FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2004
Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27
WASHINGTON - Preeta D. Bansal, Chair of the U.S. Commission
on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), will testify tomorrow
at a hearing on the State Department's 2004 Annual
Report on International Religious Freedom and its designation
of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs). The hearing
is being held by the House International Relations Committee of
the U.S. House of Representatives (HIRC). You can access this testimony
online at our website (www.uscirf.gov) in either PDF
or HTML format.
In a September 15 press release, the Commission welcomed the release
of the Annual Report and lauded the announcement by Secretary of
State Powell of the designation of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Eritrea
as (CPCs) for severe religious freedom violations. In addition,
Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan were re-named as CPCs.
Though the USCIRF supports the new designations of these three countries,
the Commission would like to call attention to the fact that CPC
designation is not an end point, but only the beginning of focused
diplomatic activity to promote freedom of religion or belief.
What: Hearing on the State Department's
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Designations
of Countries of Particular Concern
Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172
When: Wednesday, October 6, 2004, 10:30 a.m.
Others testifying are:
The Honorable John V. Hanford III, Ambassador-at-Large for International
Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State;
Mark B. Levin, Executive Director of the National Conference on
Soviet Jewry;
Paul Marshall, Senior Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom
House;
Timothy Shah, Senior Fellow in Religion and International Affairs,
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life; and
Ali Al-Ahmed, Director, Saudi Institute.
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