Summary

SEGMENT [ALL] 2011/09/13 ************************************************ Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton announces the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) Designations and releases the Annual Report On International Religious Freedom (IRF) for July through December 2010, at the Department of State Open-in briefing room - FOX POOL LIVE She also comments on the attack on the US embassy in Kabul Secretary Clinton announces the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) Designations and releases the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (IRF) for July through December 2010, in the briefing room at the Department of State SLUG: 1000 CLINTON CPC RS31 71 AR: 16x9 Disc: 698 NYRS: 5104 [TRANSCRIPTION JOINED IN PROGRESS] 10:06:45 before I begin on this important topic, I want to address the issue of Afghanistan where there was an attack on our embassy in Kabul 10:07:23 we are following the situation very closely 10:07:52 I want to say a word about our civilians who serve at our embassy 10:09:29 as you know, the protection of religious freedom is a fundamental 10:10:38 in china, Tibetan Buddhists 10:11:33 this sort of hateful violence SECRETARY HILLARY CLINTON: (In progress) -- promote religious tolerance. One of those is U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 1618, which was introduced by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and adopted by consensus in March. It calls on all states to take concrete action against religious bigotry through tolerance, education, government outreach, service projects and interfaith dialogue. And we worked very hard with a number of nations and with the OIC to pass this resolution, and we will be working with our OIC and European counterparts on implementing it. And Ambassador Johnson Cook is leading our efforts. We have also seen Turkey take serious steps to improve the climate for religious tolerance. The Turkish government issued a decree in August that invited non-Muslims to reclaim churches and synagogues that were confiscated 75 years ago. I applaud Prime Minister Erdogan's very important commitment to doing so. Turkey also now allows women to wear head scarves at universities, which means female students no longer have to choose between their religion and their education. Third, as we release this report we reaffirm the role that religious freedom and tolerance play in building stable and harmonious societies. 10:14:10 Hatred and intolerance are destabilizing. When governments crack down on religious expression, when politicians or public figures try to use religion as a wedge issue or when societies fail to take steps to denounce religious bigotry and curb discrimination based on religious identity, they embolden extremists and fuel sectarian strife. And the reverse is also true. When governments respect religious freedom, when they work with civil society to promote mutual respect or when they prosecute acts of violence against members of religious minorities, they can help turn down the temperature. They can foster a public aversion to hateful speech without compromising the right to free expression. And in doing so, they create a climate of tolerance that helps makes a country more stable, more secure and more prosperous. So the United States government will continue our efforts to support religious freedom. We are engaging with faith groups to address the issues that affect them. Our embassies encourage interfaith dialogue, and we will speak out against efforts to curtail religious freedom, because it is our core conviction that religious tolerance is one of the essential elements not only of a sustainable democracy, but of a peaceful society that respects the rights and dignity of each individual. People who have a voice in how they are governed, no matter what their identity or ethnicity or religion, are more likely to have a stake in both their government's and their society's success. That is good for stability, for American national security and for global security. And with that, let me introduce both our assistant secretary and our ambassador-at-large to come forward. Thank you all very much. Q: Madam Secretary, could you just -- do you have anything to -- what your -- can you tell us anything about your understanding of what's going on with -- in Iran with the -- with the -- with the hikers and President Ahmadinejad saying that they might be able -- that they will be freed? 10:16:16 SEC. CLINTON: Well, Matt, as you know, we have followed this very closely, and we are encouraged by what the Iranian government has said today. But I'm not going to comment further than that. We obviously hope that we will see a positive outcome from what appears to be a decision by the government. Q: Thank you. MICHAEL POSNER: Thank you. Good morning, everybody. 