FOR YOUR INFORMATION

January 14, 2013 | By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following appeared in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on January 14, 2013.

Former Soviet prisoner and refusenik Natan Sharansky, Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani are some of the many people across the globe who were unjustly imprisoned for their beliefs. Fortunately, these three men and women of conscience are now free. We applaud their lives and the work they have done to advance the cause of freedom and dignity for all.

Unfortunately, many people today are not free but languish in jail cells around the world. They are imprisoned because of who they are, what they believe, and how they have chosen to express their convictions. These prisoners are prevented from enjoying the most fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other international standards.

We must shine a light on these prisoners of conscience until they are free and the countries that keep them in bonds have released them and have implemented needed reforms.

To that end, as Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), I join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives and Amnesty International, USA in support of our joint Defending Freedoms Project. Through this project, members of Congress will select prisoners across the globe to support, highlight their causes, stand in solidarity with them, and let them and the world community know that they are not alone. In addition, by training a spotlight on the laws and policies that have led to their incarceration, members of Congress will be working both for their release and to hold offending governments accountable.

This new initiative will rely not on laws or customs that are specific to any one country, including our own, but on universal human rights benchmarks to which nearly every nation has assented. It will use the same internationally approved standards, freely agreed upon by most of the same countries which violate them in practice, to hold those states responsible for abusing the innocent.

Representatives Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va), who have taken the lead in this project, are longtime champions of human rights worldwide. My late father, Tom Lantos, was proud to call them colleagues and friends, and worked closely with them on Capitol Hill for many years.

Sadly, as we survey the global landscape, it is clear that there are walls of tyranny in far too many places, and compared to these barriers, our words and deeds might appear humble indeed. But as the late congressman Jack Kemp once said, "there is a kind of victory in good work, no matter how humble.” And in the words of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, "each time…[we]…strike out against injustice, [we] send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other….those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Let these memorable words stir our hearts, deepen our commitment, and strengthen our resolve as we open a new chapter in the cause of human rights and universal dignity.

Katrina Lantos Swett is the Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). This article is adapted from her December 6, 2012 speech on Capitol Hill at the announcement of the Defending Freedoms Project.

To intervew a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact Samantha Schnitzer at [email protected] or (202) 786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 11, 2013| By USCIRF

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom strongly condemns a series of terror attacks that took place on January 10 targeting Pakistani Shi'a Muslims. The United States must press the Pakistani government to do more to protect their minority Shi'a Muslim community.

"The murder of innocent civilians because of their religious beliefs is outrageous and tragic, and we extend our condolences to their families,” stated USCIRF Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett. "In response, the Pakistani government must take concrete and meaningful action to protect the minority Shi'a Muslim community. Over the past year, more than 400 Shi'a reportedly have been murdered. If the government doesn't crack down on militants openly targeting Shi'a Muslims, the body count will continue to rise and the religious life of the Shi'a community will further be threatened.”

The January 10 bombings killed 120 individuals across Pakistan, including 81 who died in twin bombings on a pool hall in a Shiite area of Quetta in Baluchistan province. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Other attacks have targeted religious processionals and pilgrims travelling to religious sites.

"The Pakistani government has not acted and the worsening climate has reached critical levels for all religious communities in Pakistan, Muslim and non-Muslim alike,” said Lantos Swett. In addition to the increasing number of targeted attacks on Shi'a Muslims, USCIRF is aware of 17 individuals who are on death row and 20 serving life sentences under Pakistan's blasphemy law. Furthermore, the murderers of Shahbaz Bhatti, the assassinated Federal Minister for Minority Affairs, remain at large and the investigation has ended. The Ahmadi community continues to suffer from violence, discrimination and abuse, and Hindus increasingly are among the victims of Pakistan's climate of intolerance.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner please contact Samantha Schnitzer at (202) 786-0613 or [email protected].

For Your Information

January 8, 2013 | By USCIRF

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released a policy brief, "Russia: Unruly State of Law.” This policy brief, which analyzes the state of religious freedom and related rights in Russia, reflects USCIRF's long-standing focus on that country and the findings from the Commission's latest visit in late September 2012.

From the policy brief:

Russia is now a police state. Russian civil society activist told USCIRF Chair, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett…The Kremlin has not just passed a set of bad new laws in 2012, it has changed the Russian political system.

Overall, religious freedom conditions in Russia continue to deteriorate. Chronic serious problems highlighted in previous USCIRF reports remain, including the application of the religion law and the use of the anti-extremism law against peaceful religious groups and individuals. USCIRF is concerned by the arsenal of new laws against civil society passed by the Putin administration in 2012.

The draft blasphemy bill before the Duma, if passed in the spring of 2013, would further curtail the freedoms of religion, belief and expression.

Russia's most severe human rights abuses occur in the North Caucasus, where violators operate with almost total impunity. Chechnya's Kremlin-appointed president, Ramzan Kadyrov, condones or oversees mass violations of human rights, including religious freedom.

Russia's leading human rights NGOs have said that they will not register as "foreign agents.”

To read the full policy brief, please go to: http://www.uscirf.gov/reports-and-briefs/policy-focus.html. To view USCIRF's "Did You know” that focuses this week on Russia go to: http://www.uscirf.gov/reports-briefs/spotlight/did-you-knowrussia.

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