FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2020

USCIRF Expresses Concern about National Security Legislation’s Threat to Religious Freedom in Hong Kong

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed concern about the effect that the Chinese Communist Party’s proposed national security legislation will have on religious freedom conditions in Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong has long been living proof that religious freedom and Chinese culture can coexist in harmony—no matter what the Communist Party claims,” noted USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “This new national security legislation would potentially expand the Chinese Communist Party’s war on faith in the mainland to hundreds of thousands of believers in Hong Kong.”

If the National People’s Congress passes the proposed national security law, it would give the mainland government’s security apparatus jurisdiction over cases “endangering national security,” a crime that mainland authorities have used to target religious freedom advocates. Religious leaders fear the law would lead to a crackdown on the city’s Buddhist, Taoist, Protestant, Catholic, and other religious communities—especially since the head of China’s Hong Kong office, Xia Baolong, oversaw a crackdown against churches in Zhejiang Province.

“The Communist Party has a poor track record of keeping its promises to the people of Hong Kong, and we expect no different for Hong Kong residents of faith under this new law,” USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel added. “We urge the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong to monitor the situation carefully and to report on any increase in religious freedom violations.”

Under the 1985 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Chinese government promised to respect the autonomy of Hong Kong’s legal system, which provides greater protections for human rights than available in the rest of China. The Hong Kong Policy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 require the U.S. State Department to assess the autonomy of the territory from China. In May, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo certified that Hong Kong no longer qualifies as autonomous.

In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF noted the massive protests in Hong Kong against a proposed extradition law and the risk it would have posed to religious freedom. In February 2020, USCIRF released a factsheet explaining how the Communist Party’s new Administrative Measures for Religious Groups could further restrict religious freedom.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Danielle Ashbahian at [email protected].

This op-ed was originally published by Newsweek, on June 25, 2020.

By USCIRF Commissioners Nury Turkel and Johnnie Moore

Human rights activists don’t often think first of countries like France, Germany, Belgium, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands when they worry about religious freedom violations.

This is a mistake.

Conditions across the European continent are getting worse for believers of many types. So, it’s time for advocates to stop giving Europe a “free pass” on human rights.

Last year, four in ten European Jews reported that they considered emigrating from their home country because they are concerned for their safety. The same survey indicated that nearly half of those interviewed had been a victim of at least one anti-Semitic incident in the past twelve months. The incidents are not isolated.

As noted in our 2020 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, anti-Semitism is on an alarming rise in Europe in virtually every country with a sizable Jewish population. France, with the largest Jewish population on the continent, had a 27 percent increase. There was a seven percent increase in Anti-Semitic sentiments in the United Kingdom while the Labour Party also experienced a historic reckoning on growing anti-Semitic attitudes within its ranks. Germany saw an increase of about 12 percent. And the Netherlands, the home country of Anne Frank, saw a 35 percent increase compared to 2018.

But statistics can obscure the life-or-death nature of this problem. Physical assaults on Jews occurred in many European countries. In perhaps the most brazen anti-Semitic attack of last year, a gunman in Halle, Germany sought to break into a local synagogue during a Yom Kippur service — this after German authorities turned down a request for police protection. Only a special security door which the murderer could not blast his way past, saved fifty plus Jews at prayer from being massacred. 

Many European Jews also feel that their religious practices are under legal attack. Just this week, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt  issued a statement warning about a bill proposed by Belgian lawmakers that would ban shechita, the “Jewish method of slaughtering animals for human consumption.” Some European countries have also sought to ban the slaughter of animals according to Muslim traditions. The U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr called these laws “disgraceful.”

All of this is happening within living memory of the Holocaust. Declining religious freedom conditions in Europe also extend beyond anti-Semitism. 

Pew Research reported that Europe saw one of the largest increases in government restrictions on religious activities from 2007-2017 much of which reflects an increase in violent attacks and discrimination directed at Muslims across the continent, as well. Like in France where full facial coverings were banned in 2011 and in Moldova where public Muslim worship was banned in 2012.

The discriminatory actions of governments aren’t just for Europe’s Jews and Muslims, either.

In Montenegro it’s the Christians who are under attack. Since December, there have been ongoing protests following the passage of a law on religion that many believe will allow the government to confiscate religious properties. The Serbian Orthodox Church rightfully fears that the law is a pretext to seize their property. These concerns have led to large and sustained protests across the country.  With restrictions on religious gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbating tensions, these protests have led to clashes and the repeated detention of some of the country’s most well-known Orthodox leaders, including by interrogating Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro this week (the second time the Archbishop has been interrogated this year).

