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The National Interest -- Where Your Religion Can Still Send You to Jail
December 10, 2015
Dec 10, 2015 FOR YOUR INFORMATIONDecember 10, 2015 | Mary Ann Glendon and Katrina Lantos Swett The following op-ed appeared in The National Interest on December 10, 2015 December 10 marks Human Rights Day, the sixty-seventh anniversary of the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Unfortunately fundamental rights, including religious freedom, are still being violated worldwide. Among the worst abusers are non-state actors like ISIL and other violent religious extremist groups. In Syria and Iraq, ISIL has persecuted Shia and Sunni Muslims alike, while reserving some of its worst depredations for Yazidis and Christians. From summary executions to forced conversions, rape to sexual enslavement, abducted children to destroyed houses of worship, attacks on these communities—among the oldest in the Middle East—are part of a systematic effort to erase their presence. State actors from China to Iran to Uzbekistan continue their own assault on freedom: witness the persistent presence and gross mistreatment of prisoners of conscience. In order to spotlight the plight of these prisoners, as well as the repressive laws and policies of the governments holding them, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives in conjunction with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, and Amnesty International USA, created the Defending Freedoms Project. Through this project, members of Congress select prisoners in order to call culpable governments to account and ultimately help free these prisoners. Among these governments are those USCIRF has recommended to the State Department for designation as “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs, marking them as some of the world’s worst religious freedom abusers. China, for example, imposed the draconian sentence of life imprisonment on Ilham Tohti in September 2014 for “separatism,” due to his peaceful activism on behalf of his fellow Uighur Muslims, whom the government persecutes relentlessly. Tohti was an economics professor in Beijing, where he was known for his research on Uighur-Han relations as well as his activism for the implementation of regional autonomy in Xinjiang. Eritrea has been holding Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios since 2007 at an undisclosed location, preventing him from communicating with the outside world while reportedly denying him medical care. In 2006, Eritrea’s government had deposed him from his position as head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church and placed him under house arrest, ironically after he protested meddling in his church’s affairs. Among the accusations against the patriarch were his reluctance to excommunicate 3,000 members of an Orthodox Sunday School movement and his demands that the regime release imprisoned human rights activists accused of treason. Uzbekistan holds up to 12,000 prisoners, mostly for the independent practice of Islam. In April 2010 it sentenced two sisters, Mehriniso and Zulkhumor Hamdamova, to prison terms of seven and six-and-half years, respectively, and their relative Shahlo Rakhmonova to a six-and-a-half-year term, for conducting private Muslim religious instruction of girls. Mehriniso was sentenced despite being a teacher for a government-approved women’s religion course, and is being held in deplorable conditions while battling cancer. China, Eritrea and Uzbekistan exemplify nations in which secular authoritarian tyrannies refuse to accept the independence of religious communities, resulting in serious religious freedom violations against members of groups ranging from Catholics and Evangelicals, to Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses, to Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong. Other nations, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, have religiously authoritarian governments which enthrone a single religious group or interpretation while persecuting dissenting religious communities or individuals. Iran sentenced Pastor Saeed Abedini in January 2012 to an eight-year prison term for participating in Iran’s house church movement. And for more than seven-and-a-half years, seven leaders of Iran’s Baha’i community have been imprisoned: Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm, Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet. In Saudi Arabia, Raif Badawi, founder and editor of the Free Saudi Liberals Web site, was sentenced in 2013 to 600 lashes and seven years in prison, and ordered to shut down his site. After appealing his conviction for blasphemy and other charges, he was given a new sentence in 2014 of ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes. Badawi’s lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair—a human rights activist and the head of the group “Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia”—was given a fifteen-year sentence. Unfortunately, tyrannies aren’t the only governments which perpetrate or tolerate severe religious freedom abuses. Pakistan, an electoral democracy, has more people on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy than any other nation. Among them is Aasia Bibi, a Catholic mother sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy. In October 2014, her appeal was dismissed and her death sentence upheld. This summer, Pakistan’s Supreme Court accepted her appeal and suspended her death sentence. No hearing date has been set. As we commemorate Human Rights Day, it is time for the world community to rededicate itself to religious freedom and other rights, hold abusers accountable and demand the release of these and other prisoners of conscience. Mary Ann Glendon and Katrina Lantos Swett are Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or 202-786-0615.
