FOR YOUR INFORMATION

July 6, 2015 | Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 5, 2015

Today, July 6, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, a modern-day exemplar of liberty, will turn 80.

It is fitting that in Philadelphia, where our great Declaration was signed, the National Constitution Center will bestow the Liberty Medal in October on this remarkable advocate for human rights, including religious freedom.

While much of the world will be showering the Tibetan Buddhist leader with accolades, one entity will be conspicuously silent: the government of China.

For more than a half century, China and the Dalai Lama have represented two opposite paths for humanity. While China is a serious human-rights violator, the Dalai Lama is the embodiment of a better way.

While China has long been engaged in a systematic effort to stamp out Tibetan culture and religion, one that has intensified with time, the Dalai Lama has taken steps to preserve Tibetan heritage while in exile in India, including building a library to further that aim.

While China has frequently warred against its own people, gunning down pro-democracy protesters in 1989 in Tiananmen Square, the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.

While China continues to persecute religious communities, from Christians to Uighur Muslims, Buddhists to Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama champions religious freedom and interfaith respect, and has met with leaders of other faiths across the globe.

It is no surprise, then, that China’s government has sought to silence or diminish him for so long.

A notorious example happened 20 years ago, on May 17, 1995. On that day, Beijing abducted a 6-year-old boy whom the Dalai Lama had designated three days earlier as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama — a key position in Tibetan Buddhism — replacing him with its own hand-picked choice.

Besides being a human-rights atrocity in itself, this action was a brazen attempt by the state to choose the leadership of a religious community. Beijing had no business being involved, let alone dictating the outcome.

Yet Beijing did get involved. And that’s what it continues to do with Tibetans, especially Buddhists.

Since 2008, it has ramped up repression of Buddhists across Tibet, through harassment, imprisonment, and torture — incidents that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, continues to document.

In March 2014, following his release from prison, Goshul Lobsang died from injuries sustained while incarcerated for his role in protesting local Chinese authorities in 2008. He had been subjected to extreme malnourishment and brutal torture, including regular pain-inducing injections and repeated stabbings.

Meanwhile, the horrors of self-immolation have continued. In recent years, at least 141 Tibetan Buddhists, including monks and nuns, have set themselves ablaze to protest China’s repression.

And in March of this year, Beijing continued its journey through the realm of the ridiculous, with the officially atheist regime accusing the Dalai Lama of blasphemy for suggesting reincarnation might cease with him.

Over the past year, China’s government has persecuted others as well. Officials have bulldozed churches, torn down crosses, and jailed pastors; they have detained and tortured Falun Gong members and inhibited many Uighur Muslims from observing Ramadan and practicing their faith year-round.

How should the United States respond in its dealings with China?

Our State Department can continue to designate China a “country of particular concern,” marking it as among the world’s worst religious freedom abusers.

Congress can keep spotlighting China’s prisoners of conscience through its Defending Freedoms Project — created in partnership with USCIRF, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and Amnesty International.

At every turn, we can tell China’s leaders by word and deed that respect comes not through wealth or power but by honoring, not bullying, people who heed the call of conscience over the dictates of the state.

That is the Dalai Lama’s message and the creed of our country as well.

Robert P. George is the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (www.ucirf.gov). [email protected]

Katrina Lantos Swett is a USCIRF commissioner. [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 19, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today commemorates World Refugee Day.  According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 60 million people are refugees or internally displaced, the highest number the agency has ever recorded.  Many of these people are fleeing religious persecution and intolerance.

“Heartbreaking numbers of people have been forced to flee their homes in a desperate attempt to find safe haven, with many trapped in squalid refugee camps and war zones, or risking their lives at sea,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George.  “Millions are victims of the twin evils of political tyranny and religious intolerance and persecution which have helped create the massive suffering we see today.”   

In Iraq, nearly three million people have been internally displaced due to ISIL’s offensive, with some minority religious communities facing the threat of extinction.  At least 6.5 million of Syria’s pre-civil war population now is internally displaced, and nearly four million more are refugees in neighboring states.  In Nigeria, more than one million people have fled Boko Haram, and in the Central African Republic, a million or more people have been driven from their homes due to sectarian violence; 80 percent of the country’s Muslims have fled the country.  In Burma, at least 100,000 Kachin Christians and 140,000 Rohingya Muslims remain internally displaced, with many living in squalid camps. One in ten Rohingya reportedly have fled by boat, desperately seeking, and often not finding, safe haven in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.  A record number of refugees also are attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to apply for asylum in Europe, with large numbers coming from Eritrea, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”

“The United States and other governments must respond effectively, humanely, and generously to this unprecedented challenge.  While Washington has played a leading role, the U.S. government must do more, including increasing the U.S. annual refugee resettlement ceiling from 70,000 to 100,000 or more, over time, and increasing funding and logistical support to the U.N., humanitarian organizations and refugee host nations and communities.  Such actions would signal to refugees, internally displaced people and our allies that we mean to continue to be part of the solution,” said George.

USCIRF also urges the U.S. government to provide the Department of Homeland Security and other relevant federal agencies the funding and staff to help conduct background checks and process applications in a timely manner.  Furthermore, the U.S. government should work with UNHCR to quickly identify the most vulnerable individuals and families among those who have been displaced and help speed their resettlement.

For more USCIRF recommendations, see USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2015

For Uighur Muslims in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang, observing Ramadan – a month-long period of introspection, fasting, prayer, and devotion – is difficult, if not impossible.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly urges the Chinese government to end all restrictions on Uighur Muslims’ religious practices and activities, including limitations on Ramadan observance, and honor their right to genuine freedom of religion or belief. 

“The Chinese government repeatedly has insisted that Uighur Muslims obey the state over the dictates of their own conscience,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.  “This insistence undermines the very foundation of religious freedom, a freedom enshrined in China’s constitution.  China cannot succeed among the global community of nations if it violates the fundamental rights of its own citizens.”  

Already in 2015, the Chinese government has required Muslim store owners in parts of Xinjiang to sell alcohol and cigarettes, in conflict with their religious beliefs and traditions.  Last year, longstanding bans on fasting during Ramadan for Uighur Muslim students, teachers, professors, and government employees were more stringently and widely enforced than in previous years, with some local officials reportedly holding banquets to test Muslims’ adherence to the prohibition.  Daily prayer and certain religious identity markers, such as the veil for women or beards for men, also have been banned in many areas.

Religious freedom and related human rights have deteriorated rapidly, especially in the Muslim majority autonomous region in recent years.  Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has used heavy-handed and indiscriminate measures against Uighur Muslims, resulting in a dramatic increase in arrests for offenses such as attending unregistered mosques or Islamic schools, fasting during Ramadan, or criticizing Chinese government policies.  In September 2014, professor and peaceful Uighur advocate Ilham Tohti was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for alleged “separatism.”  

“Each year, Beijing and regional authorities use the peaceful observance of Ramadan as an excuse to intensify its already strict control and repression of Uighur Muslims,” said George.  “The non-violent expression of religious belief must be protected, and the United States and international community should press China to respect freedom of religion or belief for all.”

In 2015, USCIRF again recommended China be designated as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act for its particularly severe violations of religious freedom.  The State Department has designated China as a CPC since 1999, most recently in July 2014.

For more information, see the China Chapter (in English and Chinese) in USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report.