The Commission convened an event with the Folger 

Shakespeare Library on September 23, 2004, in Washington. 

A standing-room-only crowd greeted Dr. Azar Nafisi, the author 

of the #1 New York Times bestseller Reading 

Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, 

who was the keynote speaker. Dr. Nafisi 

was expelled as a professor from the 

University of Tehran for refusing to wear 

Iranʼs mandatory veil. Her presentation, 

“Imagining Freedom and Straining to Hear 

Voices for Tolerance in a Post 9/11 Age,” was 

followed by a discussion on the need to encourage greater respect for freedom and human rights 

amid the rising religious repression in the world 

today. USCIRF held the event in conjunction with 

a Folger exhibit titled Voices for Tolerance in an Age of 

Persecution, which examines the story of those who argued 

for tolerance amid religious and political conflict in early modern Europe. These voices from the early modern past have particular resonance in todayʼs world where the relevance of historical events 

to present conflicts is often little understood or even ignored.

In her opening remarks, USCIRF Chair Preeta D. Bansal drew upon the Folgerʼs 

exhibit to describe how “the struggle between tolerance and intolerance, between freedom and 

 w w w. u s c i r f . g ov ISSUE 4

A delegation of Commissioners visited 

Uzbekistan October 16-23, 2004. The visit to 

Uzbekistan took place as part of the Commissionʼs 

annual review process to determine which countries 

will be recommended to the Department of State as 

“countries of particular concern,” or CPCs, as required 

by Congress in the International Religious Freedom 

Act. Due to concerns about serious abuses of freedom of 

religion or belief and other human rights taking place in 

Uzbekistan, the Commission has for several years placed 

Uzbekistan on its Watch List of countries which require 

close monitoring. The Commission had issued a report and 

recommendations on Uzbekistan in May 2002. 

In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, delegation members held an intensive series of discussions with senior 

government officials at the Ministries of Justice, Internal 

Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, as well as with the Committee on 

Religious Affairs and the Parliamentary Ombudsman; international and Uzbek human rights groups; religious communities; and U.S. Embassy personnel. In addition to Tashkent, the 

Commission met with regional officials, human rights groups, 

and local religious leaders in Samarkand, Ferghana City, 

Margilon, and Andijan.

The Commission has concluded in the past that conditions 

for freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief are 

very poor in Uzbekistan. In addition to a law on religion that 

severely limits the ability of minority religions to function, 

the Uzbek government in recent years has been harshly cracking down on Muslim 

individuals, groups, and 

mosques that do not conform to government-prescribed ideas on how the 

Islamic faith should be 

practiced and expressed. 

Citing security concerns 

emerging from bombings and attacks by 

Islamically-identified extremists, the government crackdown 

has resulted in the arrests of thousands of persons, many of 

whom are denied the right to due process. There are credible 

reports that many have been and continue 

Message from the Chair

Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief is universal in its 

importance and applicability. It is the freedom to assert an individual 

conscience or identity without fear, and is a foundational right 

of the post-World War II framework of international human 

rights. Promoting religious freedom and related human 

rights abroad is vital to U.S. foreign policy and to our 

strategic, as well as humanitarian, interests. When 

respected, freedom of religion or belief is one of 

the linchpins of stable, democratic, productive 

societies. When denied, generations of hatred 

may be sown. Throughout the world today, 

the religious and sectarian dimensions 

to human conflict cannot be ignored. 

Yet where governments protect 

religious freedom, and citizens 

value it, religious persecution 

and religion-based violence 

often find little appeal, and 

other fundamental human 

rights, the rule of law, 

and democracy are 

accorded greater 

value. Promoting the 

freedom of thought, 

conscience, and 

religion or belief 

is in the national 

interest and 

central to 

maintaining 

universal 

principles 

of human 

dignity.