Instead of being a champion for religious freedom Europe’s commitment to this fundamental human right abroad is also being neglected. The European Commission recently decided not to extend the position of the European Union’s (EU) Special Envoy whose mandate has been the promotion of the Freedom of Religion and Belief.

Then there is European foreign policy, especially as it relates to China. As China continues to escalate its anti-Muslim and anti-Christian policies it is granted a license by certain European leaders, as best illustrated by the truly absurd and cowardice words of EU’s senior official for foreign affairs, Josef Burrel, “I don’t think that China is playing a role that can threaten the world peace.”

Of course, some European leaders have issued statements at the UN condemning China's assault on religious freedom, the sad truth is the actions of other European governments have rarely matched those words.

Take Bulgaria, for example, which was willing to repatriate five Uyghurs back to China, where the government has detained millions of Uyghur and other Muslims in concentration camps, until the European Court of Human Rights blocked the move in February.

The human rights situation in Europe is deteriorating rapidly.

History reminds us that religious persecution is a precursor to cultural annihilation and ethnic cleansing, and yes, genocide. Europe - because of its history - ought to know better.  As Commissioners at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and knowing full well America’s own struggles and shortcomings, we are obligated to put Europe on notice: you are not exempt from the obligations you call the world to embrace.

This op-ed originally appeared on Eurasianet, on June 24, 2020. 

By USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and Commissioner Gary Bauer

The government of Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive regimes in the world, and it deserves no special treatment from the United States. Instead, the U.S. government should hold Turkmenistan accountable for its many violations of human rights and religious freedom by lifting its national security waiver.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s bizarre cult of personality dominates daily life in Turkmenistan through huge golden statues and constant fawning television coverage. His eccentric antics—such as rapping about horses with his grandson on state TV—would be laughable if they didn’t mask more brutal realities. Indeed, Berdymukhamedov recently attracted the attention of comedian John Oliver, who devoted an entire episode of his HBO series to the dictator’s strange behavior.

In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkmenistan the worst place in the world for press freedoms, calling it an informational “black hole.” It is particularly difficult to get information about the country’s secretive prison system, where “torture and ill-treatment remain integral” according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch. We at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are especially concerned by the fact that many of those condemned in secret trials, or who simply disappeared, are religious prisoners of conscience who Berdymukhamedov’s government has condemned under vague and unsubstantiated charges of “extremism” or “inciting religious hatred.”

Turkmenistan’s government is suspicious of any independent religious activity and maintains a large surveillance apparatus that monitors believers at home and abroad. Citizens who appear to be overtly religious are considered extremists by the authorities. Even Islam, the majority religion, is highly regulated.

The state appoints Muslim religious leaders and dictates the content of sermons and prayers. Imams regularly include prayers for President Berdymukhamedov, asking not only for his health and long life, but also for God to punish his enemies. Muslim sources report being questioned by police about whether their ultimate loyalty was to God or the President, and young bearded men are periodically detained and forcibly shaved. In 2019, for example, police reportedly held one man for several days, forcing him to drink alcohol while interrogating him about his religious beliefs. Official hostility to religion has increased to the point that Muslim citizens are now afraid to celebrate Ramadan for fear of being targeted.

In the past year, the government has also accelerated its prosecution of conscientious objectors, arresting seven Jehovah’s Witnesses who were then sentenced to prison on related charges. Some conscientious objectors report torture by military officials attempting to force them into service.

USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Turkmenistan a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) since 2000 as one of the world’s worst violators of religious liberty, and has done so again in its 2020 Annual Report, which was recently published. In 2014, the U.S. State Department finally implemented this recommendation but regrettably has included a national security waiver every year since that negates punitive consequences as required by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).  

The waiver, ostensibly granted to maintain Turkmenistan’s support for the dwindling U.S. presence in Afghanistan, only bolsters the regime’s claims that security concerns necessitate its brutal repression of society. Yet there is little evidence that Berdymukhamedov’s neo-Stalinist state—which has refused to even acknowledge the receipt of U.S. assistance—is at all concerned with American interests. As the U.S. presence in neighboring Afghanistan evolves, so too must regional policy.

Supporting an outlandish dictator who tramples on the basic rights of his people is not in the interest of the United States. Religious extremism typically flourishes in places where freedom of religion or belief is under attack, while stability thrives in societies where citizens’ rights are respected. The governments of neighboring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are beginning to recognize the value of a more tolerant approach to religion and working toward reform—but Turkmenistan remains intransigent. It is time for U.S. policy to adapt by lifting the national security waiver that gives Turkmenistan a free pass to deny its people religious freedom and other basic rights. This will finally enable the kind of punitive consequences mandated by IRFA, such as those recently recommended by USCIRF.