ARTICLE 18: “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

President George W. Bush met with 

Commissioners at the White House on 

October 10. Commissioners presented 

to him the Commission’s 2003 Annual 

Report on International Religious Freedom and 

discussed the Commission’s concerns. 

Current Commissioners attending the meeting were 

Preeta D. Bansal, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Felice 

D. Gaer, Richard D. Land, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, Nina 

Shea, Michael K. Young, and Ambassador John V. Hanford. 

Former Commissioners attending were Firuz Kazemzadeh, 

Bishop William F. Murphy, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Ambassador 

Charles R. Stith.

VOLUME 1 w w w. u s c i r f . g o v ISSUE 2 

During this crucial period when Afghan 

experts are preparing a draft constitution, a 

USCIRF delegation led by Vice Chair Felice 

D. Gaer and Commissioner Preeta D. Bansal 

visited Kabul in August. The Commission has 

repeatedly voiced its concern that serious abuses 

of human rights, including freedom of religion 

and belief, were 

continuing 

under the 

U.S.-supported 

Transitional 

Administration 

in Afghanistan. 

Moreover, 

there have 

been troubling 

signs that 

Afghanistan’s 

reconstructed 

legal system and the new Afghan constitution might be used by 

extremists in the Transitional Administration to deny universal 

human rights, including freedom of religion and belief, to all 

Afghans, women and men. There is a danger that Afghanistan 

could return to Taliban-like religious coercion of the behavior of 

individual Muslims. 

Commissioner meetings with senior Afghans included Vice 

President Niamatullah Shahrani, who also serves as Chairman 

of the Constitutional Commission; Vice President Abdul 

Karim Khalili; the Ministers of Justice, Interior, and Hajj and Islamic 

Endowments; Chief Justice Shinwari, and former President Burhanuddin 

Rabbani. In Washington, Commissioners also met with then-Ambassador 

designate to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and State Department officials 

including Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky and then-Afghanistan 

Coordinator David Johnson. Based on the findings of the trip and meetings 

with U.S. Government officials, the Commission makes the following 

recommendations: 

• The U.S. government should insist that individual rights to freedom 

of thought, conscience, religion and belief be explicitly set forth in the 

Afghan constitution. The constitution should also exclude the use of 

blasphemy, “offending Islam,” apostasy or similar offenses to stifle debate 

or restrict religious freedom. 

• The U.S. government, in all its activities in Afghanistan, should act 

to bolster the position of those reformers who respect human rights. 

The U.S. government must make clear that it and the American people 

expect post-Taliban Afghanistan to respect and implement the freedoms 

included in the universal human rights instruments that Afghanistan has 

signed, ratified, and supported. 

• The United States should assist Islamic legal experts to visit Afghanistan 

to engage their Afghan counterparts and to provide information to the 

Afghan public on the compatibility of Islam and human rights. Public 

diplomacy and education efforts must be expanded. 

• Freedom of expression is in danger. Afghan reformers must be 

protected from accusations of blasphemy or similar charges and not 

face prosecution for discussing peacefully the appropriate role of Islam 

in Afghanistan’s political and legal systems or for criticizing specific 

political figures or political parties, or dissenting from prevailing views 

and beliefs. 

Message from the Chair: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion 

protects everyone’s choice in what many believe to be the most important 

and deeply-held aspect of human identity. It requires governments 

to respect manifestations of that choice, and to protect each 

individual from harassment or violence on account of 

that choice. It is one of the first freedoms restricted 

by authoritarian and repressive governments 

who would replace individual conscience with 

unquestioned loyalty to the state. Advancing 

respect for the internationally-guaranteed 

right to freedom of religion serves 

U.S. interests to promote stable, 

democratic governments around 

the world. – Michael K. Young

 PRESIDENT BUSH MEETS

 WITH COMMISSIONERS

AFGHANISTAN: FREEDOM IN CRISIS

continued on page 4

Commissioners Bansal (left) 

and Gaer met with Vice 

President Niamatullah 

Shahrani, who is also 

Chair of the 

Constitutional 

Commission. 

