Release of the Department of State’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

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12:35 p.m. EDT

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Thank you, Madame Secretary, and thank you for your own personal commitment to the issue of religious freedom. It's a great honor to serve both a Secretary and a President who are passionate about advancing religious freedom worldwide.

As President Bush said earlier this year, "The freedom to worship is so central to America's character that we tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others." He continued, "Our country was a leading voice on behalf of Jewish refuseniks in the Soviet Union. Americans joined in common cause with Catholics and Protestants, who prayed in secret behind the Iron Curtain. America has stood with Muslims seeking to freely practice their beliefs in places such as Burma and China."

Indeed, there is no more fundamental issue for the United States than religious liberty, and today we have gathered to present the 2007 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The report covers 198 countries and areas worldwide and offers the most comprehensive catalogue of both religious freedom abuses and improvements with respect to this fundamental right. The drafting of the report is an immense undertaking, but it's only element of the Department of State's continuous work to advance religious freedom for all persons and faiths.

Religious liberty is a revered pillar of our constitutional system, a cherished part of our history and our national character. Accordingly, the policy of the United States is to condemn violations of religious freedom and to promote the enjoyment of this fundamental right for all. Our continuous work on this issue all across the globe tangibly reflects the commitment of the American people to those who suffer religious discrimination or persecution as the cost of their faith.

Here at the State Department, hanging over one of the entrances in the oldest part of the building is a strong visual illustration of this national priority. The 50 x 12 foot painting by Kindred McCleary was completed in 1942, at the height of one of the most challenging periods in our country's history. It depicts four freedoms which have been pivotal to our nation's heritage: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and freedom of worship. Many are seeing this recently restored mural for the first time and we've chosen to feature the portion devoted to freedom of worship on the cover of some of our annual report materials this year.

In all, the mural serves today as a potent reminder that even at times of great national challenge and threat, the heart of our nation's identity encompasses the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of worship.

It's important to note that our commitment to religious freedom is not an attempt to export simply an American approach to this issue. Quite the contrary, religious freedom has been recognized as an inviolable human right under numerous international conventions and treaties. Despite this global consensus, too many governments ignore their international obligations. Millions suffer as a result, with individuals and communities forced daily to struggle against oppressive forces in order to realize this fundamental freedom. In some cases, religious believers are imprisoned or physically abused simply for the courage of their convictions. According to some estimates, half of the world's people live under persecution or serious restriction of their religious freedom.

It is this knowledge which drives our work on the annual report. The effort each year put into this 800-page compendium is extraordinary and I want give credit where credit is due. In addition to constantly monitoring, defending and promoting religious freedom around the globe, my staff in the Office of International Religious Freedom works diligently with our embassies and consulates abroad and with regional bureaus here in the Department to craft the report. Because of this meticulous work and its broad coverage, the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom is an invaluable resource read by both the powerful and the powerless, by the victims of religious persecution and by those with the ability to remedy that abuse.

Our work would be incomplete and misinformed without the close partnership of nongovernmental organizations, religious groups and individuals who are committed to defending religious freedom in their respective countries. Oftentimes, these organizations and individuals operate at the risk of their own safety, and I'd like to take this opportunity publicly to thank them for their contribution.

We also respect the work of the U.S. Congress in highlighting abuses and promoting improvements. The Congress plays a vital role in fighting for religious freedom.

Because of efforts documented in this report, as well as the efforts of many brave advocates for religious freedom around the world, we have seen significant progress this year toward reducing persecution and discrimination. We are pleased to be able to cite these improvements for many of the countries covered in the report.

Sadly, however, our work is not done, as far too many citizens of the world do not enjoy religious freedom.

In the case of China, U.S. officials, including President Bush, Secretary Rice and Deputy Secretary Negroponte, made a concerted effort to encourage greater religious freedom, condemning abuses while supporting positive trends. We continue to express our concern over the government's treatment of religious minorities. These concerns include the prevention of children in some regions from receiving religious education, new regulations that restrict the right of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns to travel in order to receive religious training, the persecution of Christians not affiliated with government-approved denominations, and government efforts to effect the forcible return to China of Uighur Muslims for their peaceful religious activism.

