FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for an on-the-record briefing on Uzbek policies toward religion and the current status of religious freedom in Uzbekistan. The briefing will feature two leading human rights experts on Uzbekistan: Vitaly Ponomarev, director of the Central Asian Program at the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center, and Alisher Ergashev, a well-known human rights lawyer who has just completed a report on Uzbekistan's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

WHO: Vitaly Ponomarev, a leading Russian human rights expert on Central Asia, is director of the Central Asian Program at the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow. Ponomarev has written several books and articles on Central Asia and has compiled the most comprehensive list of political and religious prisoners in Uzbekistan.

Alisher Ergashev, a well-known human rights lawyer and a member of the Legal Aid Society, has just completed a detailed alternative report on Uzbekistan's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which he will present to the UN Human Rights Committee on March 21.

WHEN: Thursday, March 17, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
800 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790
Washington, D.C. 20002

Please RVSP to Caroline Gobble at: [email protected] or (202) 523-3240, ext. 24.

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
March 8, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released on its Web site today a new survey, The Religion-State Relationship and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Constitutions of Predominantly Muslim Countries. The study, prepared by Commission staff, examines the text of Muslim constitutions from 44 nations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The study demonstrates that predominantly Muslim countries-including those where Islam is the religion of the state-encompass a variety of constitutional arrangements addressing the role of Islam, the scope of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, and equality of rights and freedoms, including for women.

"The Commission believes that this study - the first of its kind - will be helpful to citizens, legal experts, policymakers, and diplomats throughout the world searching for models of constitutional text within the Muslim world that relate to international human rights standards," said USCIRF Chair Preeta D. Bansal.

Several current developments in constitutional drafting are spurring renewed analysis of the existing constitutional landscape of the Muslim world. In 2004, Afghanistan adopted a new permanent constitution, and Iraq's Governing Council approved an interim constitutional document (the "Transitional Administrative Law" or TAL). Iraq's elected national assembly is expected to draft a permanent constitution in 2005. In Sudan, a new interim constitution is anticipated as a product of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The interlocking roles of religion and human rights will be key issues in Iraq and Sudan.

The Commission's study found:

• More than half of the world's Muslim population (estimated at over 1.3 billion) lives in countries that are neither Islamic republics nor countries that have declared Islam to be the state religion. Thus, the majority of the world's Muslim population currently lives in countries that either proclaim the state to be secular, or that make no pronouncements concerning Islam to be the official state religion.
• Countries in which Islam is the declared state religion may provide constitutional guarantees of the right to freedom of religion or belief that compare favorably with international legal standards.
• Similarly, countries with Islam as the declared state religion may maintain constitutional provisions protecting the related rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly-or the rights of equality and nondiscrimination with regard to, inter alia, religion and gender-which compare favorably with international standards.
• A number of constitutions of predominantly Muslim countries incorporate or otherwise reference international human rights instruments and legal norms.

"The Commission's study shows that positive models of constitutional text exist in the Muslim world," added Bansal. "This finding is crucial for demonstrating that freedom of religion or belief, as well as other international human rights norms, can coexist in the Muslim world, and should guide the people of Iraq and Sudan as these countries undertake the drafting of new constitutions."

Because constitutional text does not always translate into practice, the Commission invites policy and legal experts to further research the interpretation and application of these constitutional provisions and their practical impact in Muslim countries, especially with regard to the protection of internationally recognized human rights.

The study will be published in the summer 2005 volume of the Georgetown Journal of International Law.

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
February 28, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for an on-the-record briefing with one of Iraq's most prominent politicians, Mithal al-Alusi. Mr. al-Alusi, who hails from one of the prominent Sunni Arab families of Iraq, was appointed Director General of the Education and Media Section of Iraq's Higher National Commission for De-Ba'athification set up in March 2004. He has publicly sought to break the political taboo against normalization of relations between Iraq and Israel, and was expelled from the Iraqi National Congress for these activities.

Mr. al-Alusi established the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation as a secular, liberal, democratic party that sought to overcome sectarian politics and openly challenge countries such as Syria and Iran for interfering in Iraqi affairs. Mr. al-Alusi has been the target of several assassination attempts by groups affiliated with the Ba'athists and al Qaeda, and a few days after the elections in Iraq, his only two sons Ayman and Jamal, were killed a short distance from the al-Alusi resident.

Mr. al-Alusi will discuss the election results in Iraq and the forthcoming constitutional negotiations, especially as related to freedom of religion and Islam.

WHO: Mithal al-Alusi

WHEN: Tuesday, March 1, 2005, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

800 North Capitol St. NW, Suite #790

Washington, DC 20002

Please RSVP to Amy Amundson at [email protected] or (202) 523-3240 (202) 523-3240, ext. 38.

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.