FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - Four years ago, President George W. Bush famously said that he looked into Russian President Vladimir Putin's eyes, saw his soul, and trusted him. Since then, however, Russia has seen a dramatic decline in freedom, democracy and human rights, along with a rise in authoritarian, and perhaps even chauvinistic, strains in the Russian government. Bush's remarks this week in Brussels suggest that during his meeting Thursday with Putin in Slovakia, Bush's eyes will now be wide open. In reexamining Putin's soul, President Bush should raise with the Russian leader the state of freedom of conscience, tolerance and religion in Russia. Recent extremist trends in Russia this past year threaten to radicalize or marginalize disfavored groups and to undermine security throughout the region.

Russia has accepted all international standards to respect freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, and related human rights. Yet last year, the Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in Moscow - the first time the activities of a nationally-recognized religious community were banned in post-Soviet Russia. The Russian authorities placed strict controls on the Dalai Lama's movements and public statements during his long-denied visit to Russia last year. Increasingly, members of minority religious groups, particularly evangelical Protestants, face slanderous media attacks and the destruction of their houses of worship. Observers also point to the very close relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Kremlin, resulting in a privileged position vis-à-vis other religious institutions in Russia.

Less publicized has been a rise in intolerance, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, all too often met with passivity, denial, or even encouragement by Russian state officials. Protecting the rights of Russia's Muslims - which demographers project will be 50 percent of Russia's population in twenty years - is not only a legal requirement, but it is the right thing to do and is vital to preventing their future radicalization. And yet there has been a spike in skin-head violence, primarily directed against Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and members of other minorities, migrants and those seen as "non-Russian." A prominent expert on extremism, Nikolai Girenko, was brutally murdered in St. Petersburg, judges have been threatened by extremist groups, and all too often these cases go unsolved. Last month, nineteen members of the Russian Duma published a virulently anti-Semitic letter calling for banning all Jewish organizations in Russia. Although the letter was later said to be officially withdrawn, its signers did not renounce the views expressed in the letter. A particularly alarming rise in anti-Islamic attitudes among the Russian people has led to the widespread violation of the legal, constitutional, and human rights of Russia's Muslim citizens. Russian leaders have tended to conflate terrorists, Chechens, and Muslims in ways that encourage discrimination and even violence.

Such views need to be reversed and these actions countered. Russian officials should publicly denounce ethnic and religious discrimination. They should press for prompt and proper investigation and prosecution of violent attacks. How a government treats its own citizens is a key indicator of its long-term stability and reliability as a partner in international relations.

As President Bush said, "For Russia to make progress as a European nation, the Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law...And the United States and all European countries should place democratic reform at the heart of their dialogue with Russia." Toward that end, the United States and other countries should strengthen their support for the important human rights monitoring and tolerance promotion activities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Russia, which will chair the Council of Europe (COE) next year, has ominously demanded that the 40-country organization end its human rights monitoring and reporting. Furthermore, Russia's consistent opposition to OSCE and COE involvement in efforts to monitor the situation in Chechnya has forced those organizations to scale back their important work in this crucial area. By adopting such a rejectionist stance towards global human rights standards, Russia is harkening back to Soviet-era practices. Russia should allow scrutiny of its policies on democratic reform and the protection of religious freedom and other human rights - as any other country would.

Chechnya was not raised in President Bush's Brussels speech. Long-standing calls for the Putin government to move decisively towards a negotiated political settlement to end this brutal and protracted conflict remain unheeded. The conflict has claimed thousands of victims, including civilians in Chechnya, Russian soldiers, and Russia's Muslim minorities, who are often automatically equated with terrorism and may be subjected to heinous treatment. The conflict has spawned acts of terrorism in various parts of Russia, such as the horrific massacre of schoolchildren in Beslan last September. One of the added consequences of this horrible situation is the way it has reinforced intolerance and violence directed against Russia's Muslim and Caucasus populations.

As President Bush observed in his inauguration speech and echoed in Brussels, "Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities." Russia should not be an exception to that eloquent invocation. President Bush should fashion specific policies that promote democracy and encourage tolerance and respect for human rights in Russia.

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.

Calls for Additional Action to End Rights Violations for all Religious Groups

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2005

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

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Khai's new instructions on Protestant religious organizations, but remains concerned that the Prime Minister's instructions only affect one segment of the Vietnamese population. Vietnam is in the midst of consultations with the U.S. over its designation as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for egregious abuses of religious freedom. The consultation period ends on March 15, 2005. If Vietnam does not respond to U.S. government concerns, the CPC designation carries statutory penalties.

The Prime Minister's new instructions would allow Protestant "house churches" in the Central Highlands and northwest provinces to operate if they renounce connections to groups that Hanoi has accused of organizing anti-government protests. The instructions also "outlaw" forced renunciation of faith efforts by government officials. The government's pronouncement came a week after prominent democracy, free speech, and religious freedom advocates, Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Dinh Huy, and Thich Thien Minh were released from prison in a Tet New Year amnesty.

"These are positive steps," said Commission Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "The new instructions are an attempt by the government of Vietnam to address some of the concerns that, for the first time last fall, placed Vietnam on the State Department's CPC list. But the instructions remain qualified and vague and open to interpretation by local government officials and public security forces. Many of last year's most serious religious freedom abuses could still have occurred under these guidelines. We need to wait and see what concrete actions accompany the new instructions."

In addition to the opening of churches and meeting points in the Central Highlands and northwest provinces closed since 2001, the Commission has recommended additional actions such as ending harassment and detention of United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) leaders and other religious figures and establishing a legal framework for the UBCV, the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and others to register with the government and operate independently with leaders of their own choosing. Other recommendations can be found in the Commission's annual report.

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 7, 2005

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

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will release the findings of a Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal and recommendations for the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice at an on-the-record press conference on Tuesday, February 8, from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m., in the First Amendment Room on the 13th floor of the National Press Club.

Expedited removal, authorized by the Congress in 1996 when it amended the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizes immigration officials summarily to return people arriving in the United States without proper documentation to their country of origin. To protect those with legitimate asylum claims from being turned away, Congress established certain safeguards.

In the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, 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.

"In legislating Expedited Removal, Congress sought to establish a system which protects both U.S. borders and asylum seekers. This major study is an outgrowth of that effort," said USCIRF Chair Preeta D. Bansal. "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."

The release of this study comes at a time when immigration has moved to the front of the political agenda. It is the first major study that had access to ports of entry, directly observed secondary inspection, and visited detention centers. It thus answers the questions posed by Congress on the basis of extensive data-gathering and analysis, and makes recommendations on ways to ensure that asylum seekers are treated appropriately. The report represents a unique opportunity to look inside the "black box" of expedited removal.

USCIRF Commissioners will be joined at the press conference by the following experts who were designated by the Commission to conduct the study:

Mark Hetfield, Esq., Immigration Counsel to USCIRF

Kate Jastram, Esq., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley

Dr. Allen Keller, M.D., NYU School of Medicine, Bellevue NYU Program for Survivors of Torture

Charles Kuck, Esq., Weathersby, Howard and Kuck, Atlanta, Georgia and Treasurer, American Immigration Lawyers Association

Craig Haney, Ph.D., detention expert, University of California at Santa Cruz

Fritz Scheuren, chief methodologist, Vice President, Statistics, NORC, University of Chicago, and President, American Statistical Association

WHAT:Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal press conference

WHERE:National Press Club

First Amendment Room, 13th Floor

529 14th Street NW

Washington, DC

WHEN:February 8, 2005, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

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.