FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2002

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, will publicly release its third Annual Report, containing policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress, at a press conference Monday, May 6. The Commission will also issue country reports and recommendations on China, Indonesia, North Korea, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Annual Report addresses religious freedom issues in more than 20 countries and also contains a critique of the State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and its implementation of the International Religious Freedom Act. Commissioners will discuss highlights of the reports and recommendations and take questions from the media.

Who:U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

What:Press conference, third Annual Report

When:Monday, May 6, 2002, 2:30 p.m.

Where:National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 13th Floor

Copies of the Annual Report and individual country reports will be available at the press conference and will also be posted on the Commission Web site at www.uscirf.gov. They can also be obtained by contacting the Communications department at (202) 523-3240. Interviews with Commissioners may be arranged by contacting Lawrence J. Goodrich, Director of Communications, at (202) 523-3240, ext. 27.

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."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2003

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

WASHINGTON - A just peace in Sudan is not possible unless the Khartoum regime is prevented from using the country's oil revenues to step up its brutal war against the south, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, said in a report and recommendations released today. In its three years of studying Sudan's civil war, the Commission has found that the development of Sudan's oil wealth has become an increasingly important factor in the intensification of the conflict.

"The U.S. government should not push the parties into a cease-fire agreement that allows Khartoum to continue to build up its military," said Commission Chair Michael K. Young. The Commission recommended that any comprehensive cease-fire in Sudan be conditioned on placing the country's oil revenues in an internationally administered trust fund to be expended solely for developmental and humanitarian purposes on an equitable basis in both the north and the south. "A cease-fire without such an arrangement will make the regime far less likely to engage in good-faith bargaining over power-sharing," Chairman Young said.

In order to move Khartoum to the peace table, the Commission also urged the Administration and the Senate to support the House version of the Sudan Peace Act, which includes important disclosure requirements and a provision limiting access to American capital markets by foreign oil companies involved in Sudan's oil industry (provisions that were first proposed by the Commission in its 2000 Annual Report).

"The Commission acknowledges the efforts of the President's Special Envoy for peace in Sudan, Sen. John C. Danforth, to relieve humanitarian suffering caused by the brutal 19-year civil war in that country, a war that has killed more the 2 million people and in which religion plays a major role," said Commission Chair Michael K. Young. However, with the delivery of Senator Danforth's report to President Bush, it is absolutely essential that the United States government stay engaged in the peace process, Chairman Young said. In its report, the Commission recommended that peace talks should be based on the Declaration of Principles previously agreed to by Khartoum and opposition groups under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), including self-determination for the south and a secular government that would ensure religious freedom for all individuals, north and south.

The Commission, in its past two annual reports, found the government of Sudan to be the world's most violent abuser of the right to freedom of religion and belief. The Commission also found that religion is a major factor in Sudan's ongoing civil war, and that religious persecution by the Khartoum regime is intertwined with other human rights and humanitarian violations in Sudan, including aerial bombardment of civilians and of humanitarian facilities, deliberate denial of international humanitarian assistance, abduction of women and children into conditions of slavery, and the forcible displacement of populations from oil-producing areas.

As was graphically demonstrated in the bombing of the World Food Program's feeding center in Western Upper Nile on February 20, 2002, and the April 2002 denial of access for humanitarian relief flights on which almost 2 million people depend, Sudan's government continues to commit genocidal atrocities against civilian populations in the south and central parts of the country.

Over the past three years, the Commission has made a series of recommendations regarding U.S. policy toward Sudan, several of which have been adopted. President Bush prominently raised the situation in Sudan in a major address in May 2001. The President appointed former Senator John Danforth as Special Envoy for Sudan in September 2001. The Administration has also taken several steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis of the Sudanese people, including designation of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew Natsios as Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan and several reforms undertaken by USAID. All of these efforts implement directly or indirectly prior recommendations of this Commission.

The complete text of the Commission's latest report and recommendations on Sudan can be found on the Commission's Web site at www.uscirf.gov ; print copies can be obtained by calling the phone number above.

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."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2002

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal agency advising the Administration and Congress, deplores the unwarranted rejection by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) of a resolution expressing concern over human rights abuses in Iran. Iran is a "country of particular concern (CPC)," as recommended by the Commission and so designated by the current and previous Administrations. A CPC is a country whose government has engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom as defined in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Since 1984, annual resolutions at the UNCHR have been extremely important in identifying and monitoring violations of religious freedom and other human rights against religious minorities in Iran, particularly Baha'is. This deplorable decision - the resolution failed by one vote - marks the first time in 19 years that the UNCHR has failed to condemn Iran. The vote also terminates the mandate of the UNCHR's Special Representative on human rights in Iran, Mr. Maurice Danby Copithorne.

Last year, the Commission recommended that the U.S. government should vigorously urge its European and other allies to support and advocate religious freedom in Iran. More specifically, "The U.S. government should continue to sponsor or support annual resolutions of the UN Commission on Human Rights ...condemning Iran's egregious and systematic violations of religious freedom and should recruit the support of other Commission member countries, until such violations cease."

Iran's violations of religious freedom and other human rights remain severe. The UNCHR's recent vote ignores the findings of its own Special Representative on Iran, who concluded in a January 2002 report that members of religious minorities continue to face persecution and discrimination in Iran, as do women, dissidents, members of ethnic minorities, and in particular, journalists. Moreover, the government of Iran has not implemented the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance embodied in General Assembly Resolution 53/158. It is now vital that UNCHR's Special Rapporteurs on thematic issues seek and gain entry to Iran, and report on human rights abuses there.

The vote reveals the urgent need for U.S. membership on the UNCHR, from which it is involuntarily absent for the first time since 1947. This deprives our nation of a voice and a vote on religious freedom and other human rights issues in the main UN human rights forum. In the past, the United States has played a key role in helping encourage other states to condemn religious freedom and other abuses in Iran.

Meanwhile, the Commission urges President Bush to speak out against Iran's continuing religious freedom and other human rights violations and leave no doubt where the United States stands on the issue.

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."