In Iran, the regime is unrelenting in its repression of Baha'is and has created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shia religious groups, including Sufi Muslims, some Christian groups and members of the Jewish community.

The Government of Eritrea continues to harass, arrest and detain religious minorities, particularly Protestant Christians. Some NGOs estimate the number of religious prisoners in Eritrea to be as many as 1,900.

The Burmese regime continues to infiltrate and covertly monitor meetings and activities of virtually all organizations, including religious organizations.

We are also engaged with our allies, as we are concerned about laws that effectively institutionalize discrimination against religious minorities. Examples include the passage of a discriminatory religion law in Romania with a burdensome registration system, and the amendment to the religious registration law in the Slovak Republic that significantly toughens the already demanding registration requirements. While religious freedoms are enjoyed in both countries, it's my hope that these governments will create systems that facilitate religious liberties for all, rather than stigmatize small religious communities through tiered systems of recognition.

Other governments are taking important steps to open the door to greater religious freedom. In Vietnam, nearly all religious groups report improved conditions for religious practice as many places of worship were registered, restrictions were eased, and some of the harsher forms of suppression were curtailed. The Government of Turkmenistan recently released the former Chief Mufti, who had been jailed for 22 years, and we're hopeful of additional reforms improving religious freedom. In India, the Governor of the Rajasthan Province, who later this year was elected to the presidency of the country, refused to sign a provincial anti-conversion law, effectively nullifying the law. In Bangladesh, the government took steps to protect the lives and property of Ahmadis. And in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah called for increased religious tolerance and the government took steps to remove intolerant references toward other religious groups from educational materials.

These are just some of the issues covered by the annual report. The report is a natural outgrowth of our country's history and a current reflection of our values. As Secretary of State Rice has said, "We are mindful that too many people of faith can only whisper to God in the silent sanctuaries of their conscience because they fear persecution for their religious beliefs." She concluded, "Government simply has no right to stand between the individual and the Almighty."

This annual report exists so that those who face religious persecution may know that the American people and government have not turned a blind eye to their plight, but are actively engaged in efforts to alleviate their sufferings and foster an environment where religious freedom may thrive. May this report give encouragement to persecuted communities that their stories will be told and that people of goodwill are standing with them in their hopes for a day when all may practice their beliefs without fear of restriction or reprisal.

I'll be happy now to answer any questions that you may have.

MR. CASEY: Now that you've had the musical interlude, do you want to try (inaudible)? (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Yeah. Can you comment on the report's findings on Iraq that religious freedom has deteriorated sharply over the last year?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, what we're dealing with in Iraq is really a security situation that makes it difficult for religious practice to occur in a normal way. The constitution of the new Iraqi Government actually provides rather robust guarantees, and this is something we're very pleased to see because it's a very good constitution for that region of the world. But religious minorities are vulnerable, sometimes due to their small numbers and lack of organization. For the most part, people are getting caught in the crossfire. In the case of these minorities, though, there have been cases where it's clear that certain groups have been targeted.

The real problem that we're dealing with is that with the sectarian violence, not necessarily focused upon religious practice, that at the same time religious practice winds up being affected.

MR. CASEY: Sylvie.

QUESTION: The report speaks about the deterioration of situation in Egypt. Is there a chance that Egypt could be listed as a Country of Particular Concern?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, we are not announcing today at this time what countries are going to be put on the list this year. We'll do that probably fairly soon. Last year we did it in November and perhaps about the same timeframe this year.

In the case of Egypt, there's a balance of considerations to bear in mind. For the most part, the large majority of citizens are able to practice their faith with some degree of freedom and there is a very large population of minority believers. Some of the problems that we have faced this year has to do, for example, with conversion, which of course is controversial throughout the Muslim world. The Government of Egypt has denied conversion to Christianity even by people who were born into a Christian family, later converted to Islam and then want to go back. And there are cases where converts have been held and sometimes received physical abuse.