The Philadelphia Inquirer -- Threats to religious freedom
September 28, 2015
Sep 28, 2015 FOR YOUR INFORMATION September 28, 2015 | Daniel I. Mark and Katrina Lantos Swett The following op-ed appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on September 27, 2015 Washington hosted two dramatically different dignitaries last week - Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both had meetings with President Obama, and the pope became the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress. These two leaders are on exactly opposite paths: Pope Francis is a stalwart champion of human rights and witness for religious freedom while President Xi heads a regime that is one of the world's most notorious violators of human rights, including religious freedom. Pope Francis embodies religious freedom's universal message and promise, as cited in Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." In contrast, President Xi symbolizes a world in which more than 75 percent of people live in countries that perpetrate or tolerate serious violations of this liberty. Despite this global crisis for religious freedom, people who cherish this right are found across the globe. Now, people around the world must speak for the persecuted with one powerful, united voice. Last weekend in New York, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) took its latest step in promoting that aim, bringing together like-minded people from nearly 50 countries for an unprecedented meeting. Cosponsored by the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPP), the gathering included more than 100 parliamentarians as well as diplomats and civil society and religious leaders. They met next to the United Nations, where the General Assembly is now in its 70th annual session. Since its launch last November, the IPP has focused on threats to religious freedom from both governments and nonstate actors. Some governments, including China's and North Korea's, are secular tyrannies that suppress religious groups across the board. Other countries, such as Iran and Sudan, elevate a single religion or religious interpretation while persecuting those who embrace alternatives. These state actors abuse religious freedom in many ways, including by imprisoning people due to their beliefs and actions. In China, for example, Ilham Tohti, a respected Uighur Muslim scholar, is serving a life sentence for alleged "separatism." Iran holds hundreds of religious prisoners, from Baha'is to Christians, from Sufis and Sunnis to Shiite reformers and clerics. At least one electoral democracy is also a major abuser of religious freedom. Pakistan, which a USCIRF delegation visited for the first time in March, has more people on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy than any other country. Pakistan's blasphemy law not only violates freedom of religion but also emboldens nonstate actors, including extremist religious groups, to assault and murder perceived transgressors. In addition, over the last year, nonstate religious actors have fueled some of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. In both Iraq and Syria, ISIS and other violent religious groups have kidnapped and enslaved Yazidi and Christian women and girls, beheaded or crucified men and boys, driven families from their homes, and uprooted 2,000-year-old faith communities that are now threatened with extinction. In Nigeria, Boko Haram has perpetrated mass killings at churches and mass kidnappings of children. In Burma, Buddhist extremists have assaulted Rohingya Muslims. In the Central African Republic, fighting between Christians and Muslims has destroyed nearly all the country's mosques. And these conflicts have forced millions of people to flee for their lives. The IPP has written over the last nine months to the heads of state of Myanmar, Pakistan, and Indonesia, to the Sudanese foreign minister, and to the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations. Citing international pressure, Pakistan's government introduced reforms to its blasphemy law; Sudan released two jailed Christian pastors; and the North Koreans invited Brazilian members of IPP to Pyongyang to discuss religious freedom concerns. Last weekend, the IPP's 100 parliamentarians signed the New York Resolution on Freedom of Religion or Belief. We applaud them for standing for Pope Francis' way of freedom, not President Xi's path of repression. To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or at 202-786-0615.  
The Providence Journal -- Thanksgiving and Hanukkah spell re-dedication to religious freedom
December 03, 2013
Dec 3, 2013 FOR YOUR INFORMATIONDecember 2, 2013 | By Robert P. George The following op-ed appeared in the Providence Journal on November 30, 2013. Washington - As the nation celebrates Thanksgiving, Jewish Americans are also commemorating Hanukkah, the eight-day Feast of Dedication. Interestingly, this year these holidays overlap. Much more importantly, however, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah share a common theme: religious freedom. Thanksgiving reminds us of the Pilgrims' arduous and risky journey to the New World to practice their religion in accordance with their consciences. Hanukkah celebrates ancient Israel's Maccabees who, by defeating the foreign despot Antiochus, gained the freedom to practice their religion as they rededicated their Temple. Yet another commemoration harkens to this freedom. On Monday, Hanukkah's fifth full day, America will mark the 250th anniversary of the dedication of its oldest temple, Touro Synagogue, in Newport. Decades later, in 1790, George Washington addressed to its congregants his historic letter on freedom of conscience. Writing that all Americans, Jews no less than Christians, "possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship,” Washington reaffirmed that the U.S. government "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” True to Washington's words and the spirit of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, America has been a refuge throughout its history for people fleeing religious persecution. Unfortunately, such persecution continues today across the world. Religious-freedom abuses affect an alarming range of people: Rohingya Muslims in Burma; Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Protestant house church members, Falun Gong and others in China; Coptic Christians in Egypt and other Christians elsewhere in the Middle East; Baha'is and Jews in Iran; Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus in Pakistan; and Muslims of minority sects in Muslim-majority nations such as Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan and non-Muslim nations such as Russia. Indeed, according to a Pew study, 75 percent of the world's people live in countries which perpetrate or tolerate serious violations, ranging from restrictions on worship to the commission of torture and murder. In 1998, in response to such violations, Congress passed, and President Clinton signed into law, the International Religious Freedom Act. The law created a new international religious freedom office in the State Department, headed by an ambassador-at-large. The law also created the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. USCIRF was founded as an independent, bipartisan federal body to monitor freedom of religion abroad and make policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress. One of USCIRF"s key responsibilities is to recommend to the State Department nations that should be designated as "countries of particular concern,” marking them as the world's worst religious-freedom abusers, as well as actions that should be taken given this designation. This year, USCIRF recommended that eight nations be re-designated: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. We found that seven other states deserved the same status: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. In our work, we are aided by the fact that this fundamental right is not only a foundational part of America's heritage, but is enshrined in international law and covenants, including Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims the following: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” As USCIRF's chairman, I am committed, along with my colleagues and commission staff, to do all I can to make religious freedom a central issue in the foreign policy of our nation - one that cannot be pushed aside or ignored. It is my hope that during this holiday season, we will gain a renewed appreciation for this bedrock freedom and the importance of proclaiming it to the world. Robert P. George is Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at 202-786-0613 or media@uscirf.gov.
