US Commission on International Religious Freedom Urges China to Stop Persecuting Religious and Spiritual Groups

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in its annual report on the status of religious freedom worldwide, stated that the Chinese government continues to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom. The report released on May the 12th 2004, said that the Chinese government bans Falun Gong and other groups and justifies its ongoing brutal crackdown by labelling these groups as "cults". The commission recommended that the U.S. government should urge the Chinese government to end its current crackdown on religious and spiritual groups throughout China.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent federal government agency created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to monitor religious freedom in other countries and advise the President, Secretary of State, and Congress on how best to promote it.

According to the report, the Chinese government continues to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom. The State Department has stated publicly that conditions of human rights, including religious freedom, deteriorated in 2003. Moreover, the Chinese government has not fulfilled commitments it made during the December 2002 U.S.-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue. Chinese government officials control, monitor, and restrain religious practice, purportedly to protect national security or stability and public safety or health. However, the government's actions to restrict religious belief and practice reportedly go far beyond legitimate protection of security interests and exceed what is permissible under international law. According to the report, for the last four years, USCIRF has recommended that China be designated as a "country of particular concern," or CPC. The State Department has followed the Commission's recommendations and named China a CPC.

The report also highlighted the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong. It said, "Since 1999, the Chinese government has labelled the Falun Gong and similar groups as 'cults,' effectively banning them and 'justifying' its ongoing brutal crackdown. There are allegations that hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labour camps without trial or been sent to mental health institutions for re-education.(1) Falun Gong practitioners claim that 430 (2) practitioners have been killed as a result of police brutality. According to the Falun Gong, the Chinese government has continued to pressure foreign businesses in China to discriminate against its followers. Many local officials in foreign countries have also stated that they have received warnings from Chinese diplomatic personnel to stop their advocacy on behalf of Falun Gong and its practitioners."

According to the report, the Commission has recommended that the U.S. government should ensure that efforts to promote religious freedom in China are integrated into the mechanisms of dialogue and cooperation with the Chinese government at all levels, across all departments of the U.S. government, and on all issues, including security and counter-terrorism.

It suggests the U.S. government to urge the Chinese government to end its current crackdown on religious and spiritual groups throughout China, including harassment, surveillance, arrest, and detention of persons on account of their manifestation of religion or belief; the detention, torture, and ill-treatment of persons in prisons, labour camps, psychiatric facilities, and other places of confinement; and the coercion of individuals to renounce or condemn any religion or belief.

In addition, the Commission also requests the U.S. government to prohibit U.S. companies doing business in China from engaging in practices that would constitute or facilitate violations of religious freedom or discrimination on the basis of religion or belief.

Full content of the report can be found at:

http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/12May04/finalReport.php3?scale=800

(1) Reports from China indicate that over a hundred thousand practitioners have been sent to forced labour camps without trial, and that at least a thousand, perhaps more, mentally healthy individuals have been confined in mental hospitals where they are subjected to brainwashing and forcefully administered drugs which can damage the nervous system.

(2) At present, it has been verified that at least 975 Falun Gong practitioners have died from the persecution in China, but the actual death toll is believed to be much higher.