10:16:53 As you know, the State Department is mandated by law to produce this report each year. The secretary of state also designates countries of particular concern, countries whose governments have, and I quote the statute, "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom." Secretary Clinton has designated eight states as countries of particular concern. They are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. All of these countries have been long-term, chronic and egregious violators of religious freedom. The report documents in full detail the violations that have prompted these designations. In Burma, for example, hundreds of Buddhist monks are still in prison, and the government refuses to recognize that the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, are Burmese citizens. In China, the government's overall level of respect for religious freedom declined in 2010 and it -- and has worsened this year. The repression of Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims continues. In Iran, members of the Bahai are arrested, expelled from university, and their leaders languish in prisons. Saudi Arabia prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam, and the government discriminates against the Shia minority. And in Uzbekistan it's illegal to proselytize, and it's dangerous for a Muslim even to discuss religious issues outside of a state-sanctioned mosque. 10:18:30 These and many other violations in the eight countries of particular concern are spelled out in great detail in the report. But I want to emphasize that the list is by no means the only measure of serious violations of religious freedom. In a significant number of other countries, we are also closely monitoring official repression of religious minorities or official indifference to their plight and urging governments to uphold their affirmative obligations to protect religious freedom. Let me mention a few. We are deeply concerned about the fate of Christians in Syria. Many of these people have been victimized twice. They fled the violence in Iraq, and now many are seeking to flee Syria. The government has created a climate of instability and violence in which the human rights of thousands are being violated on a daily basis. In Pakistan, the government has not reformed a blasphemy law that has been used to prosecute religious minorities and in some cases Muslims who promote tolerance, or to settle personal vendettas. This year there have also been several assassinations of those who called for reform of the blasphemy laws, including the Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minorities, whom Secretary Clinton and I met in February before he was killed. The government of Pakistan has taken steps to address these rising concerns. For example, in March Shahbaz Bhatti's brother, Paul, was appointed to a special adviser on religious minorities to the prime minister. In July the government also created a Ministry of National Harmony, which will have oversight for protection -- protecting religious minorities at a national level. And in August President Zardari celebrated National Minorities Day and committed his government to support protection of minority religious rights. We will continue to engage with the government of Pakistan to address these issues, to promote tolerance and to improve religious freedom. In Iraq religious minorities and Shia pilgrims have been the targets of devastating attacks since 2003. Last October more than 50 worshipers were killed in an attack on our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad. We welcome the fact that the government of Iraq has tried and convicted the perpetrators of that attack, but the tragic massacre of the Shia pilgrims that Secretary Clinton mentioned that came to light yesterday indicates that there is more work to be done. In Vietnam the record is mixed. While the government has allowed hundreds of new places of worship to be built, significant problems remain, especially at the provincial and village levels. These include slow or no approval of registration for some groups, especially in the north and northwest highlands. There are also reports of harsh treatment of detainees after the protest over the closing of a Catholic cemetery in Con Dau parish. And the government reimprisoned Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic human rights defender, who has been paroled 16 months earlier after suffering a series of strokes while in prison. In Egypt tensions between Christians and Muslims continue. For example, in January a bomb at the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria killed 22 people. After the fall of the Mubarak government in February, soldiers fired on unarmed Copts at the Saint Bishoy Monastery, wounding six. And in May clashes between Muslims and Christians in Imbaba left 15 dead, 232 injured. In response to the Imbaba clashes, military leader Marshal Tantawi issued a strongly worded public condemnation of sectarian attacks, and 48 suspects have been referred for trial. Prime Minister Sharaf has ordered 17 churches be allowed to reopen across Egypt. We will continue to call on the government to pass a unified law which would set one single unified standard for building houses of worship that would apply both to Christians and Muslims. And we stand ready to support political, religious and civic leaders in Egypt as they work to build a new society where democracy and religious tolerance can flourish. In these and other places, we will continue to review and assess the state of religious freedom, and we are prepared to designate other countries as countries of particular concern as the situation warrants. Finally, I would urge leaders of all these nations and civil society groups as well to use this report as a resource to help identify and address violations of religious freedom. We stand ready to help. Now it's my pleasure to introduce Suzan Johnson Cook, who is the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. 