The Hill -- Congress can defend freedoms abroad
January 28, 2014
Jan 28, 2014 FOR YOUR INFORMATION January 27, 2014 | By  Robert P. George    The following op-ed appeared in  The Hill  on January 27, 2014. I testified before the Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC)’s hearing on the Defending Freedoms Project on January 16.  The TLHRC, co-chaired by Reps. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), launched this initiative to spotlight the dire plight of prisoners of conscience abroad.  The Hill highlighted the project in a January 18 article,  Lawmakers ‘adopt’ prisoners in human rights push . Through the project, members of Congress select individual prisoners to draw attention to their cases and the repressive laws and policies of the governments holding them in order to call these governments to account and ultimately help set these prisoners free. While quiet diplomacy has a key role to play, public inattention can lead to more persecution, not more freedom and, at its worst, private diplomacy can be viewed as a license to oppress. These prisoners of conscience have been unjustly barred from enjoying the most basic human rights enshrined in the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international instruments and standards. Among these precious rights is freedom of religion or belief.  As it often is the first right taken away, religious freedom serves as the proverbial canary in the coal mine, warning us that denial of other liberties almost surely will follow. The United States signaled its intent to strengthen its championing of religious freedom overseas by enacting the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which created USCIRF as well as an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom within the Department of State, and the “country-of-particular-concern” status for the world’s worst abusers of this fundamental liberty. IRFA also mandated that the State Department compile a list of prisoners.  While the Department has advocated for individual prisoners, we are unaware that it ever created a comprehensive prisoner list.  We urge the Department to do so now. The hearing highlighted several prisoners included on an ever-changing list the project has compiled: Nabeel Rajab, whom McGovern has adopted, remains jailed along with fellow prisoners of conscience by the Bahraini government, which responded in 2011 to citizen protests against abuses, including those against the Shi’a Muslim community, with a crackdown leading to a human rights crisis. Gao Zhisheng, whom Wolf has adopted, is a lawyer whom the government of China has disbarred, tortured, and imprisoned for his defense of activists and religious minorities.   China commits widespread human rights violations, detaining hundreds of thousands without charges or trials.  Religious freedom conditions for Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims remain especially poor. Pastor Saeed Abedini, whom Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Raul Labrador (R-Ida.) have adopted, is a U.S. citizen who has been serving an eight-year prison sentence since January 2012 for participating in Iran’s house church movement.  Iran arbitrarily and unlawfully arrests, imprisons, tortures and kills those who it deems a threat to its reigning theology. Aasia Bibi, whom Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) has adopted, is one of 40 individuals the Pakistani government has jailed for blasphemy.  Along with perpetrating and tolerating severe violations of freedom of religion or belief, the government enforces notorious blasphemy laws and other religiously discriminatory legislation, such as anti-Ahmadi laws, which have created an atmosphere of violent extremism and vigilantism, including extrajudicial and targeted killings and forced disappearances. Sultan Hamid Marzooq al-Enezi and Saud Falih Awad al-Enezi have been imprisoned since May 2012 by the government of Saudi Arabia for the capital crime of apostasy for joining the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.  The Kingdom continues to ban nearly all public religious expression other than that of the government’s own interpretation of Sunni Islam, bans all non-Muslim places of public worship, sporadically detains Shi’a Muslims, and prosecutes, convicts, and imprisons individuals charged with apostasy, blasphemy, and sorcery. Do Thi Minh Hanh, whom Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has adopted, is an imprisoned Vietnamese labor activist who is serving a seven-year sentence for organizing workers at a shoe factory.  Father Ly, whom Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has adopted, has spent more than 15 years in prison in Vietnam for advocating democracy and human rights including religious freedom.  The government of Vietnam commits significant human rights violations including severely limiting the freedoms of speech, press, and association, arbitrarily arresting and detaining people and mistreating them during arrest and detention, and denying them the right to a fair and expeditious trial. There are countless other prisoners of conscience, named and unnamed, languishing in jail cells in these and other nations.  Given the upcoming Sochi Olympic Games, we would be remiss by not mentioning Russia.  While Moscow recently released some prisoners of conscience, it did so only because President Putin, not an independent judiciary, so decreed, thereby signaling not a change in Russia’s human rights policies, which have deteriorated dramatically under Putin, but a quest for positive publicity prior to the games. Unfortunately, the world has no shortage of prisoners of conscience.  We at USCIRF commend those members of Congress who have adopted prisoners, and urge others to join this campaign. George is chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at 202-786-0613 or media@uscirf.gov .  
