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November 10, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two anniversaries this month highlight the importance of continually confronting and combatting anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it arises. 

This past Sunday, November 9^th, marked the 76th anniversary of the 1938 Night of Broken Glass, also known as Kristallnacht, an event many consider the start of the Holocaust.  On November 12-13, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will mark the 10^th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on anti-Semitism for which participating States and civil society representatives will gather in Berlin. The Declaration acknowledged that anti-Semitism has assumed new forms and poses a continued threat to security and stability in the OSCE region.  OSCE participating States pledged to foster an environment free of anti-Semitic harassment, violence or discrimination, and combat anti-Semitic and other hate crimes. 

High-level delegations at the Berlin meeting will assess what has been achieved during the past ten years and focus on addressing current challenges. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, and USCIRF Commissioner Hannah Rosenthal will attend the meeting as part of the U.S. delegation. 

“Kristallnacht and the OSCE meeting both serve to remind us that we must remain vigilant. The denial of freedom of religion or belief serves as a warning sign that malignant forces threaten civil society and freedom. The hatred that targets Jews knows no boundaries and relentlessly targets others, including Baha’is, Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Yazidis, and those somehow deemed to be different,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

“The fight against anti-Semitism is a struggle for the basic values and principles of liberty against the forces of tyranny in every form.  Anti-Semitism is prevalent in many of the countries USCIRF monitors.  Even in Western Europe, where some of America’s strongest allies reside, anti-Semitism is increasing, and some Jews question if they have a future there. It is vitally important that anti-Semitism is denounced whenever and wherever it occurs and that ‘never again’ will the forces of democracy and freedom turn their backs,” said USCIRF Commissioner Hannah Rosenthal.

USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report highlights anti-Semitism in several countries featured in the report, including Western Europe, Turkey (Turkish Translation), Russia (Russian Translation), Iran (Persian Translation) and Egypt (Arabic Translation).

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-285-6868 or 202-786-0613.

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November 6, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC – On the eve of President Obama’s November 12-14 trip to Burma, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released a new report, “Burma: Religious Freedom and Related Human Rights Violations are Hindering Broader Reforms.”  The report and its recommendations reflect a USCIRF Commissioner-level visit to Burma in August 2014 by Commissioners M. Zuhdi Jasser and Eric P. Schwartz and two USCIRF staff. 

USCIRF focused on four key issues in its mission: discrimination and horrible abuses against Rohingya Muslims; broader patterns of intolerance against Muslims driven by bigotry and chauvinism among religious and political figures that also impact all other minority religious communities in Burma; laws, policies and proposed legislation that entrench multiple forms of discrimination; and deprivation of citizenship to Rohingya Muslims and prejudicial practices in the issuance of identification documents to all Muslims. 

In the report, USCIRF urges the U.S. government to press Burma’s political leaders to permit humanitarian access to Rohingya Muslims who are displaced in Rakhine State and have been denied freedom of movement, and revise the Rakhine State Action Plan to ensure that Rohingya who have been in Burma for generations and know no other home will not be denied citizenship.  USCIRF also urges the U.S. government to press for the basic rights of all minority religious communities; encourage tolerance and reconciliation; and support international efforts to promote religious freedom and human rights, including a forthcoming UN resolution that will focus on human rights in Burma.  USCIRF also urges U.S. officials to use the term “Rohingya” in recognition of that community’s right to self-identify.  Additional recommendations can be found in the report. 

USCIRF’s visit to Burma underscores the appropriateness of Burma’s designation as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act.  For more than a decade, Burma has been designated by the State Department as a CPC due to systematic, egregious and ongoing religious freedom violations.  In its report, USCIRF recommends specific ways the U.S. government could take advantage of this CPC designation to encourage reform and respect for religious freedom and related human rights.

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

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October 30, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. -  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns the recent formal arrest of Wu Zeheng, also known as Buddhist Zen Master Shi Xingwu, and more than a dozen of his followers.  They were charged under the highly problematic Article 300 of the Criminal Law of China that makes it a crime for anyone to form or use “superstitious sects or secret societies or weird religious organizations…to undermine the implementation of the laws and administrative rules and regulations of the State.”   If convicted, each could serve from seven years to life in prison. In practical terms, a formal arrest in China almost invariably leads to a conviction.

Wu is a Chinese Buddhist leader with millions of followers in China, Taiwan, and around the world. He was taken into custody in July, after more than 100 armed Chinese policemen staged a coordinated raid on several businesses and living compounds which his group, Huazang Dharma, operated.  An estimated 50 people, including children, were detained in the raid. 

“The arrest of Wu Zeheng escalates the Chinese government’s campaign against organized religions,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF Chair.  “We urge the government to reverse course, release Wu Zeheng, and begin living up to its legal obligation to ensure that its citizens are guaranteed their fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief as provided by both Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution and international law.”

Wu’s indictment is part of the Chinese government’s broader nationwide crackdown on organized religion, which has accelerated with the expansion of religious observance in China. The government views vibrant faith communities as threatening its authority and ability to control its citizens.  Even adherents of China’s five officially sanctioned religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism — along with religions that the government has not sanctioned, have been targeted.   The government has persecuted, intimidated, and jailed religious leaders, especially those with significant followings like Wu, who also has been targeted for being an alleged “evil cult” leader.

The Chinese government long has vilified the Falun Gong and its practitioners, including Wang Zhiwen, who recently finished a 15-year prison sentence during which time he was tortured, followed by detention in a “brainwashing center.” Despite his release from prison, Wang now will be stripped of all political rights for four years. Other Falun Gong prisoners, Li Chang, Yu Changxin, and Ji Liewu, remain imprisoned.  China’s Christian leaders also have been targeted, with many Christian prisoners of conscience detained, including Ms. Yang Rongli and her husband, leaders of a 50,000 member house church in Shaanxi province; Alimujiang Yimiti, a Uighur Christian; and Zhang Shaojie, a pastor in Henan province.  

The Chinese government also actively represses the religious practices of Uighur Muslims, especially in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, and has imprisoned Uighur prisoners of conscience including Ilham Tohti who received a life sentence in September 2014 for “separatism.”  Religious freedom conditions in Tibetan areas remain acute, given the Chinese government’s efforts to control Tibetan’s religious practice and culture and its detention of senior monks and other leaders including Tenzin Delek and Lobsang Tsering.  

In its 2014 Annual Report, USCIRF stated that “The Chinese government continues to perpetrate particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” and again recommended that China be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).  USCIRF has recommended CPC status for China since the Commission first made recommendations in 2000.  The State Department has designated China as a CPC since 1999.   For more information on religious freedom conditions in China see the 2014 Annual Report.

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