10:23:38 SUZAN JOHNSON COOK: Thank you, Mike, and good morning. It is a privilege to be with all of you today as we release this important report. You know, I was sworn in on May 16th after a long haul to get here, but it was worth the wait. Throughout my career, I've had the privilege and opportunity to work with people of different faiths, to bring them together to achieve common goals. It is my belief that in order to live peacefully side by side, we cannot allow violence based on religion to continue under any circumstances. In my first months in the Office of International Religious Freedom, I've met with interfaith leaders from Switzerland, Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, OIC. And I'm working with my colleagues in the U.S. government and the religious community to address systemic challenges to religious intolerance. As the secretary said in her remarks last week, too many countries in the world today do not allow people to exercise their religious freedom, or they make it difficult or dangerous to do so. So as hard as it may be, we need to get up every day and keep trying to make a difference. The International Religious Freedom Report we're releasing today is one way to do that. It shines a spotlight on this fundamental human rights issue and guides our policy-making. The report is the work of my dedicated and talented staff in the International Religious Freedom Office, who have put in long hours, as have all our missions overseas and others here in Washington, to verify that this report is comprehensive, accurate and fair. I would also like to thank the hundreds of activists and academics who regularly provide us with reporting and analysis, sometimes at great personal risk. This year we are publishing the report on our website, www.humanrights.gov. Humanrights.gov is now the one-step location for all our human rights reporting, and we're updating it every day with other State Department statements, speeches and materials. This report covers every country, every faith, and myriad forms of harassment, persecution and abuse on the basis of religion. We hope we will prompt other countries to redouble their efforts to create an environment where citizens can freely follow their faith or profess no faith, according to their own conscience. In some cases, we spotlight government violations of the right to religious freedom, and in other cases we call out governments that are not doing enough to stop violence by some citizens against others. Sadly, the list is long. So I urge all of you to read the executive summary, where we have distilled in just a few pages the state of religious freedom in 2010. Obviously, a great deal has happened since the end of 2010, including the upheaval in the Middle East and an uptick in sectarian violence there, so we've included a summary of key developments around the world in 2011. We also use shoe-leather diplomacy, where -- at the State Department we call engagement. It's going to countries and talking to government officials, religious leaders, educators, human rights activists, journalists, young people and others about how to combat hatred and religious persecution. So I'm going to be hitting the road in the fall. I hope to visit a number of countries that face challenges in protecting religious freedom, including Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And the third way we make a difference is by spotlighting examples of where things are going right. So I also plan to travel to countries that are doing the hard work of resolving religious animosities and taking practical steps to guarantee religious freedom to all their citizens. In July I went with Secretary Clinton to Istanbul for a meeting on combatting religious intolerance. As the lead U.S. coordinator for the implementation of the U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 1618, which she referred to this morning, I'm eager to work with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and others, other partners, to discuss best practices and exchange ideas on how to best protect freedom of religion. 10:27:45 I will convene a meeting of experts later this year with participants from around the world and from a wide variety of faiths and religions. We'll talk about how to counter offensive expression, through education, interfaith dialogue and public debate, and how to prohibit discrimination, profiling and hate crimes. And we will share ways of combatting hate without compromising the universal right to free expression, because everyone must have the right to believe as well as the right to manifest their belief. So I want o thank you for coming this morning. And Assistant Secretary Posner and I will be happy to take your questions. Thank you. STAFF: Questions? Go ahead. Q: Thank you. I have two questions regarding China. The first is, according to CECC, the Congressional and Executive Commission on China, according to their report, Beijing had launched a new round of -- a campaign since year 2010 to year 2012 that says -- quoting -- for increased transformation of Falun Gong practitioners. So I'm wondering if you have been aware of this persecution, this continued persecution. And the second question is, recently China is trying to amend the criminal procedure law, and if this is adopted, it would expand the police power and it may authorize the forced disappearance. So what's your comments on that? MR. POSNER: Sure. Let me just put those two questions in a slightly broader context. We've said repeatedly that we have concerns about what really has been a deteriorating