The Hill -- U.S must stop mistreating asylum seekers fleeing persecution
August 25, 2016
Aug 25, 2016 FOR YOUR INFORMATION August 25, 2016 | Kristina Arriaga and Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. The following op/ed appeared in The Hill on August 25, 2016.   Many men, women, and children each year come to our borders seeking asylum.  While many officials work faithfully under difficult conditions to protect our borders, asylum seekers all too often encounter skeptical, improperly trained, and poorly supervised officials who turn them away without proper screening. The obvious risk is that the United States is sending back to their countries of origin victims of persecution and torture, with possible tragic consequences. And those temporarily admitted to pursue asylum cases are detained, often for many months, in prison-like facilities in isolated areas, far from legal counsel. These conditions are unacceptable. While the U.S. government must protect our nation’s borders and enhance our security, it also has a duty to properly screen and treat with dignity those who are exercising their right to seek safe haven in the United States. Failing to protect such people will not make us safer, but will violate our country’s fundamental character and bedrock values.  Earlier this month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan Commission on which we serve, issued a report, Barriers to Protection: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal. This report confirmed such problems in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which includes Border Patrol (BP); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Major problems were found in implementing Expedited Removal, a process by which non-citizens arriving without documents or with fraudulent ones can be returned summarily to their countries of origin without an immigration court hearing.  The system includes safeguards because bona fide refugees often do not have documents or must use fraudulent ones to flee. The Expedited Removal law thus mandates ways to identify and allow refugees to seek asylum in immigration court once they establish a credible fear of persecution or torture. This mandate has been violated repeatedly, as seen in ICE-run facilities in which asylum-seeking women and children are detained under conditions that courts have found do not comply with the U.S. government’s own standards for child detention as defined in a 1997 legal settlement, the Flores Agreement. Children in these settings have experienced anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and developmental regressions. The conditions of the facilities housing adult asylum seekers also are concerning, with jail-like settings possibly triggering memories of past mistreatment, increasing the risk of re-traumatization or causing asylum seekers prematurely to terminate their asylum claims. In addition, CBP’s initial processing interviews are riddled with problems, including lack of privacy, questionable interpretation practices, and failures to ask required questions, correctly record answers, or allow interviewees to review and correct errors.  For example, investigators were told of a four-year-old whose file indicated he said he came to the United States to work, and met an El Salvadoran and a Nepali asylum seeker who each reported that, despite expressing a fear of return, the CBP officer recorded only identifying information.  A Bangladeshi reported that he was turned away by the first U.S. officer he encountered at the border when he said he was seeking asylum. The officer told him to try Mexico. There also remain problems with quality assurance and CBP’s implementation instructions to BP agents. Especially disturbing is CBP officers’ openly-expressed skepticism about asylum seekers’ claims.  For example, a supervisor doubted Chinese Christian asylum seekers’ credibility because they could not name the church they attended.  In fact, many worship in homes, not churches. Clearly, the situation is troubling, but there are solutions that DHS can and should implement immediately to get its house in order. These measures are not glamorous but are vitally necessary, and range from reforming CBP’s training and interviewing practices and ICE’s housing of asylum seekers, to appointing a high-ranking official to coordinate refugee and asylum issues among the agencies involved in Expedited Removal and oversee reforms. One hundred thirty years ago, a young Jewish woman penned a sonnet which is engraved on our Statue of Liberty, the “Mother of Exiles,” and which famously reads: “Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free./The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.”  While our great nation faces different challenges today, our character as Americans has not changed and should not change.  How we treat those who come to our borders seeking freedom and safety says much about the kind of nation we are and will be.    ​ *Kristina Arriaga is a Commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. is USCIRF’s Chair.
Washington Post On Faith -- Honor U.S. values and interests: Back religious freedom abroad
May 14, 2013
May 14, 2013 FOR YOUR INFORMATIONMay 14, 2013 | By Katrina Lantos Swett The following was published in the Washington Post, On Faith on May 14, 2013. Fifteen years ago, on May 14, 1998, U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a landmark effort to promote a pivotal human right abroad. In October of that year, the Senate also acted and President Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act, or IRFA, into law. Among other provisions, IRFA created the Office of International Religious Freedom in the State Department and the independent, bipartisan Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), of which I am chair. As part of our mandate, USCIRF issues an annual report on the global state of religious freedom. On April 30, we issued our 2013 report. How is this freedom faring today? As our report confirms, it is imperiled daily. Violations range from restrictions on building houses of worship to more severe abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, and even murder. For humanitarian reasons alone, we should care. But in our ever-uncertain post-9/11 world, we have further cause for concern. As our report shows, one of today"s most powerful drivers of these outrages are the forces of violent religious extremism. These forces hijack religion and undermine countries of critical importance to the United States. Extremists destroy others" freedom, fueling destabilization and despair. Unfortunately, the governments of some countries promote or embody these forces. By their action or inaction, other governments respond to extremist threats in deeply flawed and counterproductive ways. Some insist on enforcing religiously radical and abusive measures of their own, while others permit such abuses to occur with impunity. Still other governments seek to combat extremism with repressive measures that risk producing more of the very problem they seek to diminish. This