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In Defense of Human Dignity: the International Religious Freedom Report

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In Defense of Human Dignity: the International Religious Freedom Report IN DEFENSE OF HUMAN DIGNITY: THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 15, 2005 Serial No. 109–119 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 24–596PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 21 2002 15:21 Mar 07, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\AGI\111505\24596.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey EDWARD R. ROYCE, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ROBERT WEXLER, Florida THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York RON PAUL, Texas WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts DARRELL ISSA, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona BARBARA LEE, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MARK GREEN, Wisconsin EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon JERRY WELLER, Illinois SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada MIKE PENCE, Indiana GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan ADAM B. SCHIFF, California KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida DIANE E. WATSON, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina ADAM SMITH, Washington JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky CONNIE MACK, Florida DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas TED POE, Texas THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey JEFF FLAKE, Arizona BARBARA LEE, California MARK GREEN, Wisconsin BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BRAD SHERMAN, California JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, DIANE E. WATSON, California Vice Chairman MARY M. NOONAN, Subcommittee Staff Director GREG SIMPKINS, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member NOELLE LUSANE, Democratic Professional Staff Member SHERI A. RICKERT, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member and Counsel LINDSEY M. PLUMLEY, Staff Associate (II) VerDate Mar 21 2002 15:21 Mar 07, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\111505\24596.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable John V. Hanford III, Ambassador-at-Large, Office of Inter- national Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State .................................... 9 Michael Cromartie, Ph.D., Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ................................................................................................................ 34 The Most Reverend Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B., Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ..................................... 60 Ms. Nina Shea, Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House ......... 72 Mr. Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch ... 87 Mr. David Aikman, Author, ‘‘Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Trans- forming China and Changing the World Balance of Power’’ ............................ 95 Mr. Lawrence A. Uzzell, President, International Religious Freedom Watch .... 99 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations: Prepared statement ................ 4 The Honorable John V. Hanford III: Prepared statement ................................... 13 U.S. Commission on International Freedom: Recommendations to Advance U.S. Human Rights Diplomacy With China ...................................................... 37 Michael Cromartie, Ph.D.: Prepared statement .................................................... 44 The Most Reverend Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B.: Prepared statement .................... 63 Ms. Nina Shea: Prepared statement ...................................................................... 75 Mr. Tom Malinowski: Prepared statement ............................................................ 90 Mr. David Aikman: Prepared statement ............................................................... 97 Mr. Lawrence A. Uzzell: Prepared statement ....................................................... 102 The Honorable Christopher H. Smith: Prepared statement of Vo Van Ai, International Spokesman, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam .................... 122 The Honorable Henry J. Hyde, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and Chairman, Committee on International Relations: Prepared statement of The Rev. Dr. David-Maria A. Jaeger, O.F.M., Israeli Catholic Priest ..................................................................................................................... 125 (III) VerDate Mar 21 2002 15:21 Mar 07, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\111505\24596.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL VerDate Mar 21 2002 15:21 Mar 07, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\111505\24596.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL IN DEFENSE OF HUMAN DIGNITY: THE INTER- NATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2005 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SMITH. The Subcommittee will come to order, and good morning to everyone. Today, the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations will hold an oversight hearing on the con- gressionally-mandated Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and on the designations of ‘‘countries of particular con- cern’’ for 2005. The hearing will focus on the countries of particular concern, or CPC countries, Eritrea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Burma, Viet- nam, China, and North Korea, as well as other countries where the rights of believers are seriously threatened and undermined, such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ban- gladesh, Nigeria, Russia, and Cuba. We will also discuss why and how Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan managed to avoid CPC designation. The Subcommittee will consider what the U.S. has done in the past year to address these issues and what it intends to do in the coming year. By demonstrating the passionate concern of the United States Congress for religious liberty and by focusing na- tional attention on the challenges this first freedom confronts in the world today, we have a real opportunity to advance freedom throughout the world. As Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, who will be speaking on our third panel, accurately points out in his testimony, religious liberty be- gins with the right to worship according to one’s conscience, but it does not end there. Religious freedom covers a broad range of reli- gious activities, he said—and he is right—from freedom of worship to freedom of conscience, from the right to establish schools and charities to the right to participate in and to seek to influence pub- lic affairs. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights trium- phantly states, and I quote, that ‘‘Everyone has the right to free- dom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom (1) VerDate Mar 21 2002 15:21 Mar 07, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGI\111505\24596.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL 2 to change his religion or personal 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.’’ Yet all over the world one or more aspects of this fundamental free- dom are threatened, violated or outright trampled upon, and in the totalitarian states of China, North Korea, and Vietnam there is open war against religious believers who will not tow the line and submit their consciences to the state. Burma’s continuing designation as a CPC country comes as no surprise to those of us who have supported Burma’s legitimate de- mocracy movement. The assaults by China, Burma, Iran, and Cuba against religious freedom are inseparable from their general dis- regard for human rights. There are long overdue efforts to bring these countries before the UN, efforts which I hope this current hearing will advance, and religious freedom should be a part of any UN resolutions regarding those countries. Sudan has finally begun to acknowledge the need for religious liberty, but its practices re- main
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