human rights situation, especially since February of this year. I was in China in April for the human rights dialogue. We raised a number of these issues publicly. And the specific question you raise with the Falun Gong is part of a broader pattern. We have concerns about the treatment of those who are in unregistered churches, so-called house churches, the Shouwang church, for example, in Beijing, where, beginning around Eastertime, people were not allowed to gather and a number of the leaders of that church were put in prison. We have concerns about the Uighur community and restrictions on Muslim religion. We have concerns about the Tibetan community -- the Kirti monastery, where 300 monks were taken from the monastery and detained. So there's a broader pattern of religious and other persecution that's part of a broader human rights problem. I also would call out the case of Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who has represented religious communities and who's been missing since April of 2010. Q: Follow up? Two questions, one just to follow up on China. As far as religious freedom in China, you say you have been visiting China and meeting officials and all. But, one, what answer do you get from them as far as their -- not their belief or not belief, but how they prosecute people because of their faith, especially people from -- Tibetans and Buddhists are still in jails, and we don't know and you may not know how many of them. And every day, they go to jail because of their belief in God or in what they worship. So what do you hear from them? Year after year, this report comes and you meet and greet here and there and all that. MR. POSNER: Well, you know, I take the view -- first of all, we will continue to raise these issues in China and elsewhere, because they're universal norms; they apply to every country in the world. And there's an obligation of every government to respect those norms. We have continuous discussions as part of a broader engagement with China, but these issues are an important part of that dialogue. And I can't tell you that every time I've had a conversation we've agreed or had satisfying results, but I do believe that raising these issues both publicly and privately serves a number of purposes. It provides assurance to people in the country that we're paying attention, we know what's going on. It reinforces their commitment to move -- to continue working. And in some cases, we have been able to get results, like releases or better conditions. We'll continue to press, even if some of the discussions are difficult. Q: And my other question is on overall religious freedom. (Let's say ?) I've been going through this report and also what you said and secretary said as far as in Pakistan, and also Saudi Arabia. And including in the U.S., or in Saudi Arabia or in Pakistan, if you go in the mosques, the teachings are not about their religion or teachings; it is basically hatred against other religions in the mosques. And also, in Pakistan, Hindus and Sikhs and Christians are under attack more and more, as you go through the last year's report. But government officials have not taken any steps against those, even -- including reading these 13 lines on Pakistan. So Pakistan -- like an open society in many ways, and friends of the United States and ally; and also, on comparing with Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, it may be a different story, because in Saudi Arabia they don't allow any non- Muslims to practice anything, but in Pakistan it's a different society. But still, why is it Pakistan has not been -- taken care of taking any steps against those who practice with other religious people? MR. POSNER: Well, I think what I said in my opening comments -- well, we are -- as your comments suggest, or your question, we are concerned about the blasphemy law, about the intolerance in Pakistan, about the murder of Minister Bhatti and Governor Taseer. At the same time, the government has in the last several months taken a few positive steps, and we are working with the government on the assumption that these issues need to be addressed. We are -- we work with the government on a range of things. This is an important subject, and the increasing extremism in that society I think is worrying to everybody. So we are very mindful of the things you raise in both Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia, and these are issues that we're very attentive to and will be more so. Q: One more quickly, if you don't mind. STAFF: Come on, let's give -- Goyal, let's give some other people a chance. Betty (sp). Q: Thank you. You've mentioned engagement as a way of promoting religious tolerance in different countries. What about the countries where you don't have access to, where you don't have any relations, you don't have presence -- such as Iran, for example? MR. POSNER: Well, we are, obviously, very frustrated by a number of things in Iran, including the continued harassment of the Baha'i. There were seven Baha'i leaders who were sentenced to 20 years in jail. The government then reduced it to 10, and now they've upped it again to 20 years. They're eight leaders of one of the Baha'i schools of higher education that are being put on trial. People -- Baha'i kids can't go to the regular universities. So there's a range of things, not only the Baha'i but other minority communities. We raised these issues. We continue raising these issues. We have obviously a difficult