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Subject: USCIRF Press
Release- China: Uighur roundtable on Capitol Hill
United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom
GFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact : Anne Johnson,
Communications
July 14, 2003 Director, (202) 523-3240,
ext. 27
China: Uighur roundtable on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON -- On July 10, 2003, the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held its
second off-the-record roundtable on religious freedom
in China in the U.S. Capitol building. The USCIRF
created this series to foster dialogue among senior
Administration officials, members of Congress, human
rights experts, NGOs, and representatives of religious
groups to advise the Administration and Congress on
U.S. policy options for promoting religious freedom
and human rights in China. Commissioners Felice D.
Gaer, Nina Shea, and Dean Michael K. Young were joined
by State Department officials John Hanford,
Ambassador-at-Large 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,
commissions, and advocacy, religious, and human rights
organizations.
The July 10 roundtable focused on the status of the
Uighurs in Xinjiang. 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. Participants suggested
steps the U.S. government could take to advance the
protection of human rights, including religious
freedom, of the Uighurs. Participants also received
updates on the Chinese government's ongoing activities
to restrict the rights of Falun Gong practitioners,
Tibetans, and unregistered house church members like
Pastor Gong Shengliang, as well as on the status of
the Hong Kong government's implementation of Article
23 (see USCIRF July 1 press release).
The USCIRF has produced reports on the status of
religious freedom in China and has recommended that
China be listed by the State Department as a "country
of particular concern" (CPC). Under the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), a CPC is a
country whose government has either engaged in or
tolerated particularly severe violations of religious
freedom, defined as violations that are "systematic,
ongoing, and egregious." IRFA sets forth that the
policy of the United States is to oppose particularly
severe violations of religious freedom. The
Commission's report on China may be viewed at
www.uscirf.gov.
Visit our Web site at www.uscirf.gov
Felice D. Gaer, Chair Dean Michael K. Young, Vice
Chair Preeta Bansal
Richard Land Bishop William F. Murphy
Bishop Ricardo Ramirez Leila Nadya Sadat Nina Shea
Ambassador John V.
Hanford III, Ex-Officio
Joseph R. Crapa, Executive Director
800 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, NW SUITE 790 WASHINGTON, DC
20002 202-523-3240
202-523-5020 (FAX)
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