We are pleased that one particular case that -- where a gentleman was held for 25 months, Bahaa al-Accad, that he was released not long ago, but now his life is under threat. Also we're very concerned about the Baha'i minority and there was a decision by the Administrative Court that would have given the Baha'is additional rights to have identity cards and the right, but the government appealed that decision because they did not want Baha'is to be able to have their religion on identity cards and succeeded in reversing what we felt was a positive decision by their own court system.

QUESTION: You say in the report that there have been improvements in Saudi Arabia.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: I know you're not indicating who's going to come off the list, but do you think it's a marked improvement by Saudi Arabia or do you think they still have a long way to go?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: For the most part, the items which we highlighted last November and last summer that we had been discussing in ongoing engagement with the Saudis, for the most part these are issues which the government has confirmed and identified are their policies, but they're very much still in the process of being worked out. And this has to do with, for example, reining in the mutawwa'in, the religious police, from raiding religious gatherings. To a large extent, the government has been successful in stopping this practice. The government has guaranteed the right to private worship for people of minority faiths. And any given week, you've got an enormous number of Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists who are meeting and freely practicing in homes and places like that without harassment. This is an improvement.

But we've also discussed with the Saudis the need to address the intolerant literature in their textbooks, in other educational materials that not only are used in Saudi Arabia but throughout the world because the Saudis have exported them. And they have given assurances that they are in the process, and we have been working to confirm the progress on this, of removing all intolerant references towards other faiths. They have made progress on this, but there is a ways to go for these references to be fully removed.

QUESTION: A follow-up? Can I follow on Saudi Arabia?

MR. CASEY: Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Just a couple months ago, the Commission -- the Religious Freedom Commission said that it visited Saudi Arabia and was denied the ability to meet with any government officials on this issue. And when you talk about religious groups being able to meet in private, this is not a satisfactory situation for you, is it, that, you know, in the privacy of a home some people can, you know, practice their religion. I mean, you support the public free practice of religion, correct?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's certainly correct. In the case of Saudi Arabia, I think it's important first for there to be the freedom to securely meet, as has happened for many years, in homes, and for the raids and the other problems, the deportations, the arrests, to cease. I'm not sure that the security situation right now, even if there were people who favored allowing minority faiths to build places of worship, I'm not sure that would be a good idea at this point, frankly.

In the long run, we hope that there'll be certainly a much broader respect for religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. But for now, I think a realistic goal is to create space and security for people to be able to meet. And they do in relatively large numbers and are able in most cases to hold services and religious observances that are similar to what you would see in a place of worship.

In terms of the commission's meetings, they were able to meet with some government officials. I think there were some officials that they requested to meet with who weren't available, and so they were disappointed by that.

MR. CASEY: Michel.

QUESTION: Saudi Arabia. Will you keep Saudi Arabia on the list of states with special concerns?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, I can't indicate now. That's a decision ultimately that the Secretary of State makes and we've not even gone to her with our thoughts and recommendations.

But to explain a little more what I said earlier, some of the things which we have shared over the last year that we're encouraged by are in the early stages of implementation. And I think these are -- these are significant given the context in Saudi Arabia and given the history. And we are -- I think here King Abdullah deserves a lot of credit. He has very publicly called for tolerance. He is working, for example, to grant greater representation by the Shia minority and there've been -- you know, there's been some significant success there where we now have seven Shia judges. There need to be more, but that's two more than a year ago. And so he's moving to create a more tolerant society that allows people of minority faiths to practice more freely.

But what we call in our report "positive developments" or "policy announcements" does not necessarily mean that that has been worked out and implemented yet.

MR. CASEY: Let's go to the back.

QUESTION: While the report itself is seen as effective in capturing abuses and perhaps publicizing these abuses, how do you see the sanctions that come with this identification of countries that abuse religious people? Are they effective?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's a very hard question to answer, not only on sanctions that are connected with our Government's stance in favor of religious freedom, but across the board where sanctions are imposed for other human rights issues or other types of issues. And I think you'd have to say, if you look at it over a long period of time, there's been a mixed history. You can look at efforts to address apartheid in South Africa and I think see that sanctions were very effective. In other cases, they're only -- they're questionable.