- Preeta

D. Bansal

see NAFISI on page 5

see UZBEKISTAN on page 6

USCIRF Travels to Uzbekistan

Author Nafisi Speaks on 

Freedom and Tolerance

Commissioner Bishop Ramirez with 

Imam Parsohan Hasanov

Dr. Azar Nafisi 

addresses audience
page 2

On September 15, the State Department 

released its 2004 Annual Report on 

International Freedom and announced the 

designation of three new countries—Saudi 

Arabia, Vietnam, and Eritrea—as “countries 

of particular concern” (CPCs) for their 

ongoing, egregious violations of religious 

freedom. On October 6, USCIRF Chair 

Preeta D. Bansal testified before the 

International Relations Committee (HIRC) 

of the U.S. House of Representatives at 

a hearing on the annual report and CPC 

designations.

Bansal welcomed the U.S. governmentʼs 

designation of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and 

Eritrea as CPCs—as well as the re-naming 

of Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, and 

Sudan —and noted that designation is 

one of the most significant human rights 

acts of the U.S. government. In addition, 

she underscored that designation is not an 

end point, but the beginning of focused 

diplomatic activity required by IRFA from 

which important obligations in the form 

of consequent actions flow. She expressed 

concern that, since the passage of IRFA, 

for every country named a CPC in previous 

years, the only official action taken by any 

U.S. administration has been to invoke 

already existing sanctions rather than to take 

any additional action pursuant to IRFA. The 

U.S. government must do more than rely on 

pre-existing sanctions. Moreover, the State 

Department has not once to date submitted to 

the Congress the required evaluation of the 

effectiveness of prior actions against CPCs. 

This is the first time countries have been 

designated as CPCs that do not have already 

existing sanctions assigned to them. Bansal 

testified that the Commission will issue 

recommended responses for the President, 

Secretary of State, and Congress pursuant 

to the IRFA statute to follow up on the new 

CPC designations of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam 

and Eritrea.

Bansal noted that six years after the 

passage of the IRFA, it has become 

abundantly clear that promoting freedom 

of thought, conscience, and religion and 

related human rights abroad is vital to U.S. 

foreign policy and to our strategic, as well 

as humanitarian, interests. She said that 

the State Departmentʼs Annual Report on 

International Religious Freedom provides 

Congress and the public an opportunity to 

assess not only the state of religious freedom 

around the world but also what the U.S. 

government is doing to promote this key 

U.S. foreign policy objective.

Commissioner Bansalʼs testimony is 

available on the Commissionʼs web site at 

http://www.uscirf.gov/hearings/06Oct04/

testimony_2004IRF.php3. u

President George W. Bush appointed 

Michael Cromartie to a two-year term on 

the Commission. Mr. Cromartie succeeds 

Commissioner Richard Land. Cromartie 

is Vice President of the Ethics and Public 

Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where 

he directs the Evangelicals in Civic Life program and the Media and Religion program. 

He is the editor of 12 books on religion and 

politics including, most recently A Public 

Faith: Evangelicals and Civic Engagement

and A Preserving Grace: Protestants, 

Catholics, and Natural Law. He also is an 

adjunct professor at Reformed Theological 

Seminary. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi 

(D-CA) appointed Elizabeth H. Prodromou 

of Massachusetts to a two-year term on 

the Commission. Dr. Prodromou succeeds Commissioner Patti Chang. 

Professor Prodromou is the Associate 

Director of the Institute on Culture, 

Religion and World Affairs and Assistant 

Professor of International Relations at 

Boston University. A regional expert 

on Southeastern Europe and the Eastern 

Mediterranean, Prodromouʼs scholarship 

and policy work concentrate on religion 

and international relations, nationalism 

and conflict resolution, and non-traditional 

security threats. Their full biographies are 

available on the Commissionʼs Web site at 

www.uscirf.gov. u

Staff Contact: Patricia Carley

USCIRF Chair Testifies on New CPC Designations

PREETA D. BANSAL, CHAIR

Of Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

FELICE D. GAER, VICE CHAIR

Director, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement 

of Human Rights, The American Jewish Committee

NINA SHEA, VICE CHAIR

Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House

THE MOST REVEREND 

CHARLES J. CHAPUT, COMMISSIONER

Archbishop of Denver

MICHAEL CROMARTIE, COMMISSIONER

Vice President, Ethics and Public Policy Center

KHALED ABOU EL FADL, COMMISSIONER

Professor of Law, UCLA

ELIZABETH H. PRODROMOU, COMMISSIONER

Associate Director, Institute on Culture, Religion and 

World Affairs and Assistant Professor of International 

Relations, Boston University

BISHOP RICARDO RAMIREZ, COMMISSIONER

Bishop of The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico 

MICHAEL K. YOUNG, COMMISSIONER

President, University of Utah

JOHN V. HANFORD III, EX-OFFICIO, NON-VOTING 

COMMISSIONER

Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom

U.S. Department of State

JOSEPH R. CRAPA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

C O M M I S S I O N E R S

President and House Minority Leader Appoint New Commissioners
On November 9, the Commission held 