Photo by White House photographer Tina Hager.
Four Commissioners were reappointed and 

five new Commissioners were named to the 

USCIRF to make up the current Commission. 

Three commissioners are selected by 

the President, two by the leaders of the 

President’s party in Congress, and four by the 

congressional leaders of the political party that 

is not in the White House. Commissioners 

serve for one- or two-year terms and are 

eligible for reappointment. 

President George W. Bush appointed to the 

Commission the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput 

of Denver, CO, Professor Khaled M. Abou El Fadl 

of Los Angeles, CA, and reappointed Dr. Richard 

D. Land of Nashville, TN. 

Senate Majority leader William Frist reappointed 

Michael K. Young of Washington, DC.

Senate Minority leader Thomas Daschle 

appointed Preeta D. Bansal of New York, NY 

and Cambridge, MA, and The Most Reverend 

Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, NM. 

House Majority leader Dennis Hastert 

reappointed Nina Shea of Washington, DC.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed 

Patti Chang of San Francisco, CA, and 

reappointed Felice D. Gaer of Paramus, NJ.

Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious 

Freedom, John V. Hanford, III, continues to 

serve as a non-voting, ex officio member of the 

Commission. 

The Commissioners elected Michael Young as 

Chair, and Felice Gaer and Nina Shea as Vice 

Chairs. The election follows the Commission’s 

practice of alternating the post of Chair yearly 

between Democratic and Republican appointees.

LETTERS FROM CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS

THE UNITED STATES AND AFGHANISTAN: A SHARED VISION 

By Senator Chuck Hagel

Afghanistan is a better place today than it was on September 11, 

2001. The United States and its allies have done a great service to 

the people of Afghanistan, the region, and the world, by eliminating 

the Taliban regime and supporting the transitional government of 

President Hamid Karzai. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a 

long way to go to assure a transition to a democratic and pluralistic 

society in Afghanistan.

Helping to rebuild Afghanistan’s infrastructure, institutions, and civil 

society is critical, not only to Afghans, but to American and regional 

security interests. Since October 1, 2001, the U.S. has committed 

$840 million in humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan. 

On-going USAID and other U.S.-sponsored reconstruction projects 

in Afghanistan have led to improvements in the lives of many Afghan 

people. What we do in Afghanistan is directly linked to fighting the 

global war on terrorism; to combating illegal narcotics trafficking; 

and to promoting regional stability in Central and South Asia.

Last year, in order to support the transition to stability and 

democracy in Afghanistan, I introduced the Afghanistan Freedom 

Support Act, which President Bush signed into law (PL 107-327) in 

December. This bill authorizes $3.3 billion in economic, political, 

humanitarian and security assistance for Afghanistan over the next 

four years. It provides a strategic framework for U.S. policy toward 

Afghanistan to help build a stable democratic society that respects 

human rights, the rule of law and religious freedom. 

As I said at the Commission’s forum on Afghanistan earlier 

in the year, respect for human rights, including religious 

freedom, is essential to keeping Afghanistan on the path 

to a stable and democratic society. Afghanistan has 

started down this path of progress. The U.S. must 

continue to support the Afghans in their journey 

toward democracy so that they might enjoy the 

freedoms we have cherished for so long.

THE FACTS ARE CLEAR: DESIGNATE SAUDI ARABIA 

A “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN”

By Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA)

While many aspects of U.S. policy toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are 

subject to debate, the facts about religious freedom are indisputable. They 

are summed up pithily in the State Department’s 2003 human rights report: 

“Religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia.”

Despite that, and against the recommendations of the United States 

Commission on International Religious Freedom, the State Department 

has consistently refused to designate Saudi Arabia a “country of particular 

concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. 

Under IRFA, such a designation would make Saudi Arabia subject to a 

range of Presidential actions, from a private diplomatic protest to economic 

sanctions; the legislation even allows the President not to take action, if 

he chooses. Whatever the President would do, designating Saudi Arabia 

a “country of particular concern” would make Administration policy 

consistent with reality and with its own human rights report.

The Saudis purport to protect religious freedom, but this claim is absurd. 

