FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2001

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has nominated Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, Laos, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Turkmenistan for designation by the State Department as "countries of particular concern" - the world's worst religious-freedom violators, subject to U.S. action under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The Commission also urged redesignation of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan as a "particularly severe violator" of religious freedom. The action came in an August 16 letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Of the countries nominated, the State Department designated Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan as countries of particular concern in 1999 and 2000. The Taliban regime was designated a particularly severe violator in both years as well. In July 2000, the Commission unsuccessfully recommended to then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the addition of Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan.

In urging the redesignation of China and Sudan, the Commission noted that particularly severe violations of religious freedom have increased in both nations during the past year. "In China, numerous Falun Gong practitioners throughout the country have been subjected to psychiatric detention and abuse, as part of the government's crackdown on that group," the Commission wrote. "More than 35 members of the underground Roman Catholic Church (including two bishops and 23 priests) were arrested in April and July of this year. In Sudan, the Commission found that religion was a major factor in the ongoing civil war, and that religion and religious-freedom violations were intertwined with other human rights and humanitarian abuses there. The Sudanese government is reported in the last month to have escalated its bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets in the south, and continued its campaign forcibly to remove populations from the oil development areas that are providing financial support for its egregious human rights abuses."

"In Laos last year," the Commission wrote, "more than 95 Christians and their leaders from several provinces were arrested, detained (at times for months), and in some cases convicted of criminal offenses and imprisoned on account of their faith. Seven Laotian Christian church leaders and one church member were arrested in May 2001 (and subsequently released) for resisting government pressure to renounce their faith."

"The government in North Korea suppresses all independent religious activity; persons engaging in public religious expression or other unauthorized religious activities continue to be arrested and imprisoned; and since July 1999, there have been new reports (from escaped refugees and other credible firsthand sources) of ongoing torture and execution of religious believers."

"The findings from the Commission's visit to Saudi Arabia in March 2001 confirmed the State Department's conclusion, stated in its own human rights reports, that religious freedom "does not exist" in that country. Serious violations of religious freedom there clearly warrant CPC designation."

"The government of Turkmenistan severely restricts religious activity other than that engaged in by the official Sunni Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church. Members of unrecognized religious communities - - including Baha'is, Baptists, Hare Krishnas, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims operating independently of the Sunni Muslim Board, Pentecostals, and Seventh-day Adventists - - have reportedly been arrested, detained (with allegations of torture and other ill-treatment), imprisoned, deported, harassed, fined, and have had their services disrupted, congregations dispersed, religious literature confiscated, and places of worship destroyed. Specific promises made by President Niyazov to senior U.S. officials in 1999 have not been carried out; in fact, the situation continues to deteriorate, eliminating expectations for improvement."

In addition, Commissioners noted that grave violations of religious freedom persist in India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam and, as they did a year ago, urged the State Department to monitor closely events in those countries.

The Commission noted that the State Department had designated the Milosevic regime in Serbia as a particularly severe violator of religious freedom in 1999 and 2000, but withdrew the designation after the Milosevic regime was removed from power in 2001. While the Commission agreed that the new governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and of Serbia have begun to demonstrate their commitment to religious freedom and other human rights, it urged the State Department to keep a close watch on the situation there. "The Commission is troubled, for example, by reports that Serbia is considering a new law on religious associations that may discriminate between so-called Serbian "traditional religions" and other religious communities."

The full text of the Commission's letter to the Secretary, with accompanying attachments, is available on its Web site, or can be obtained by contacting the Commission's communications office 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.

Felice D. Gaer

• Firuz Kazemzadeh, Leila Nadya Sadat, Dean Michael K. Young, Nina Shea, Rev. Charles R. Stith, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2001

Contact:
Eileen A. Sullivan, Deputy Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 26

The U.S. Commission has written to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell asking him to "raise prominently the protection of religious freedom in China, Vietnam, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" during his upcoming trip to the region. The text of the letter follows:

July 17, 2001

Dear Secretary Powell:

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urges you to raise prominently the protection of religious freedom in China, Vietnam, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea during your upcoming trip to the region later this month.

China. Systematic and egregious violations of religious freedom in China continue. The persecution is so broad and severe, and the numbers of victims so high, that China cries out for immediate and prominent attention. Leaders and members of unregistered Protestant and Roman Catholic churches have been arrested, Tibetan Buddhist monasteries closed and private religious practice monitored, and Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang have been executed on specious charges and without even a semblance of due process or fair trial. The government has intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong movement, and at least 150 followers have reportedly died in police custody, allegedly following torture. More than 1,000 religious buildings and sites in Wenzhou were confiscated or destroyed by Chinese officials in late 2000. The government continues to maintain tight control over the training and selection of clergy and leaders of the official Protestant and Catholic churches.