a China Human Rights Forum on Capitol 

Hill titled Talking with China about Human 

Rights: Assessing the Future of Bilateral 

Human Rights Dialogues. The Forum was 

convened in order to assess bilateral dialogues with China and to discuss their efficacy, as well as ways to improve and more 

thoroughly coordinate the various bilateral 

and multilateral dialogues in the future. 

The forum brought together U.S. government officials, international and academic 

experts, NGO representatives, and human 

rights activists for off-the-record discussions 

on human rights and U.S.-China relations. 

Speakers at the forum included former 

Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, 

Human Rights, and Labor Lorne Craner, 

Columbia University Professor Andrew 

Nathan, and representatives from the 

governments of Australia, Canada, Great 

Britain, Holland, Hungary, Norway, 

Switzerland, and the European Union. 

Participants from other bilateral dialogues 

compared substantive results and procedural 

approaches in beginning a discussion of how 

to make the dialogues more effective regarding human rights and religious freedom 

reform in China. The U.S. bilateral dialogue, 

long stalled, was resumed shortly after the 

Commissionʼs forum. In past years, the 

Commission has held China Human Rights 

Forums and roundtables on Xinjiang and on 

U.S. policy to promote religious freedom 

in China. 

On November 18, USCIRF Chair Preeta 

D. Bansal testified at a hearing of the 

Congressional-Executive Commission on 

China (CECC) on the current situation with 

respect to Chinese government repression 

of religion and belief. Bansal testified, 

“Advancing the freedom of religion and 

belief cannot be considered a marginal 

issue, but is foundational to a whole range 

of U.S. interests. Respect for the freedom 

of thought, conscience, religion, and belief 

is a critical indicator of stable trading partners, stable allies, and stable regions. The 

government of China does not treat religion 

as a side issue, but views religious adherents, religious communities, and religious 

leaders through the lens of security. The 

United States should not ignore this fact 

and should fashion policies and actions that 

integrate the right of thought, conscience, 

religion, and belief with security and economic interests.”

As part of its November 18 testimony, the 

Commission issued specific recommendations for U.S. policy. 

The Commission recommended that the 

U.S. Government should:

Strengthen bilateral human rights dialogues 

with China. 

Advance a multilateral resolution at the UN 

Commission on Human Rights and work for 

its passage at appropriate and high official 

levels. 

Organize regular meetings of involved 

nations to coordinate technical cooperation 

and capacity building programs in China. 

Fund new legal reform and rule-of-law 

programs to advance religious freedom and 

related human rights. 

Review all U.S. foreign aid funding and 

public diplomacy programs for China to 

include the promotion and protection of religious freedom, as required by International 

Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). 

Establish an official presence in Xinjiang 

and Tibet. 

Provide incentives for U.S. businesses to 

promote human rights in China. 

The Commission twice had to cancel planned visits to China in 2003 due 

to unacceptable limits imposed on the 

Commissionʼs itinerary by the Chinese 

government. The Commission visited Hong 

Kong in 2004, and continues to seek a visit 

to Mainland China. 

Commissioner Bansalʼs testimony is 

available on the Commission web site at 

http://www. uscirf. gov/hearings/18Nov04/

testimony. php3. u

page 3

Commissioners hear from panelists at China Forum

China Forum and Testimony on Capitol Hill

Staff contact: Scott Flipse

“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.”

- Article 18, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Human Rights & Religious Freedom in Vietnam

By Representative Loretta Sanchez

Recently, the Vietnamese government denied my request 

to travel there on U.S. government business. The official reason given was that my visit would not “serve U.S.-Vietnam 

relations.” The real reason is that the Vietnamese government 

did not want my visit to further expose Vietnamʼs abuse of 

basic human and religious rights. 

