FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has elected Michael Cromartie, Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, to serve as Chair for 2005-2006. The Commission also re-elected Felice D. Gaer and Nina Shea to serve as Vice Chairs. Mr. Cromartie will succeed Commissioner Preeta D. Bansal as Chair. The election follows the Commission's practice of alternating the post of Chair yearly between Democratic and Republican appointees. The Chair is chosen by the Commissioners themselves.

At the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Cromartie directs the Evangelicals in Civic Life program and the Media and Religion program. He is also a Senior Advisor to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington. The Ethics and Public Policy Center was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and domestic and foreign policy issues. He is the host of Radio America's weekly show "Faith and Life," an adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, an advisory editor at Christianity Today, on the Board of Directors of Mars Hill Audio, and was an advisor to the PBS documentary series "With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Christian Right in America." He is the editor of 14 books on religion and public policy, including, most recently, Religion, Culture, and International Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield). He holds an M.A. in Justice from The American University and a B.A. from Covenant College in Georgia.

Commissioner Felice D. Gaer is the Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. She is Vice Chair of the Committee Against Torture, an official United Nations treaty monitoring body that reviews governmental compliance with the Convention Against Torture, to which she was first elected in 1999. Gaer is also a Vice President of the International League for Human Rights and a member of the steering committee of Human Rights Watch/Europe and Central Asia. Ms. Gaer is the author of more than 30 articles on international human rights topics. In 1995, she was awarded the Alumnae Achievement Award from Wellesley College. Ms. Gaer was appointed as a public member of nine U.S. delegations to UN human rights negotiations between 1993 and 1999, including the UN Commission on Human Rights, the World Conference on Women, and the World Conference on Human Rights.

Commissioner Nina Shea is the Director of the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House in Washington, D.C. She has been an international human rights lawyer for 25 years and has for 19 years focused specifically on the issue of religious persecution. She is a co-author of a newly-released book on governance by extreme sharia,Radical Islam's Rules(Rowman & Littlefield) and the author of a widely acclaimed book on anti-Christian persecution around the world entitled In the Lion's Den (Broadman & Holman Publishers). In 2005, she edited a path-breaking report on publications by the government of Saudi Arabia promoting an ideology of hate in America. Ms. Shea has also written on religious freedom and other human rights issues for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Weekly Standard, National Review and other publications. She has been one of the activists at the forefront of a movement to make religious freedom abroad a U.S. foreign policy priority. It was a conference that Ms. Shea organized under Freedom House auspices in January 1996 that brought 100 top Christian leaders together for the first time to address the issue of worldwide anti-Christian persecution. This marked the beginning of an interfaith coalition she has played a key leadership role in that has turned into a nationwide movement to advance religious freedom worldwide. In a profile of her, Newsweek magazine credited her with "making Christian persecution Washington's hottest cause." In 2005 she was presented the John Leland Religious Liberty Award by former USCIRF Commissioner Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Other members of the Commission are Khaled Abou El Fadl, Preeta D. Bansal, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, Michael K. Young, and Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department, John V. Hanford III, ex-officio.

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
June 23, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will present its 2005 Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award to t he U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), its Expedited Removal Study experts, and their team of researchers on June 25. The Award was established in 1983 to recognize outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights and is being presented to the Commission in recognition of the Expedited Removal Study and USCIRF's efforts to promote the protection of asylum seekers who flee to the United States. The Award will be presented at the annual conference of the AILA in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In February the Commission released the findings of a Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal and recommendations for the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. Congress authorized the USCIRF to appoint experts to conduct a study examining how Expedited Removal is implemented and if the process is sufficiently protecting all legitimate asylum seekers. Congress asked for the study to examine whether asylum seekers subject to Expedited Removal are being detained under inappropriate conditions and whether they are being returned to countries where they might face persecution.

The study found that while DHS has established several sound procedures and practices for asylum seekers in Expedited Removal, there are also serious and systemic problems in the implementation of the process relating to the protections enacted by Congress. Some of these problems may result in the improper removal of refugees to countries where they may face persecution. In addition, asylum seekers are being detained in inappropriate conditions. Poor intra- and inter-agency coordination at and between the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice has hampered the resolution of these problems, and Expedited Removal has been expanded despite these flaws. This study provides recommendations to address these problems, and examines issues of concern to all asylum seekers in Expedited Removal, not just those fleeing religious persecution.

Founded in 1946, AILA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides its members with continuing legal education, information, professional services, and expertise through its 35 chapters and over 50 national committees. AILA is an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association and is represented in the ABA House of Delegates.

To access the Commission's Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, visit our web site at www.uscirf.gov .

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
June 22, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will hold a public, on-the-record  hearing  on Thursday, June 30 on "The United States and Pakistan: Navigating a Complex Relationship." The hearing is scheduled for 2:00pm - 4:00pm in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room 138.

The State Department continues to characterize Pakistan's human rights record as "poor." Yet, Pakistan is considered by the Administration to be a key ally in the war on terrorism and the country has received a substantial increase in U.S. assistance since 9/11. There is concern among some observers, however, that current U.S. policies have resulted in a muting of U.S. criticism of the Musharraf government's democracy and human rights practices, which may ultimately be undermining U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

Since 2002, the Commission has recommended that Pakistan be named a "country of particular concern," or CPC, for severe violations of religious freedom. To date the State Department has not designated Pakistan a CPC.

What: "The United States and Pakistan: Navigating a Complex Relationship"

When: Thursday, June 30, 2005, 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Where: Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room 138.

To examine the current state of U.S.-Pakistan relations, Commissioners will hear expert testimony from the following confirmed witnesses:

Christine Fair, Research and Studies Program, U.S. Institute of Peace

Husain Haqqani, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, Director and Professor, International Affairs Program, The George Washington University

Danielle Pletka, Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute

Witness testimony and a transcript of the hearing will be made available on the Commission's web site at  www.uscirf.gov  after the event.

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.