dangerous and self-defeating dynamic threatens others" religious freedom and America"s own security. The cover of the 2013 USCIRF Annual Report, which shows a Burmese mosque burn to the ground, highlights how this threat of violent extremism touches numerous countries and cultures. Iran is a blatant example of a violent theocracy which persecutes those contradicting its own interpretation of Shi"i Islam - from Baha"i, Christian, and Sunni Muslim minorities to dissenters within its Shi"i majority. Pakistan and Egypt are countries whose governments enforce religious measures that unintentionally spur extremists to assault perceived transgressors. In Pakistan, blasphemy-like laws fuel the violence of terrorist groups against Christians and Ahmadis, and sectarian hatred motivates unprecedented attacks against Shi"i Muslims. In Egypt, prosecution of Coptic Christians and dissenting Muslims for "contempt” of religion can and does encourage violence against them. Unfortunately, problematic provisions in Egypt"s new constitution support these laws. Nigeria"s government provides an example of how toleration of extremism ensures further abuses. Nigeria has failed to protect its people from Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group, or to prosecute both Muslims and Christians guilty of religiously-related violence that has killed more than 14,000 citizens over the past decade. Finally, China and Russia are nations whose leaders use the threat of extremism to repress entire religious communities, risking the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Witness China"s relentless persecution of Uighur Muslims and especially Russia"s oppression of Chechens and other Muslims. Why should Americans care about others" freedom? While religious freedom is our first freedom, enshrined in our First Amendment and conceived as a right to which everyone is entitled, it also is recognized by international law and treaty, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover, religious freedom is connected unmistakably to a country"s well-being. Research finds that it is associated with vibrant political democracy, rising economic and social progress, diminished violence, and greater stability. Nations that disrespect this freedom are incubators for poverty and instability, war and terror, and violent radical movements and activities. This last point is crucial. As the 9/11 attacks and subsequent atrocities tragically have shown, we cannot count on the containment of violent religious extremism within countries or regions. The best way for nations to counter the extremism of some is not through the repression of all, nor by appeasement or neglect of the extremists, but by freedom. The United States should champion a free and vibrant marketplace of ideas, including religious ideas, and support the rule of law which makes freedom possible. Our report highlights many avenues to promote this indispensable liberty. Freedom is where our values and interests, our idealism and realism, meet. As Americans, we can and should honor both by supporting religious freedom for all. Katrina Lantos Swett serves as Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). To interview a USCIRF Commissioner please contact USCRIFat (202) 523-3258 or media@uscirf.gov
Remarks by USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, 2013 Annual Report, National Endowment for Democracy
August 24, 2020
May 7, 2013 USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett gave the following remarks at a conference, cosponsored by USCIRF and the National Endowment for Democracy on May 7, 2013 Introduction Thank you for that kind introduction. It truly is a pleasure to join you today at the National Endowment for Democracy as we discuss USCIRF's findings and recommendations in our 2013 Annual Report, which we released just last week. For most of us who currently serve as USCIRF commissioners, the reporting year actually was our first year on the Commission.   It also coincided with my time as USCIR Chair, which is about to end since it is a one-year position.   While I no longer will be USCIRF's Chair, I look forward to continuing as a USCIRF Commissioner.    The past year has been both a joy and a challenge, as my esteemed colleagues and I have labored together with our able staff in confronting the realities of a changing global landscape and its implications for freedom.  In recent years, our staff has had the pleasure of working with NED's World Movement of Democracy to help build vibrant, open, and law- abiding societies.   Today's event is further evidence of the blossoming relationship between our two organizations. And let me commend your organization for doing a splendid job supporting freedom for the past three decades.  During this time, we have all seen wondrous changes that have touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people.  When the Berlin Wall came down, when the Iron Curtain was rent, when the Soviet Union dissolved, we witnessed a historic triumph of freedom. But since that amazing time, the fight for liberty has become a bit more challenging.  This is especially the case regarding freedom of religion or belief. Indeed, most of the world's people live in countries where religious freedom is protected poorly -- if at all.  And as we see in our annual report, the state of religious freedom abroad has not improved over the past year, but remains problematic. Today, I'm going to talk about the findings in our report. I will also talk about the role of violent religious extremism in perpetrating and triggering much of the religious freedom abuses we see today. And I will discuss solutions - concrete recommendations on how our country can help others to counter extremism by expanding freedom.   Tier 1 and Tier 2 Countries As part of our report, we recommend that the State Department re-designate the following eight nations as "countries of particular concern” or CPCs, marking them as among the worst religious freedom violators:
  1. Burma
  2. China
  3. Eritrea
  4. Iran
  5. North Korea
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Sudan
  8. Uzbekistan 
We find that seven other states also meet the CPC threshold and should be designated:  
  1. Egypt
  2. Iraq
  3. Nigeria
  4. Pakistan
  5. Tajikistan
  6. Turkmenistan
  7. Vietnam
This year, we've placed eight countries on our Tier 2 List, which replaces our Watch List designation:
  1. Afghanistan
  2. Azerbaijan
  3. Cuba
  4. India
  5. Indonesia
  6. Kazakhstan
  7. Laos
  8. Russia 