But the reason Congress placed into the International Religious Freedom Act the requirement that the Secretary of State should take some action where a country has participated in what are called "severe violations" of religious freedom, where a country crosses over that threshold -- it's a pretty high threshold -- and becomes a Country of Particular Concern was to make a clear statement to the world that this is an issue that the United States is so committed to that we feel in representing our population's concern and passion that something must be done. Sometimes governments shrug it off and, you know, changing policies affecting the entire population or affecting minority faiths where there's a lot of suspicion and historic tension, those are tough uphill climbs. Nevertheless, we are taking position on principle when we impose those sanctions.

And we hope that -- I try to follow up. Our goal is not to simply punish on this issue. Our goal is to try to open a door for continuing to work. In the case of Eritrea, for example, I really grieve over what has continued to happen there. The numbers of prisoners continue to climb. I think one would have to say the sanctions there have not borne fruit.

MR. CASEY: Let's go to this gentleman back here. And then, Samir, we'll get to you next.

QUESTION: On Cuba, please, any comment about the situation in Cuba? Have you seen change under Raul Castro's regime?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, this last year, religious groups, which are required to register with the government -- the Ministry of Justice did grant registration to a number of groups, legal registration. But other groups have not been granted that registration and the Ministry of the Interior is guilty of surveillance and infiltration and harassment of religious -- both professionals and laypersons.

There were new regulations put into place a couple of years ago that require house churches to register and this puts these churches in a very vulnerable position. There are about 10,000 house churches and they are technically illegal and vulnerable to government pressure. And then a problem that has been going on for a long time; I visited Cuba, as, I was a part of the first staff delegation from Congress when I worked up on the Hill to visit Cuba about 18 years ago or so and even then, places of worship found it almost impossible to do repairs, to do construction, to get permits. And so their National Council of Churches has stated that I think -- in the past year, virtually none of this has been allowed by the government.

MR. CASEY: Samir.

QUESTION: In comparison with last year's report, what is, in your opinion, the new and most significant development in this new report?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: I think on a positive front, I would point to Vietnam as the trend towards progress has continued. It has slowed. And we hope that that -- we hope that it will pick up again. But when I began in this job several years ago, there were dozens of religious prisoners, hundreds of places of worship had been closed, over a thousand. There was a national campaign in some regions at least, that involved forced renunciations of faith. The Government of Vietnam made a very conscious decision to change their policy and to grant a much higher degree of religious freedom. And they've reversed most of this.

As of last September, the last prisoner on our list that we were working with them on was released. So we've had dozens of prisoners released. They passed a whole new legal system, which has banned the practice of forced renunciations of faith and this has almost entirely stopped anywhere in the country. And virtually all of the places of worship which had been forcibly closed have been reopened.

They've gone beyond that. They've allowed for a new Catholic seminary, a new Protestant institute -- training institute to be set up. They've registered whole new religions that weren't even legal before. Nevertheless, there are still groups which are banned or where there are leaders which are under house arrest. It is our belief that in most cases, this is a result of the political views of these religious leaders and the positions that they've been taking publicly and we respect that and we, of course, believe in their freedom to do that. But we believe that the restrictions that they're placed under are not the result of their religious practices.

MR. CASEY: Let's go to this gentleman back here and then we'll come down this row. Go ahead, sir. Yeah.

QUESTION: The report said that the -- most religious abuse in Iraq is mostly non-state actors, not the government.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's right.

QUESTION: So are you alarmed by the violence by some government agency like the national police personally on the use of their sectarian violence in general?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, the problem here is that, you know, we believe and I think it's been clearly confirmed that some insurgents are -- and sectarian militias are putting on police uniforms and inciting sectarian violence and trying to discredit the government. And so it's very difficult to find the sort of proof that there's an organized attempt by the government to clamp down on religious practice. I think the government is committed to the principle of religious freedom. But we are not going to see that able to flourish until the violence ceases.

