FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2004

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications,

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the signing by President George W. Bush and the passage by the House and Senate of the North Korea Human Rights Act, which requires that official attention be paid to the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crises in that country.

"The North Korea Human Rights Act reflects many of the Commission's past recommendations, including authorizations for increasing radio broadcasts, supporting North Korean refugees, and programs to promote human rights in North Korea," said USCIRF Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "The human rights violations of the Kim Jong Il regime are among the most serious worldwide. The North Korea Human Rights Act makes improving human rights protections a priority in U.S. relations with North Korea. And, it gives U.S. policy-makers tools to act on that priority."

The Commission has encouraged the governments participating in the Six-Party talks on nuclear security to consider how resolving North Korea's refugee and humanitarian crises could contribute to increased regional stability. Human rights issues, including religious freedom, should be part of comprehensive negotiations with North Korean leaders. Dealing with these issues is in the interests of the countries surrounding North Korea and the long-term security interests of the Korean peninsula.

The bill is timely because of the ongoing refugee crisis on the North Korea-China border. Between 100,000 to 300,000 North Korean refugees are living clandestinely in China. The Chinese have not allowed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to interview North Koreans, despite China's obligations under the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol. The refugees constantly face the threat of deportation, with certain arrest, torture, and imprisonment awaiting them in North Korea. "The Commission has called on the Chinese government to uphold their international obligations and work with the UNHCR and other NGO groups in developing a process for assisting the refugees," said Bansal.

In the past several weeks, groups of North Korean refugees have sought asylum in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and in Japanese and U.S. schools in Beijing and Shanghai. In the past, international attention caused by North Koreans seeking asylum at embassies led to mass deportations of refugees hiding on the border regions. The Commission is particularly concerned about the welfare of nine North Korean refugees who were removed from an American school in Shanghai earlier this week. The school administrators turned over the asylum seekers to Chinese authorities.

"Given the dangers that face North Koreans forcibly returned from China to the DPRK, China should not summarily deport asylum seekers, but allow the UNHCR to determine impartially their status and the validity of their asylum claims," said Bansal. "The recent treatment of asylum seekers demonstrates the dire protection needs of North Koreans in China. The Commission has recommended that the U.S. government should urge the Chinese government to abide by the Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol by giving the UNHCR unrestricted access to potential asylum seekers who may require international protection."

For the past five years, the Commission has recommended that North Korea be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for egregious and ongoing violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The State Department has followed the Commission's recommendations and designated North Korea as a CPC since 2000.

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
October 13, 2004

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

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has appointed Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou of Massachusetts to a two-year term on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Dr. Prodromou succeeds Commissioner Patti Chang.

"Dr. Prodromou brings to the Commission a distinguished record of scholarship in international relations," said Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "We look forward to her insights as we work to advance freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief globally. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Patti Chang for her contributions to the Commission over the past year."

Professor Prodromou is the Associate Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University. Prior to joining the faculty at Boston University, she taught at Princeton University in the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs. A regional expert on Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Prodromou's scholarship and policy work concentrate on religion and international relations, nationalism and conflict resolution, and non-traditional security threats.

Prodromou has published articles and chapters in books in several languages in numerous academic and policy journals in the United States and Europe, including the Journal of Democracy, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Orbis, Social Compass, Survival, European Journal of Political Research, and Mediterranean Quarterly. She is currently working on two books, both forthcoming in 2005, on Orthodox Christianity, Civil Society and Democracy in Post-Communist Russia and Orthodox Christianity in American Public Life: The Challenges and Opportunities of Religious Pluralism in the 21st Century.

She has been a policy consultant to the State Department, the Defense Intelligence Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. She has received numerous awards and grants, including research fellowships from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Center for European Studies, New York University's Center for European Studies, and Princeton University's University Committee on Research in Humanities and Social Sciences. She is active and has held elected positions in many professional organizations, and is listed in Whose Who of American Women, 21st Edition of Outstanding Women of North America. She helped found and sat as Executive Director at the Cambridge Foundation for Peace, a non-profit, public charity dedicated to sustainable peace building in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Prodromou holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a B.A. in International Relations and History from Tufts University. Prodromou is married to Dr. Alexandros K. Kyrou, and they have one daughter, Sophia.

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
October 6, 2004

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

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Preeta D. Bansal testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee (HIRC) on the  State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2004  and Secretary Powell's designation of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs). Bansal welcomed the designation of three new CPCs - Eritrea, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia - noting that the Commission has long called for these designations, particularly that of Saudi Arabia, and reinforcing that designation is a beginning and not an end. The full text of Commissioner Bansal's testimony may be found on USCIRF's Web site www.uscirf.gov in either  PDF  or  HTML  format.

"The designation of CPCs is one of the most significant human rights acts of the U.S. government. In welcoming these designations, I would underscore that IRFA is very clear that more is required of the U.S. government than just naming these three countries as CPCs. Important obligations, in the form of consequent actions, flow from the CPC designation," said Bansal. "The Commission plans soon to issue recommended responses for the President, Secretary of State, and Congress pursuant to the IRFA statute to follow up on the CPC designations."

Bansal noted that the 2004 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom contains no country report on Iraq. She testified that the absence of a report should not in any way be construed as an indication that religious freedom is not essential to the development of a stable and democratic Iraq. As the Iraqi people embark upon the historic task of crafting a permanent constitution in the coming months, the U.S. government cannot lose sight of the vital need to ensure that the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief is guaranteed in Iraq's permanent constitution.

Bansal voiced the Commission's concern that it is critical that what happened in Afghanistan not be repeated in Iraq. She noted that the Annual Report does not address the "fatal flaw" in Afghanistan's new constitution. With no guarantee of the individual right to religious freedom and a judicial system instructed to enforce Islamic principles and Islamic law, the new Afghan constitution does not fully protect individual Afghan citizens. There are also fewer protections for Afghans to debate the role and content of religion in law and society, to advocate the rights of women and members of religious minorities, and to question interpretations of Islamic precepts without fear of retribution. This could stifle voices that seek to debate and dissent from state imposed religious orthodoxies.

On the report as a whole, Bansal commented that while many individual country reports continue to be lengthy and revealing, the Commission remains concerned about a number of informational inaccuracies in several important reports. In addition, she added, "The Annual Report is meant to be a report on U.S. policies and activities to promote those policies, and not only a report on conditions. However, it is not apparent from the information presented in the Annual Report that the State Department has conducted its activities in a coordinated way to implement particular policies and to achieve specific goals."

Finally, Bansal discussed the Commission's work with regard to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which covers a vital region including all of Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada and the United States. The need to recognize and to combat growing anti-Semitism in the region, together with the need to promote religious freedom for the growing Muslim minority populations in OSCE countries, cannot be understated.

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.