In September, the State Department released its Report on 

International Religious Freedom, adding Vietnam to the list 

of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), or governments 

that engage in or tolerate gross infringements of religious 

freedom—a list that includes Burma, Sudan, North Korea, 

Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea. As the Congressional 

representative for one of the worldʼs largest Vietnamese communities outside Vietnam, I co-founded the Congressional 

Caucus on Vietnam to raise awareness about the very issues 

that led to Vietnamʼs designation as a CPC. 

Vietnam continues to detain political and religious 

freedom advocates like writer Nguyen Vu Binh, 

the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, and Dr. Nguyen 

Dan Que. On April 10, the so-called “Easter 

Crackdown” injured or imprisoned hundreds of 

Montagnards protesting religious repression. 

Meanwhile, the peaceful religious freedom advocate, Rev. Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, remains in 

prison, even in the face of a U.S. Congressional 

resolution—which I co-sponsored with Rep. 

Chris Smith—calling for his immediate release. 

I am deeply grateful for the hard work done 

by the U.S. Commission on International 

Religious Freedom to bring these abuses to 

light. Through policy advice, press conferences, statements, research and 

reports, the Commission has aided 

the Congress and held Vietnam 

accountable for its repressive actions.The denial of my 

visa demonstrates that the 

Vietnamese government 

refuses to discuss 

these issues openly. 

Yet we can and will 

continue the struggle 

for a Vietnam that 

has no place on 

the CPC list, a 

Vietnam that 

respects the 

fundamental 

human rights 

and religious 

liberties of its 

own people. u

The North Korean Human Rights Act

By Senator Sam Brownback

On October 18, 2004, President George W. Bush signed 

into law the North Korean Human Rights Act after it 

passed unanimously in both the United States House of 

Representatives and the Senate. The core of the Act, which 

I sponsored in the Senate and my colleague Rep. Jim Leach 

sponsored in the House, instructs the United States to make 

human rights a key element to negotiations on the current 

nuclear weapons crisis. 

North Korea has one of the worst human rights situations 

in the world. The North Korean government under the leadership of Kim Jong Il has let its people starve while pursuing 

military might and weapons of mass destruction. There are 

no personal freedoms, and the government severely represses 

religious activities with penalties that reportedly include 

arrest, imprisonment, torture and sometimes execution. Many 

religious believers are reported to be serving long-term sentences in political prisoner camps. 

For several years now, I have worked in the Congress to 

raise awareness of the plight of the North Korean people 

and to seek policies to help them. As Chair of the Senate 

Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific 

Affairs, I have held hearings, participated in press conferences—including with the United States Commission on 

International Religious Freedom, and sought legislative 

changes to U.S. policy. One outcome was that North Korea 

was designated a Country of Particular Concern in 2001 

under the International Religious Freedom Act. 

With the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights 

Act, I am hopeful that the inherent soundness of the principles upon which the Act is built make the likelihood 

for its significant impact substantial. For too long, 

the international community has been duped 

and misled by the North Korean regime into 

focusing exclusively on the nuclear issue 

to a point where it is now almost treasonous if not shameful to talk bluntly about 

human rights in North Korea. My hope 

is that this Act will give North 

Korean human rights activists and others the courage to 

continue speaking the truth and 

that it will provide the support 

and encouragement they need 

to continue their important 

work. Certainly, the Actʼs 

unanimous support by 

the U.S. Congress speaks 

as a manifesto for no 

longer tolerating the Kim 

Jong Ilʼs regime of horrendous excesses. u

Letters from Congressional Members

page 4
USCIRF Commissioners and staff traveled to Egypt in July. The purpose of the 

visit was to learn what the Egyptian government and its civil society are doing to 

promote freedom of thought, conscience, 

religion and 

belief in accord 

with international standards 

embodied in 

the UN human 

rights instruments to which 

Egypt is a party. 

During their 

visit, the delegation met with a 

broad range of 

individuals from Egyptian society, including government officials, religious leaders, 

human rights groups, scholars, educators, 

legal specialists, and others active in civil 

society in Cairo and Alexandria. 