The Commission in its May 2001 annual report recommended that the U.S. government persistently urge, at the highest levels and at every opportunity, the Chinese government to take specific, measurable steps to protect religious freedom. The Commission asks that you stress the importance of such progress in your meetings with Chinese officials and ensure that religious freedom is prominent in President Bush's talks with Chinese officials at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in October.

Vietnam. Despite the increase in religious practice among the Vietnamese people in the last 10 years, the Vietnamese government continues its repressive policy toward all religions and their followers in Vietnam, including Hoa Hao Buddhists as well as Christians who are members of ethnic minorities, and appears to have increased its crackdown on prominent religious dissidents during the first half of 2001. Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Roman Catholic priest who submitted written testimony to the Commission's February 2001 public hearing on Vietnam, and Venerable Thich Quang Do, the second-ranking leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), have recently been imprisoned or placed under house arrest. In February 2001, the Vietnamese government violently suppressed protests by thousands of ethnic minority Central Highlanders seeking the return of ancestral lands and the freedom to practice their religion. Although the Vietnamese government permitted Ambassador Peterson to visit the area this month, he reported significant obstruction from local officials in Gia Lai province during his visit. In April 2001, the Vietnamese government recognized the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) in the south; however, this recognition apparently does not cover up to two-thirds of Vietnam's nearly 1 million Protestants who are ethnic minorities.

The Commission is also concerned about the inhumane treatment of the Patriarch of the UBCV, the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, who is 83 years old and has remained under house arrest without charge in a remote village of Quang Ngai province since 1982. He is reportedly suffering from serious hypertension, kidney and stomach disorders, and the inability to walk without assistance. Nevertheless, the Vietnamese government has prevented him from traveling to Ho Chi Minh City for proper medical treatment.

The Commission draws your attention to its recommendation in its letter of March 29, 2001, that you raise religious freedom concerns in Vietnam, including the deteriorating treatment of prominent religious dissidents, during your meetings with Vietnamese officials at the ASEAN meetings in Hanoi.

North Korea. The Commission also understands that you will be meeting with Japanese and Korean officials in Tokyo and Seoul, respectively. Given the extreme deprivation of religious freedom in North Korea, the Commission has recommended that the U.S. government work with Japanese and South Korean officials - as a part of the trilateral policy coordination - to press upon North Korean officials the importance that the U.S. assigns to the protection of human rights, including religious freedom, and to the eradication of particularly severe violations thereof. The Commission urges you to raise this issue with your Japanese and South Korean counterparts during the upcoming trip.

Thank you for your consideration of the Commission's recommendations. We would be grateful if you would share with us the findings and achievements of your trip upon your return.

Respectfully,

FOR THE COMMISSION

Michael K. Young

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

• Firuz Kazemzadeh, Leila Nadya Sadat, Dean Michael K. Young, Nina Shea, Rev. Charles R. Stith, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2001

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

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today issued the following statement:

"The Commission is deeply disappointed by today's decision of the International Olympic Committee to award the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing. This decision sends a message to the leaders of China that their appalling and worsening record on religious freedom - a record over the past year that includes arrest and harassment of unregistered Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians; hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners tortured and murdered in police custody and some incarcerated in psychiatric hospitals; closures of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and interference in private Buddhist worship; executions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang; and the desecration and destruction of thousands of worship sites - does not matter to the rest of the world."

"The Commission also deeply regretted the Bush Administration's neutral stance on the issue, despite the Commission's May 1 recommendation that the Administration make diplomatic efforts to oppose the awarding of the Games to Beijing."

"Nevertheless, we hope that President Bush will now join with the leaders of all other Olympic countries to press China to live up to the obligations it has undertaken to ensure, beginning now, that the Games take place in an atmosphere in which the religious freedom and human rights of participants, spectators, and Chinese citizens are honored and protected. Only by upholding religious freedom and related international human rights obligations will China merit the awarding of the Olympic Games. We call upon Secretary of State Powell to deliver that message during his upcoming trip to Beijing."

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

• Firuz Kazemzadeh, Leila Nadya Sadat, Dean Michael K. Young, Nina Shea, Rev. Charles R. Stith, Steven T. McFarland, Executive Director