From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: Condi's New, Challenging Human Rights Domain

� A New Look | Main | NAOMI Is Coming to Town �

Condi's New, Challenging Human Rights Domain

February 08, 2005

Eritrea Daily says new Sec. of State Condi Rice must closely consider religious freedom issues in Eritrea, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Yes, they've got an agenda, but they're not quite whistling Dixie, either. Here's thier update, and more importantly, perhaps, a link (next graf) to the latest from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. (Religious freedom.....Gee, that's something that we here in The West kinda take for granted, huh?).

The report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom bears a closer look. Some key excerpts:

U.S COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. RECS. FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT ACTIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE DESIGNATION OF SAUDI ARABIA, VIETNAM, AND ERITREA AS COUNTRIES OF PARTICULAR CONCERN (CPCs) FEBRUARY 3, 2005.
.....The President should issue a proclamation, under his authority pursuant to section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 USC 1182(f)), to bar those Saudi government officials from entering the United States who have been responsible for propagating globally an ideology that explicitly promotes hate and intolerance.

....The U.S. government should issue a demarche urging the government of Saudi Arabia to cease funding or other support for written materials or other activities that explicitly promote hate, intolerance, and human rights violations, including the distribution of such materials in the United States and elsewhere outside of Saudi Arabia.

...Some private groups in the United States have found materials, funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, in U.S. mosques and private schools that contain inflammatory and inciteful content, including material that promotes hatred and intolerance of certain religious groups. The U.S. government has stated publicly that, since the May and November 2003 terrorist bombings in Riyadh, the Saudi government has been increasingly cooperative in the war on terror, particularly on terrorist financing issues. The U.S. should demand a similar kind of cooperation in the arena of Saudi funding for the propagation of this kind of ideology, which goes beyond the direct financing of terrorism.

Therefore, the U.S. government must send an unequivocal message to the government of Saudi Arabia regarding the danger of these kinds of activities and request that the Saudis cease any direct or indirect support for written materials or other activities that explicitly promote hate, intolerance, and human rights violations.

....VIETNAM

....The U.S. government should determine those Vietnamese agencies, instrumentalities, and, in particular, specific officials thereof who are responsible for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.....The Commission recommends that the Secretary of State pay particularly close attention to officials in those localities where most of the recent abuses of freedom of religion or belief, including arrests, detentions, harassment, and forced denunciations of faith, have occurred. These include the Party Chairman and other relevant officials from the provinces of Dak Lak, Gai Lai, Bien Phuoc, Dak Nong, Thua Thien, Binh Dinh, Lau Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, and the cities of Hue and Ho Chi Minh City.

...ERITREA...The United States should engage in vigorous advocacy of religious freedom and other universal human rights at all levels of involvement with the government of Eritrea and should draw international attention to religious freedom abuses in Eritrea, including in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The Commission notes its disappointment that the government of Eritrea has not yet registered any of the religious groups whose places of worship were closed and public religious activities prohibited in 2002 pending compliance with registration requirements.

The Commission has also continued to receive reports of the arrest and detention without charge of clergy and others engaged in the practice of their faith. The U.S. government must therefore intensify its diplomatic efforts to persuade the government of Eritrea to improve conditions for religious freedom in that country, including by conducting the registration process in a timely, nondiscriminatory, and transparent manner, permitting public worship pending registration, releasing all persons detained for their religious activities, and ending interference with private worship.

Greater U.S. efforts are needed to focus international attention on the religious freedom situation in Eritrea. International awareness has been hampered by the lack of foreign media coverage of Eritrea and by the absence, due to government repression, of indigenous human rights organizations, a free press, or an open political opposition.

Accordingly, the United States should thus make every effort to promote consideration of freedom of religion conditions in Eritrea at the international level, including in public fora such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Similarly, the United States should strongly urge the government of Eritrea to invite a visit to Eritrea by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. In addition, the United States should coordinate its efforts with those of like-minded countries. For example, the European Union has already included freedom of religion in its political dialogue with Eritrea.

A lot to chew on here. Including whether the U.N's efforts on any of this stuff are worth doodly-squat. But, at least give the U.S. Commisssion On International Religious Freedom high marks for bringing this into public view.

Will these worthy objectives gain any traction whatsoever? I wonder. Considerable "extra-U.N." measures may be necessary.