By law, every Saudi citizen must be Muslim, and conversion from Islam is 

punishable by death. Non-Muslims, Shiite Muslims, non-Wahhabi Sunni 

Muslims, and women of all religions are denied the right to express their 

beliefs and to worship as they see fit. Non-Muslims are even proscribed 

from building places of worship. Saudi Arabia’s religious intolerance not 

only limits religious freedom, it also promotes the hatred of other faiths 

that fuels so much of today’s terrorism. 

That is why Congressman Dana Rohrbacher and I have introduced 

legislation decrying “Saudi Arabia’s lack of internationally 

recognized human rights and the absence of religious 

freedom in Saudi Arabia.” Our resolution calls on the Bush 

Administration to designate Saudi Arabia a “country 

of particular concern” in response to its systematic, 

ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. 

It also calls on the Administration to develop 

programs in Saudi Arabia to advance all human 

rights, including religious freedom, women’s 

rights, and the rule of law. 

Passage of H.Con.Res. 244 would be a powerful 

message to the Saudis that we are fed up with 

their religious bigotry. And it would be a clear 

call to the Administration to stop looking the 

other way.

Commissioners 

MICHAEL K. YOUNG, CHAIR

Dean, The George Washington University Law School

FELICE D. GAER, VICE CHAIR

Director, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement

of Human Rights, The American Jewish Committee 

NINA SHEA, VICE CHAIR

Director of the Center for Religious Freedom, 

Freedom House

PREETA D. BANSAL, COMMISSIONER

Visiting Fellow, Harvard University

John F. Kennedy School of Government and

former Solicitor General of the State of New York 

PATTI CHANG, COMMISSIONER

President and CEO, Women’s Foundation of California

ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT, COMMISSIONER

Archbishop of Denver

KHALED ABOU EL FADL, COMMISSIONER

Visiting Professor at Yale Law School and Professor of 

Law at UCLA

RICHARD D. LAND, COMMISSIONER 

President and CEO of the Ethics and Religious

Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist 

Convention

BISHOP RICARDO RAMIREZ, COMMISSIONER

Bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico

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

page 2 page 3

• The Commission held a jointly sponsored 

press conference with Representatives 

Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Loretta Sanchez 

(D-CA), and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) to discuss 

the imprisonment of Father Thaddeus 

Nguyen Van Ly, the sentencing of his niece 

and nephews, and other recent human 

rights violations that highlight the overall 

lack of basic fundamental freedoms in 

Vietnam. The Commission raised its 

concerns with Assistant Secretary of State 

James Kelly and called for the immediate 

release of Fr. Ly and his family members.

• The Senate passed a resolution, introduced 

by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), that 

commemorated the 5th anniversary of 

the signing of the International Religious 

Freedom Act and proclaimed October 27, 

2003 “International Religious Freedom 

Day”. Congressman Wolf (R-VA) introduced 

a similar resolution in the House of 

Representatives. 

• Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) 

and Tom Lantos (D-CA) have co-sponsored 

House Concurrent Resolution 244, 

regarding the Government of Saudi Arabia’s 

lack of protection of internationally 

recognized human rights and the absence 

of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. The 

resolution references Commission findings 

and recommendations. Congressmen Jim 

Davis (R-FL) and Doug Bereuter (R-NE) 

have co-sponsored House Concurrent 

Resolution 242, regarding the education 

curriculum in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 

and referencing Commission findings and 

recommendations.

• Vice Chair Felice D. Gaer testified at the 

Congressional-Executive Commission on 

China hearing, “Will Religion Flourish 

Under China’s New Leadership.” The 

purpose of the hearing was to investigate 

the current condition and treatment of 

religious groups in China, look ahead to 

the potential for change under China’s 

new leadership, and explore the options 

open to the United States to prompt the 

development of new attitudes and policies 

toward religion in China.