MR. CASEY: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Do you have any information -- that the number of religious prisoners in North Korea? Also, how many U.S. citizens religious prisoners in North Korea and China?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, we -- in North Korea, it's very difficult to get accurate information. We are able, in the case of defectors, or people who cross over into China and pass on information or -- there are very good sources in South Korea at times that give us good information. It's clear to us that there is a suppression of religious practice and an aggressive persecution that is unparalleled. I think it's fair to say that North Korea is the worst violator of religious freedom in the world. There basically is not allowance for any real religious practice, as far as we can tell. We do not have accurate numbers for the number of prisoners.

But people that have come out of prison report that often, religious prisoners received the worst treatment; in some cases, torture, deprivation of food. And we believe that there are large numbers of people in prison there simply because of their faith. Also, there are people that the government has -- that when people have come back and gone into China and had any contact at all with religious believers there, this has been viewed very negatively by the government and as far as we can tell, has resulted in extremely harsh treatment for the people who are determined to have had religious contact in China.

QUESTION: So you don't have any data for U.S. citizens in prison in China, so --

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: In China?

QUESTION: Yes.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's -- I don't. I mean, we can get back to you on that. In China, they're -- we are concerned because especially this summer, it appears that the government has been moving to crack down on religious groups to a certain extent and this has involved even the denying of visas or the expulsion of some Americans who are -- who have been accused of practicing illegal religious activity there. The fear of many is that the government is wanting these westerners out of the country; that their goal is to crack down on any chance that there might be protest in the run-up to the Olympics. And our hope is that the government will take the opportunity of the Olympics and of the worldwide spotlight that will be shown to respect religious citizens and their practice rather than to repress it.

There are a number of examples of ways in which the government seems to be clamping down on their unprecedented restrictions on Tibetan Buddhists. There have been very aggressive efforts made towards Uighur Muslims going out to some governments in South Asia and the Middle East and Europe to forcibly return Uighur Muslims to China who have spoken out about religious freedom and the like. They've denied permission for many who wish to go on the Hajj to go. And there have been cases of Protestants and Catholics who have suffered harsh treatment.

Just a few days ago, there was a Catholic priest loyal to the Vatican who died in prison and was cremated within six hours, meaning, no one got to see his body. Another Catholic priest was arrested and tortured Father Li Huisheng in Hebei, as they attempted to force him to join the Catholic Patriotic Association. And there are similar cases of Protestants too that have been beaten and harassed in this sort of aggressive way.

QUESTION: Yes. How would you assess progress in Laos at this point? I know that it -- it's been measured as having gone forward? And then there were reports of meddling with Christian groups in the Highlands. What's happening there?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's right. I've traveled there and we were pleased to see general progress in Laos. And I would say the situation is improved over what existed several years ago. The absence of rule of law has created problems and there's somewhat of an arbitrary application of the law as well, particularly in certain regions, Savannakhét and Savannakhét Province. There continue to be problems there. There are about 40 churches that were -- that remain closed -- that were closed there, although we're pleased that several of the closed churches have been open this year. And so we point to that progress.

There's also been pressure to force minority Christians to renounce their faith and this is something that had largely ceased. When I traveled there about three or four years ago, it's interesting that Laos and Vietnam were using the very same forms to force people to sign, renouncing their faith, so there was some cross-border cooperation going on there. At that point, Laos was in better shape on this practice than Vietnam. But in the case of Laos, this is cropping up again. And they've refused to register Methodists. So there continue to be scattered problems there.

MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: Ambassador Hanford, any progress to report since the last time about the reopening of the Theological School of Halki and the religious and property rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, based in Istanbul, Turkey under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Yeah. Well, we have raised this issue. We've continued to raise it at the highest levels. And we are very frustrated that no progress has been made. The Halki Seminary remains closed. This could easily be reopened and flourish again, as it had for so many decades, as a place of training. And we've also explained over and over again the problem of restricting the patriarchate to people who are citizens of Turkey, since there are only 2,500 left. And so it's very difficult to find trained successors to the Patriarch. And so we continue to raise this and we are sad to say that there is not progress that I can report.