relationship with that government or North Korea, other places that are on the list. But I think it is again important for us to be clear about the facts, to hold every government to the same standards. It does reinforce people in those societies who understand and know that the United States government is listening and paying attention. Q: (Off mic) -- in Geneva, but even they apparently have not had any effect. Is there any other mechanisms through which you can get to these countries, such countries? MR. POSNER: Well, I think, with respect to Iran in particular, there is now a special rapporteur that's focused on Iran, who's just beginning his work. And I think that will also play a useful role. It's not just the United States, it's the global community; the Human Rights Council selected that individual. And we're now going to see whether the government lets him in and if -- and what kind of a report he produces and then what the reaction is. 10:36:34 But again, I think there's a drumbeat, and there's a growing view in this world that these issues of human rights and religious freedom are part of what's expected of every government in the global community. Q: Was the OIC itself helpful at all? It's Islamic. MR. POSNER: Well, I think, again -- and Sujay can speak to this as well, I hope, and will -- I think the OIC has helped us change the discussion, which was a very negative discussion of defamation, which was at the Human Rights Council for a decade or so. We were debating endlessly a Pakistan and OIC-promoted resolution that really pitted us against some of the Islamic countries because it focused on ways to restrict free speech. Our view is that free speech and promoting religious tolerance and harmony are consistent. And so what the OIC secretary-general has done and -- Sujay and Secretary Clinton were with him in Istanbul -- is to talk about an alternative, this 1618 resolution, which has now been adopted by the U.N., which says let's go at the problem of religious discrimination, religious intolerance affirmatively. Let's find some practical ways forward. And he's listed about a dozen of them. Those are useful things, and that's partly what we need to be focusing on: an affirmative agenda. MS. JOHNSON COOK: And the resolution that was achieved was the result of 10 years' worth of work, and so it's an ongoing effort. But we're now at the implementation stage. And so Istanbul was a successful trip, and we're going forward with my hosting the experts in December here at the secretary's invitation. So it's ongoing, and so we will not let it go. Thank you. Q: Hi. I wanted to ask you about Israel. There's issues of Christians and Muslims being able to worship freely, and also there's been several attacks on mosques in the West Bank. Have you been speaking to the Israeli government about this? How much responsibility do they hold in trying to protect as an occupying power? MR. POSNER: We do speak to the Israeli government about this and a range of other human rights issues. I've been myself particularly involved since the Goldstone report in dealing with some of the issues of humanitarian access, et cetera in the context of a U.N. resolution. But I would say, I think to put this in a broader frame, at the center of a lot of the tensions in Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza is the absence of a peace process, of a peace process that's yielding a two-state solution. That's what we favor. A lot will be -- a lot of human rights issues are going to be dealt with much more directly and easily once we have that process up and running and once we get a result. STAFF: Go ahead. Q: Thank you. Could you comment on the situation on religious freedom in Georgia in general? And also, I was wondering if you would give us some more details about Uzbekistan (and all ?) the former Soviet states that appear in -- (inaudible). MR. POSNER: I don't have anything, I think, to add to what's in the report on Georgia. 10:39:54 With respect to Uzbekistan, we have had a set of -- I've been to Uzbekistan twice. We had a -- my colleague Tom Melia was part of a bilateral dialogue that occurred last week here with the government of Uzbekistan, and one of the things he raised, and Ambassador Blake, is the issue of religious freedom. We continue to have concerns about both restrictions on the ability of religion -- religious groups -- unregistered groups to participate, to operate openly. I met with a number of religious figures when I was last there who had church services disrupted, some religious leaders arrested. So there really is an ongoing problem there, and we are eager to work with the government to try to improve that record. STAFF: One last question. Go ahead. Q: Hitting Pakistan again, I wondered if you see any progress on the blasphemy law and whether you've considered adding it as a CPC. MR. POSNER: We certainly consider adding any country, and there -- and we are very mindful, as I said in my opening comments, about the -- both misuse of the blasphemy law, the fact that it's been applied so often and the fact that some people have been -- have received severe sentences as a result of it. We are going to continue to work with the government. We've seen some positive steps in the last few months. But I think the message here is we have great concern about the overall situation of extremism and intolerance in Pakistan, and we stand ready to work with the government to try to address that. STAFF: Thank you all.