For the past three years, the Commission 

has placed Egypt on its Watch List because 

of serious problems of discrimination and 

other human rights violations against members of religious minorities. The Egyptian 

government has failed to take effective steps 

to halt repression of and violence against 

religious believers, or, in many cases to punish those responsible for serious violations 

of religious freedom. 

The Commission remains concerned that, 

as a matter of policy, the Egyptian government views religious affairs as a security 

issue, and the security services have the 

“religion portfolio.” Thus, the security services interfere in various aspects of freedom 

of religion or belief, including activities by 

both Muslim and Christian communities. 

Christians, Jews, 

and Bahaʼis all 

cite interference, 

harassment, 

and surveillance by the 

security services 

as major problems. Material 

vilifying Jews 

and other religious minorities 

continues in the 

media and education system. The majority 

of representatives of the various religious 

minorities in Egypt indicated that there is 

continual discrimination against them in law, 

in practice, and in society.

The USCIRF delegation found that there 

had been no substantial improvement in 

most areas of concern to the Commission. 

The delegation also found that there is a 

growing sense that Islamic fundamentalism 

was advancing in Egypt, with detrimental 

effects on the prospects for democratic 

reform, religious freedom, and the rights of 

women and girls. The Commission continues to monitor the actions of the government 

of Egypt to see if the situation rises to a 

level that warrants designation as a “country 

of particular concern.” u

page 5

Commissioners Bansal and Gaer met 

October 28 in New York with Ms. Asma 

Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on 

Freedom of Religion or Belief of the United 

Nations Commission on Human Rights. Ms. 

Jahangir, a Pakistani national, was appointed 

to a three-year term as Special Rapporteur 

in July 2004, replacing Abdelfattah Amor 

of Tunisia. 

Commissioners and policy staff discussed 

with Ms. Jahangir countries USCIRF has 

designated as CPC and Watch List countries 

and raised mutual opportunities to further 

freedom of thought, conscience, and religion 

or belief throughout the world. They discussed the need to protect such freedoms 

within individual rights frameworks and 

national constitutions, and to protect the 

rights of belief and conscience for all individuals to dissent within their respective 

traditions. 

The Commission looks forward to sharing information and insights in the future 

with the Special Rapporteur in order to help 

protect individuals from violations of their 

internationally recognized human rights, and 

to promote compliance with the international 

norms in our respective mandates. u

USCIRF Meets With UN Special Rapporteur on 

Religious Intolerance

Staff Contact: Dwight Bashir

repression is an enduring reality of the 

human experience.” Bansal outlined 

how universally recognized documents 

like the UNʼs Declaration on Human 

Rights and the International Religious 

Freedom Act (IRFA) serve as the linchpins for governments to recognize and 

ensure freedom for all, and described 

the work of the USCIRF in promoting 

religious freedom. USCIRF Vice Chair 

Commissioner Nina Shea introduced 

Nafisi as a “scholar, author, dissident, 

and advocate with a voice that transcends politics, cultures, and epochs.” 

Shea called Nafisi a “creative voice 

for toleration” whose “words reach far 

beyond the literary world.”

No one understands better the importance of fighting intolerance than 

Dr. Nafisi, who witnessed horrifying 

persecution firsthand in her native Iran. 

Nafisi reflected on those experiences 

through her writing, seeking to understand her persecutors and champion 

tolerance. “Through writing I understood how vulnerable these people who 

had been hurting and persecuting us 

are, how without language they are, 

how weak they in fact are because they 

cannot communicate except through 

violence,” said Nafisi. In an age where 

brutality is justified in the name of 

religion, Nafisi prescribed an antidote 

to intolerance through imagination and 

empathy:

“Imagine an Afghani woman taken 

to a stadium with a gun to her head 

because sheʼs disobeyed rules about 

her covering, imagine yourself as that 

woman at the point at execution and 

you wonʼt be able to tolerate what happened in Afghanistan.... Intolerance, 

totalitarianism takes away your sense of 

feeling, your senses, the sense to see, to 

hear, to touch, to become one with others,” Nafisi said.