COMMISSION WORK IMPACTING THE 108TH CONGRESS

visit our web site at 

www.uscirf.gov

Commissioners part of U.S. delegation to OSCE 

Commissioners participated with the U.S. delegations to several human rights meetings of the 

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE): the OSCE’s first-ever meeting devoted solely to anti-Semitism in June; a special meeting on Freedom of Religion or 

Belief in July; and the OSCE’s annual human rights conference, the 2003 Human Dimension 

Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, Poland. At these meetings, Commissioners led 

or participated in bilateral meetings with official delegations from Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, 

Turkmenistan, France, Austria, and the Netherlands, as well as meetings with OSCE officials and 

representatives of religious groups and human rights NGOs from throughout the region. 

2003 APPOINTMENTS TO USCIRF; 

CHAIR AND VICE CHAIRS ELECTED

COMMISSION ISSUES ANNUAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The Commission reviews violations of religious 

freedom abroad throughout the year. In May of 

each year, the USCIRF is required to submit to 

the President, Secretary of State, and Congress an 

annual report containing its recommendations. 

The USCIRF is the only government commission 

in the world with a mandate to review and report 

on violations of the internationally-guaranteed 

right to freedom of religion and belief worldwide. 

The recommendations below are a sampling of 

recommendations for U.S. policy included in this 

year’s report. The full set of recommendations may 

be found in the country reports on the USCIRF 

Web site www.uscirf.gov.

SAUDI ARABIA:

• Investigate Saudi government funding of the 

global propagation of a religious ideology that 

promotes hate, intolerance, and in some cases 

violence. Congress should authorize and fund 

such a study and the U.S. government should 

urge the Saudis to cease any funding efforts.

• Use leverage to encourage implementation of 

reforms in Saudi Arabia, including naming 

Saudi Arabia a “country of particular concern” 

and expanding human rights assistance, public 

diplomacy and other programs.

• Urge the Saudi government to entrust 

enforcement of the law to regular professionals 

in law enforcement agencies subject to judicial 

review and appropriate human rights norms, 

and dissolve the Committee for the Propagation 

of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (mutawaa). 

AFGHANISTAN:

• Appoint a high-ranking official to the U.S. 

Embassy in Kabul to advance human rights.

• Expand the international security presence 

beyond Kabul and end U.S. support for 

warlords.

• Ensure the protection of religion and belief in 

the new Afghan constitution so Afghanistan 

does not return to Taliban-like religious 

coercion.

VIETNAM: 

• Make clear to the government of Vietnam that 

cessation of religious freedom violations is 

essential to continued expansion of bilateral 

relations.

• Designate Vietnam as a “country of particular 

concern.”

• Pass the Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2003 in 

Congress.

• As part of the annual Congressional review 

of the Jackson-Vanik waiver for Vietnam, the 

Congress, in conjunction with the Commission, 

should review Vietnam’s human rights practices, 

including particularly severe violations of 

religious freedom.

RUSSIA:

• Raise concerns about the growing influence of 

undemocratic forces on Russian government 

policies.

• Remain vigilant on the progress of Democratic 

reform and protections for human rights in 

Russia, reinstate the Smith Amendment, and 

ensure that a monitoring mechanism be in 

place should Congress graduate Russia from 

Jackson-Vanik.

LAOS:

• Designate Laos a “country of particular 

concern” to make clear U.S. concerns over 

particularly severe violations of religious 

freedom.

• Establish a bilateral human rights dialogue with 

measurable goals to eliminate violations.

BELARUS:

• Use every measure of diplomacy to advance 

the protection of human rights and religious 

freedom, including enhanced monitoring 

and public reporting, especially in light of 

the weakened monitoring mandate of the 

Organization for Security and Cooperation in 

Europe (OSCE).

• Adopt the Belarus Democracy Act of 2003 in 

Congress.

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is on the Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee and sponsored the 

Afghanistan Freedom Support Act of 2002.

