Panel urges Bush to make
religious freedom pivotal
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Pointing to "egregious" violations of religious freedom in countries such as China, Vietnam and Sudan, a federal commission on religious freedom abroad has issued a new report urging the Bush administration to make the issue a central part of U.S. foreign policy.
___In its second annual report, released April 30, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reviewed the status of religious freedom in North Korea, India, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan, Vietnam, Russia, China, Nigeria and Pakistan.
___In China, religious freedom has sharply deteriorated since the commission issued its first report in May 2000, the report said.
___"The government has intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong movement and its followers. It apparently has also been involved in the confiscation and destruction of up to 3,000 unregistered religious buildings and sites in southeastern China," the report said.
___"Government control over the official Protestant and Catholic churches has increased. It continues to interfere in the training and selection of religious leaders and clergy. At the same time, the government continues to maintain tight control over Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists."
___That deterioration "validated" concerns the commission had last fall that Congress' decision to grant permanent normal trade relations status to China without demanding religious freedom reform would foster the assumption that Washington attached little importance to freedom of religion in China, the report said.
___It said the United States could take steps to correct that notion by blocking China's bid to host the 2008 International Olympic Games until the country institutes reforms.
___Similar reform guarantees could be extracted from the Vietnamese government if the United States withheld its support for a proposal that would have the World Bank and International Monetary Fund give the country $800 million in loans for economic reform, the commission suggested.
___Pressure for reform in both China and Sudan--where, the report said, religious persecution has reached "genocidal proportions"--could be applied by limiting access to U.S. capital markets for companies conducting business with those governments, the panel said.
___"There is a significant, undesirable gap in U.S. law regarding China and other ... egregious religious-freedom violators," the report said, pointing out that in some instances, companies--particularly oil companies--that conduct business with such governments can sell securities on U.S. markets without fully exposing details such as any connection between their business activities and violations of religious freedom.
___The report also recommended Washington keep close watch on religious freedom in Russia, where "1,500 religious groups face liquidation" under a 1997 law that mandates government registration before a religious group can operate.
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