, including a Catholic Bishop, have been expelled from, or denied entry to, Russia. There has been no adequate explanation from the Russian government for these incidents. Several religious groups still face unjustified obstacles to meet requirements set out in Russian law so that they can be registered with the government. In addition, despite encouraging statements by Russian President Putin decrying anti-Semitism, discrimination and violence continues against Jews in Russia.
The Commission therefore recommends that the United States express its concern, at the highest levels of the Russian government, that if the views articulated in the draft report were adopted as Russian policy, they would pose a threat to religious freedom in Russia. At a time when U.S.-Russian relations continue to grow on a variety of levels, the U.S. government should continue to impress upon Russia the importance of meeting its international obligations to respect human rights, including religious freedom.
Upon our return from Russia, we hope to have the opportunity to brief you on our findings.
Sincerely,
Felice D. Gaer
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.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair
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