We found that the abuses are serious enough to meet at least one of three criteria, but not all, of the "systematic, ongoing, and egregious” CPC benchmark language as specified by the IRFA Act of 1998.  These abuses are affecting billions of our fellow human beings. From Rohingya Muslims in Burma to Coptic Christians in Egypt; from Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Protestant house church members and Falun Gong in China to Baha'is in Iran; from Ahmadis and Christians in Pakistan to Muslims in Muslim-majority nations like Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan and in non-Muslim nations like Russia, when the right of religious freedom is violated, real people suffer. And this suffering is occurring in far too many countries. In Burma, despite political reforms, sectarian violence and severe abuses against ethnic minority Christians and Muslims continue with impunity. In Egypt, despite some progress after Mubarak, the government has repeatedly failed to protect religious minorities, including Coptic Christians, from violence, while prosecuting and jailing people for "defamation” of religion.   In addition, Egypt's new constitution includes problematic provisions relating to religious freedom. In China, conditions continue to deteriorate, particularly for Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims.  To stem the growth of independent Catholic and Protestant groups, the government arrested leaders and shut churches down.  Members of Falun Gong, as well as those of other groups deemed "evil cults,” face long jail terms, forced renunciations of faith, and torture in detention.     In Nigeria, protection of religious freedom continued to falter, as the terrorist group Boko Haram attacked Christians, as well as fellow Muslims opposing them, and inflamed tensions between Christians and Muslims.  Nigeria's government has repeatedly failed to prosecute perpetrators of religiously-related violence that has killed more than 14,000 Nigerians, both Christian and Muslim, fostering a climate of impunity. In Pakistan, as historic elections approach, religious freedom abuses have risen dramatically due to chronic sectarian violence targeting Shi'i Muslims.  The government's continued failure to protect Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus, along with its repressive blasphemy law and anti-Ahmadi laws, have fueled religious freedom abuses and vigilante violence. In Russia, conditions continue to worsen, as the government uses extremism laws against certain Muslim groups and so-called "non-traditional” religious communities, particularly Jehovah's Witnesses, through raids, detentions, and imprisonment. In addition, massive violations continue in Chechnya.  Outside of Russia, similar repression occurs across Central Asia as well. In Indonesia, extremist violence coupled by government arrests of individuals considered religiously deviant threatens its tradition of tolerance and pluralism. Spotlighting Other Countries and Themes Besides documenting abuses and formulating recommendations for Tier 1 and Tier 2 countries, our Annual Report also spotlights countries and regions in which current trends are worth monitoring - Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Ethiopia, Turkey, Venezuela and Western Europe. And this year's report also addresses several themes relating to religious freedom.   These themes range from legal retreat from religious freedom in post-communist countries to severe religious freedom violations by non-state actors. And let me add that recently, USCIRF released a separate report on religious freedom conditions in Syria, including how our government can help Christian and Alawite minorities, as well as members of the Sunni majority. Violent Religious Extremism and Governmental Failur Among the themes I've just cited, the role of non-state actors leads us to the phenomenon known as violent religious extremism, in which religion is hijacked to advance radical agendas by force. This extremism not only violates the rights of others, but contributes to the destabilizing of countries.   Since our USCIRF mandate includes encouraging Washington to hold other governments accountable for religious freedom abuses, the Commission looks at religious extremism from the lens of government actions or inactions. When it comes to such extremism, we focus on how governments either perpetrate or tolerate religious freedom abuses. Governments perpetrate these abuses in at least three ways.  First, some governments actually embody the extremism itself.   Both the Iranian and Sudanese governments, for example, are run by religious extremists who violently impose their worldview on others.  As for Iran, it remains a world-class religious-freedom violator.  As for Sudan, USCIRF deemed it the world's most violent religious-freedom abuser due to its conduct during the North-South civil war of 1983-2005 when it called for jihad against the south.  Since South Sudan became independent, conditions in Sudan have deteriorated, as its leaders continue to repress their people.  While Iran and Sudan repress freedom on behalf of extremism, other governments engage in repression in the name of opposing it.  Both China and Russia, for example, repress Muslims in the name of fighting extremism in Muslim communities. And finally, by their actions, other governments embolden extremists to commit abuses.   One example is Pakistan with its anti-Ahmadi and blasphemy laws which encourage extremists to commit violence against those they perceive as transgressing them.   These are examples of how governments can harm religious freedom in connection with their stance on extremism.   But it is also true that governments are responsible for extremist-driven violations through their toleration of them -- that is, by their failure to prevent violence or bring justice to the responsible parties.   Such failures create and perpetuate a climate of impunity.  Egypt's failure to protect Coptic Christians and Nigeria's failure to protect both Christians and Muslims from sectarian violence are two examples of this problem. Religious Freedom = Antidote to Religious Extremism Thus, through sins of commission and omission, governments are responsible for religious freedom abuses within their borders, including those driven by violent religious extremism.    Such abuses are harmful not only to human rights, but also to the stability of their societies and other countries.  Indeed, studies show how countries that honor religious freedom enjoy greater stability, harmony, and prosperity, while those whose governments perpetrate or tolerate violations create the conditions for failed societies. There are at least three reasons for this correlation.  First, governments that persecute or fail to protect people against religious persecution can drive them into extremist hands.  When our Commission visited Ethiopia last year, we saw disturbing signs of this danger.  Ethiopia's recent efforts to combat extremism by forcing its Muslim community to embrace a foreign form of Islam run the risk of producing exactly what it fears - the radicalization of individuals within that community. Second, as I noted with Pakistan, governments that enforce laws which violate religious freedom unwittingly encourage people to monitor others for signs of trespass and take violent actions against perceived transgressors.   And third, governments that restrict religious freedom in the name of fighting religious extremist groups end up strengthening these groups by weakening their more moderate but less resilient competition.   