California Congressman Tom Lantos is the senior 

Democrat on the House International Relations 

Committee and co-chairs the Congressional 

Human Rights Caucus.
page 4

 VIETNAM: A PEOPLE SILENCED

Commission Vice Chair Nina Shea testified 

at the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam and 

the Congressional Human Rights Caucus 

Joint Members’ Briefing: “Vietnam: A People 

Silenced – The Vietnamese Government’s 

Assault on the Media and Access to 

Information.” Because of rapidly deteriorating 

human rights conditions in Vietnam, 

Commissioner Shea told members of Congress 

that it is time for the U.S. government to 

consider a new approach to Vietnam, one 

that vigorously emphasizes human rights 

and utilizes all the tools of U.S. diplomacy, 

including: 

• Secretary of State Colin Powell should 

designate Vietnam a “country of particular 

concern” for “systematic, egregious, and 

ongoing abuses” of religious freedom, as 

defined by the International Religious 

Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). 

• The USCIRF supports language on 

Vietnam found in the State Department 

Authorization Act (HR 1950). If the Senate 

does not take up the legislation this year, 

it is our hope that members will attach the 

various provisions to other appropriations 

bills or introduce them as free-standing 

pieces of legislation. 

• The U.S. government should increase its 

support of public diplomacy programs, 

including increased Vietnamese language 

programming on Radio Free Asia and 

Voice of America and educational exchange 

programs that support individuals in 

Vietnam who advocate human rights, free 

speech, religious freedom, and legal reform.

By all accounts, since September 11, 2001, the Chinese government, 

under the guise of counter-terrorism, has intensified its crackdown 

against ethnic minorities, particularly Uighur Muslims in China’s 

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The USCIRF held the second 

session of the China Religious Freedom Roundtable on Capitol Hill 

to highlight the deplorable conditions of human rights in Xinjiang, 

and to solicit policy recommendations to advance the protection of 

human rights, including religious freedom, of the Uighur Muslims. 

Commissioners Felice D. Gaer, Nina Shea, and Michael K. Young were 

joined by State Department officials John Hanford, Ambassador-atLarge for International Religious Freedom, and Lorne Craner, Assistant 

Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, as well as 

Congressional staff and experts from academia, federal commissions, and 

religious and human rights organizations.

In the off-the-record session, participants discussed the extent to 

which the Chinese government has permitted or restricted religious 

freedom among the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, in the context of 

the government’s Uighur and religious freedom policies. In addition, 

participants received updates on the Chinese government’s ongoing 

activities to restrict the rights of Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, and 

unregistered house church members, as well as on the status of the Hong 

Kong government’s implementation of Article 23.

This session of the roundtable was held in part to prepare the USCIRF 

for its first official visit to China, which was scheduled to take place in 

August 2003. However, the visit was postponed a few days prior to the 

scheduled departure date due to unacceptable last-minute conditions 

imposed upon the USCIRF visit by the Chinese government. The 

Commission anticipates and hopes that the Chinese government will 

allow the trip to proceed with full access to relevant areas and people as 

originally promised. 

 CHINA ROUNDTABLE: THE PLIGHT OF UIGHUR MUSLIMS

To contact the Commission:

United States Commission on 

International Religious Freedom

800 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790

Washington, DC 20002

Web site: www.uscirf.gov 

E-mail: communications@uscirf.gov

Voice: 202-523-3240 Fax: 202-523-5020

Editor: Anne Johnson

Managing Editor: Eileen Sullivan

• U.S. assistance should work to ensure that all 

judges and prosecutors are trained in civil law 

and international human rights standards, 

women are recruited into the judiciary at all 

levels, and all Afghans have equal access to the 

courts. 

• Security must be improved outside 

Kabul in order for Afghanistan’s political 

reconstruction to succeed. Security is 

critical not just during the meeting of the 

Constitutional Loya Jirga, but also during 

the process of selecting delegates to that Loya 

Jirga. Delegates must be confident that they 

will be able to travel to Kabul and return in 

safety, without fear of extrajudicial reprisals 

for any acts taken at the Loya Jirga to uphold 

international human rights guarantees, 

including freedom of thought, conscience and 

religion. 

SEE INSERT FOR USCIRF OP-ED ON 

AFGHANISTAN IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

continued from page 1

On September 9, Commissioners Bansal, Gaer, Land, Ramirez, Shea, and Young (left) 

attended a luncheon for the Dalai Lama at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC.