March 6, 2003
By Art Moore
The U.S. State Department today named China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Burma and Sudan as "countries of particular concern" due to ongoing, "egregious" violations of religious freedom, a designation that requires a policy response within 90 days.
[...]"In one sense, it's been very effective because by requiring the list, a news cycle has been created, and everyone debates which countries should be in the list, and there is scrutiny," she said.
Overall, said Shea, the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 has been valuable.
"It's very important that there is this watchdog organization established under the act, the commission, to make a determination that is independent of political concerns," she continued. "I think the State Department has done some good things. It's reporting on religious freedom is very good, even on Saudi Arabia, where it's quite candid about stating there is no religious freedom in law or in practice in Saudi Arabia."
The USCIRF issued the following summaries of religious freedom in countries it recommended to the State Department as "countries of particular concern."
Burma: The Burmese government persists in exercising strict control over all religious activities and imposing severe restrictions on certain religious practices. Members of the Burmese military have reportedly killed members of religious minorities or instigated violence by the Buddhist majority against them. Police and military personnel have failed to protect religious minorities during periods of violence. The plight of religious minorities in Burma is made worse by the widespread social tensions encouraged by the regime between the Buddhist majority and the Christian and Muslim minorities there. Other severe violations of religious freedom have included forcible conscription of religious minorities as military porters and death for those who refuse.
China: The Chinese government continues to confine, torture, imprison, and subject individuals to other forms of ill treatment on account of their religion or belief, including Protestant Christians, Roman Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, and others, such as members of Falun Gong, [...] In fact, in the past year, official respect for religious freedom in China has diminished. Chinese government officials have continued to claim the right to control, monitor, and restrain religious practice in that country. As part of China's crackdown on religious and spiritual believers, individuals have been charged with, or detained under suspicion of, offenses that essentially penalize them for manifesting freedoms of religion or belief, speech, association, or assembly. In addition, several prominent religious leaders have been detained, often on reportedly dubious criminal charges, such as rape and other sexual violence, or financial crimes. The crackdown against religious believers was authorized at the highest levels of the government, according to reportedly official documents obtained by human rights non-governmental organizations.
[...]
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31376
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