USCIRF Vice Chair Felice Gaer 

moderated a dialogue with the audience which emphasized the themes of 

Nafisiʼs book: control and exploitation of others, loss of dreams, and how 

personal acts are political in repressive societies. Commissioner Gaer 

encouraged the audience to continue, 

in churches, synagogues, and mosques, 

public debate on these themes in book 

groups, such as the one Nafisi led in 

Tehran. u

NAFISI from page 1 Commissioners Visit Egypt

Staff Contact: Tad Stahnke

Commission meets with Saad Eddin Ibrahim (center), 

Director of the Ibn Khal Doun Center
A staff delegation from the Commission 

recently visited Eritrea, which was designated a “country of particular concern” 

(CPC) by the State Department for the 

first time in September 2004. The delegation discussed the religious freedom 

situation in formal meetings with senior 

Eritrean government officials, members of 

the U.S. and foreign diplomatic communities, representatives of non-governmental 

organizations, and leaders of the four 

major faiths sanctioned by the Eritrean 

government, as well as with unregistered 

religious groups. 

In early 2004, the Commission recommended that the State Department designate Eritrea as a CPC. Following previous 

refusals to discuss religious freedom, citing national security concerns, the Eritrean 

government has recently agreed to do so. 

The Commission can only hope that this 

new openness will lead to improvements 

in religious freedom conditions in Eritrea. 

The Commission continues to monitor the 

situation closely as it begins its annual 

CPC deliberation process and will be 

developing appropriate policy recommendations to the U.S. Government. u

to be tortured in detention, torture that 

in some cases has led to the death of 

the accused. 

Despite some positive developments, 

including the opening up of the prison 

system to foreign monitors, promises to 

reform due process abuses, and a pledge 

to implement some of the OSCE-recommended revisions to the religion law, 

there are few signs of genuine reform in 

Uzbekistan. Religious freedom abuses 

reported in the past by the Commission 

and other U.S. government agencies 

continue to occur, including: the capricious application of an already burdensome law on religious organizations, 

resulting in the effective banning of 

numerous groups; violations of due process which include continued reports of 

the use of torture; and strict government 

control over Islamic worship and practice 

that reportedly increases the attraction of 

extremist alternatives. The Commission 

will continue to monitor the actions of the 

government of Uzbekistan. 

USCIRF has issued policy recommendations on Uzbekistan for the U.S. 

government. These include that the U.S. 

government:

• strongly encourage the Uzbek government to establish a mechanism to 

review the cases of persons detained 

under suspicion of or charged with 

religious, political, or security offenses 

and to release those who have been 

imprisoned solely because of their 

religious beliefs, practices, or choice 

of religious association, as well as any 

others who have been unjustly detained 

or sentenced; and

• make contingent all U.S. assistance to 

the Uzbek government, with the exception of assistance to improve humanitarian conditions and advance human 

rights, on that governmentʼs taking a 

number of concrete steps to improve 

conditions for religious freedom for 

all individuals and religious groups in 

Uzbekistan, including: 

a) releasing persons imprisoned solely 

because of their religious beliefs, 

practices, or choice of religious 

association; 

b) ending torture; 

c) halting the arrest and detention of 

persons because of their religious 

beliefs, practices, or choice of religious association; and 

d) refraining from using registration 

requirements to prevent religious 

groups from practicing their faith. u

 UZBEKISTAN from page 1

Commission Visits Eritrea

(L to R) Shoazim Minovarov, Chair, Committee on Religious Affairs; Felice D. Gaer, USCIRF ViceChair; Preeta D. Bansal, USCIRF Chair; Zukhriddin Husnitdinov, Inter-Confessional Council Chair and 

Presidential Advisor; Joseph R. Crapa, USCIRF Executive Director

Staff Contact: Steve Snow

Staff Contact: Catherine Cosman

page 6

U.S. Commission on 

International Religious Freedom

800 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 790

Washington, DC 20002

www.uscirf.gov

communications@uscirf.gov

202.523.3240

fax 202.523.5020

editor

Anne Johnson

Director of Communications

managing editor

Eileen Sullivan

Deputy Director of Communications

visit us at

www.uscirf.gov