QUESTION: One more question, Ambassador. Since the Turkish authorities recently are challenging systemically the ecumenical title of the patriarchate and of the Patriarch Bartholomew, who is the head of the Orthodox church worldwide, may we know your position on this issue and when you are raising your concern to the Turkish Government too?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Yes. We discussed the whole range of these sorts of issues and wish for the Orthodox community to be able to practice and train leaders and have full respect for their religious community.

MR. CASEY: I think we have time for a couple more. Let's go to this woman here. I understand she had her hand up for a while, then finally we'll go back to you after.

QUESTION: Okay. Just going to back to Saudi Arabia, when you talked about the progress on, you know, removing statements of intolerance in the religious literature, has any of that actually been done or is it just statements of intention at this point?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: No. There has been progress. We've -- you know, we've seen the materials and it's clear that there has been progress. And I think the dissemination issue has also been significantly addressed in terms of the government sending these materials around the world. As you know, some of those materials were showing up right here in Washington. Some were found this year at a school in London, I believe it was, but -- we do see progress, but it's clear that there are still some intolerant references that remain. And so --

QUESTION: And -- sorry, is that largely in the school textbooks or where are you seeing this mostly?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Yes, the textbooks are what I'm primarily referring to.

QUESTION: Okay.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Now there are a lot of textbooks and it's a big job to look these over. And we're taking this on as best we can and there are, of course, good nongovernmental organizations out there that have done a good job of getting copies of these and reporting intolerant references. And they provide a good service and we follow up on those items as well.

QUESTION: I was wondering about Vietnam. You mentioned that as, like, the biggest positive improvement and yet the commission in May recommended that it be restored to the list --

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Right.

QUESTION: -- in November. How do you explain that difference? You also mentioned today that progress there, in fact, has slowed.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: You know, I would say in my 20 years of working on religious freedom issues, I've never seen a country turn around -- when it was moving so strongly in one direction, turn around and undo much of the serious repression in a period of only two years without total regime change. And one would hardly ever see this sort of progress even with a total regime change. And so we feel like credit needs to be given where credit is due.

In the case of Vietnam, I've traveled there five times. I am confident that decisions were made at the highest levels to grant a greater degree of religious freedom. I think it comes down, then, to how you interpret the International Religious Freedom Act when it talks about systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom. And if you read the language, it focuses in on abusive practices which I think were a problem before; forced renunciations; people being beaten; people being imprisoned. There's a certain threshold, a pretty high threshold that needs to be met. And that's why there are only eight countries currently on that list.

Vietnam has -- there are still problems there. There are still restrictions. But Vietnam has gone beyond just addressing the harsh measures which we felt merited the CPC designation. They have addressed those rather significantly. And now, they're moving to register and make legal groups that -- like house church groups and the Baha'is have been registered and other groups that never before were able to exist legally. They're going beyond just the things that got them on the list and they're really exercising evidences of what religious freedom looks like.

Now there's a ways to go. There are still significant restrictions and there's still hoops that groups have to jump through. And we're disappointed with the progress in the North and the Northwest Highlands in the registration process, as there are many places of worship that wish to register that are having a very slow time of getting permission. The government has told us we're going to test some and see how it goes. But this is something where I think we all need to feel good that our work together with the Government of Vietnam has produced real tangible results.

MR. CASEY: Okay, last question. Go ahead, Joel.

QUESTION: Ambassador Hanford, today, there's a report that Umar al-Bashir of Sudan from Khartoum is visiting Italy. He's considered one of the world's worst human rights abusers. There's been a war between the North and the South and he's going to meet with Pope Benedict. What do you think will come from that meeting?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's a question that I really am not in a position to answer. I think that it's probably a positive thing that those discussions are occurring and -- you know, we continue to be deeply concerned at the travesty of human rights which is occurring in Sudan in the Darfur region. However, in all fairness, there have been some improvements in certain cases and certain regions, particularly in the outworking of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. And so in the South now, you have a significant degree of religious freedom.

In Khartoum, in the North, it's more problematic with the application of Sharia law and the influence of the government on the schools and the requirement of Islamic education all the way through the years of schooling. But there is progress being made there as well.

MR. CASEY: Thank you.

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