In Egypt, for example, President Mubarak's restrictions weakened the hand of pro-freedom movements, making it easier for the Salafists to emerge in the post-Mubarak era on a much stronger footing than their more democratic competition. Clearly, during times of severe governmental repression, extremists are driven by their fanaticism to cut corners and break rules in order to survive.   Unlike their more democratic opponents, their fanaticism drives them to believe that all things are permissible in service to their cause. U.S. Leadership Needed So when it comes to violent religious extremism, it is clear that religious freedom abuses not only offend human rights, but pose a grave threat to the security and stability of countries.   And unfortunately, this instability and violence often spills beyond national borders into neighboring countries, threatening entire regions.  As Americans living in a post-9/11 world, we of all people know what happens when violent religious extremism is exported globally as terrorism. This is why the U.S. government must prioritize religious freedom not just as a core human right, but a global security imperative, and a vital part of any counter-extremism strategy.  Our government must recognize the pivotal role of religion in countries that top our foreign policy agenda and how limitations on religious liberty can harm entire societies. Religious freedom has national security relevance.  Conditions favoring it can help counter extremism by undercutting the message of extremists and fostering religious diversity and minority rights.  As a fundamental right, religious freedom is a core component of a healthy society, as it encompasses other freedoms - including those of expression, association, and assembly.  To further the religious freedom agenda, our Commission recommends the following:
  • The Obama administration should issue a National Security Strategy on supporting religious freedom abroad, combining all U.S. government activities in a "whole-of- government” effort to confront this challenge. 
  • Congress should hold hearings and embrace legislation that prioritizes religious freedom and reflects its critical importance to national security and global stability.  
  • The State Department should prioritize this pivotal freedom by pressing countries to implement reforms that will confront extremism and protect liberty. 
  • And the State Department should also make CPC designations soon, before previously designated actions expire later this year. 
Naming countries as CPCs isn't the end of engagement, but rather the beginning of a high-level process to encourage governments to improve. When combined with the prospect of sanctions, the CPC designation can create political will where none existed, moving repressive governments to undertake needed changes.  Conclusion And so, as I conclude, let me stress to all of you that despite the bleak picture we see of religious freedom abroad, progress remains possible. If we as a country reaffirm our commitment to religious freedom by making it a permanent and integral part of our foreign policy, it can be a game-changer - both for us and for the world.   Change will not happen overnight, but if Washington supports a truly free and vibrant marketplace of ideas, including religious ideas, I believe that in spite of many obstacles, the desire for a better life on the part of hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings is going to prevail. I believe that if truly given the chance, a critical mass of humanity will say "no” to more repression, "no” to more extremism, and "yes” to more freedom. In accordance with our mandate, we who serve on the Commission will do our part.   It is our deepest hope that in the coming months and years, Washington will fully do its part on behalf of religious freedom. Thank you.
The Hill: Being Muslim Means You’re Never Safe from China
June 24, 2020
Jun 24, 2020 This op-ed originally appeared on The Hill, on June 24, 2020.  By USCIRF Commissioners Nury Turkel and Gary Bauer For most people, traveling abroad can lead to exciting opportunities and exposure to new cultures. For Muslims from China, traveling abroad can put friends and family at home at risk. In December 2015, Abduhaliq Aziz, a young Muslim from the ancient city of Kashgar, moved to Cairo to study at the renowned Al-Azhar University. Shortly thereafter, Chinese authorities retaliated by detaining Aziz’s parents. Several years after Ablikim Yusuf, a Uyghur Muslim, moved to Pakistan for work, he received a message over WeChat: his brother was in a reeducation camp. Last summer, Qatari authorities nearly deported Yusuf to China while he was transiting through Doha airport; only public outrage and U.S. diplomacy allowed him to settle in Virginia. At least Aziz and Yusuf are free. Millions of Muslims back in China aren’t so fortunate. Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained an estimated 1.8 million Uyghur, Kazakh, and other Muslims in concentration camps across the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Leaked government documents show that many of these individuals were targeted because of their religious practices, such as growing a beard or wearing a veil, not because they posed a security risk. As part of this sinification campaign, nearly half a million Muslim children have been separated from their families and placed in boarding schools, where they are taught to obey the Party and reject Islam. The Chinese government’s persecution of its Muslim population is unique not just because of its scale and ruthlessness, but also because of the lengths to which it goes to pursue Muslims outside its borders. The government has submitted extradition requests to Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, and other countries for Muslims who fled China. In 2017, Egyptian authorities rounded up dozens of Uyghur students and deported them to China. When it can’t seize individuals who have fled abroad, the government often detains their families back in China. In a particularly cruel move, in 2018 Dr. Gulshan Abbas was disappeared in an attempt to silence her sister, Rushan Abbas, an outspoken Uyghur-American activist based in Virginia. Chinese agents have also harassed Uyghur Muslims who have become citizens or permanent residents in other countries, especially those vocal in criticizing the Communist Party’s human rights record. Uyghurs in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia have reported receiving threatening phone calls to obtain personal information or being tracked by Chinese diplomats. Contrary to the Communist Party’s propaganda, the Chinese government’s war on faith is not simply a domestic issue. It affects Muslims around the world, from Istanbul to Indiana. It affects our fellow citizens, our colleagues, our neighbors, and our families. In our 2020 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that the U.S. government continue and increase efforts to counter Chinese influence operations designed to suppress religious freedom advocacy. The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which Congress recently passed and President Donald Trump signed, makes important progress by requiring the FBI and State Department to report on Chinese attempts to intimidate U.S. citizens, ethnic Uyghurs, and Chinese nationals in the United States. U.S. diplomats should inform other governments—particularly those in Muslim-majority countries—of the threat to their citizens and encourage them to take steps to protect them. In addition, we urge the State Department to work with other countries to prevent the refoulment to China of Muslims and others fleeing religious persecution. A priority should be lobbying against any extradition treaty with China without clear allowances for political asylum. We are especially concerned about the ambiguity of a draft extradition treaty between Turkey and China. The ratification and interpretation of this treaty could spell the difference between freedom and oppression for the approximately 50,000 Uyghur Muslims who reside in Turkey. Finally, the United States needs to increase its presence at international and regional forums. While sometimes rightly derided as “talking shops,” these meetings have the power to set the agenda and influence public advocacy. For example, last March, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement commending—not condemning—China’s treatment of its Muslim community. China reportedly sent more than a dozen diplomats to the meeting in Abu Dhabi, while the United States sent none. We need to ensure that never happens again. 
USCIRF Expresses Concern about National Security Legislation’s Threat to Religious Freedom in Hong Kong
June 26, 2020
Jun 26, 2020 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2020 USCIRF Expresses Concern about National Security Legislation’s Threat to Religious Freedom in Hong Kong Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed concern about the effect that the Chinese Communist Party’s proposed national security legislation will have on religious freedom conditions in Hong Kong. “Hong Kong has long been living proof that religious freedom and Chinese culture can coexist in harmony—no matter what the Communist Party claims,” noted USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “This new national security legislation would potentially expand the Chinese Communist Party’s war on faith in the mainland to hundreds of thousands of believers in Hong Kong.” If the National People’s Congress passes the proposed national security law, it would give the mainland government’s security apparatus jurisdiction over cases “endangering national security,” a crime that mainland authorities have used to target religious freedom advocates. Religious leaders fear the law would lead to a crackdown on the city’s Buddhist, Taoist, Protestant, Catholic, and other religious communities—especially since the head of China’s Hong Kong office, Xia Baolong, oversaw a crackdown against churches in Zhejiang Province. “The Communist Party has a poor track record of keeping its promises to the people of Hong Kong, and we expect no different for Hong Kong residents of faith under this new law,” USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel added. “We urge the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong to monitor the situation carefully and to report on any increase in religious freedom violations.” Under the 1985 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Chinese government promised to respect the autonomy of Hong Kong’s legal system, which provides greater protections for human rights than available in the rest of China. The Hong Kong Policy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 require the U.S. State Department to assess the autonomy of the territory from China. In May, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo certified that Hong Kong no longer qualifies as autonomous. In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF noted the massive protests in Hong Kong against a proposed extradition law and the risk it would have posed to religious freedom. In February 2020, USCIRF released a factsheet explaining how the Communist Party’s new Administrative Measures for Religious Groups could further restrict religious freedom. ### The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov.
USCIRF Welcomes Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory
July 01, 2020
Jul 1, 2020 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 1, 2020 USCIRF Welcomes Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the decision by the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security to issue a business advisory on the risks of supply chains that rely on the forced labor of Uyghur, Kazakh, and other Muslims in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China. “This is an important step in our struggle against the modern slavery of Uyghur and other Muslims,” USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel stated. “With this business advisory, American companies can no longer claim ignorance of the gross human rights violations in their supply chains. We also call on the global business community, especially leading apparel brands and retailers, to ensure that they are not bolstering or benefitting from the Communist Party’s ongoing genocidal policies, religious repression, and forced labor in the Uyghur region.” The business advisory recommended that companies with potential exposure to supply chains utilizing forced labor conduct due diligence. According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and other reports, dozens of companies, including major American brands, are suspected of directly employing or sourcing from suppliers that use forced labor involving thousands of Uyghur and other Muslims. In March 2020, a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the House (H.R.6210) and in the Senate (S.3471​). The bill would bar the importation into the United States of any goods made in Xinjiang. Under the Tariff Act of 1930, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has detained imports that originated in Xinjiang suspected to be made with forced labor. “This latest step shows that the entire U.S. government is committed to taking action to protect the rights of Uyghur Muslims and other religious communities in Communist China,” noted USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “We urge Congress to pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to ensure that our markets never contain products made using slave labor.” In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF called upon the administration to use its authority under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and the International Religious Freedom Act to impose targeted sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for severe religious freedom violations, especially Chen Quanguo, the current Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang. In February 2020, USCIRF released a factsheet explaining how the Chinese government’s new Regulation for Religious Groups could further restrict religious freedom. ### The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov