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soc.culture.burma |
Religious Freedom in Burma: Invitation to visit Burma
Burma has been desinated as a country of Particular Concern, or CPCs,
for Severe Violations of Religious Freedom by the U.S State Department
and US Commission for International Religious Freedom.
In yesterday press conference at the State Department,
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford
III:
"Secretary Rice designated one new CPC, Uzbekistan, and re-designated
seven countries which were on the CPC list last year: Burma, China,
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Sudan." (source: U.S State Department, Special Briefing,
Washington, DC, November 13, 2006)
Among the countries designated as Countries of Particular Concern for
Severe Violations of Religious Freedom, USCIRF have no policy or
country briefing on Burma since 2004. (source: Policy Briefs of US
Commission for International Religious Freedom,
http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/publications/policyfocus/archive/inde...)
Among the countries designated as Countries of Particular Concern for
Severe Violations of Religious Freedom, USCIRF commissioners and staff
has never visited Burma. (Source: Website of US Commission for
International Religious Freedom http://www.uscirf.gov/about/faqs.html)
The annual reports of USCIRF mentions that "its staff met the exiled
Burmese ethnic and religious leaders (...) and with members of
congressional and international delegations that visited Burma but
haven't met anyone else." It is therefore recommendable that USCIRF
commisioner or staff visit Burma.
They can verify the following allegations mentioned (allegation,
region, time, report) in the 2006 and 2004 reports of USCIRF.
50-feet Cross destroyed and Buddhist shrines erected, Chin State, Jan
2006, 2006 report
Buddhists attack shops, restaurants, houses of Muslims, Irrawddy, 2003,
At least seven Muslims killed and two mosques destroyed, Mandalay,
2004,
Two Muslims killed and one Buddhist monk severely injured, Arakhan, Jan
2005,
Three marriage licenses per year per village, Muslim Arakhan, since
1988,
Twelve mosques destroyed Rahine2002
Closure of Muslim school (at the house of a local Imman) Rangoon, July
2005
Eid al-Adha ceremonies forbidden, Rangoon,
Permission denied for building Churches, Chin state (certain parts),
since 1997
Permission denied for building Churches, Kachin state (certain parts),
Since 1997
Permission denied for building Churches, Karen state (certain parts),
Since 1997
House churches closed down, Rangoon, 2001-2002 and 2005
Forced conversion to Buddhism decreased, Chin and Naga, 2005, Chin,
2005
Financial and career incentives for marrying Chin Christian women
Christian clerics beaten to discourage their religious persuasion,
2003, 2004 report
Banning import of religious literature, since 1960s, 2004 report
Verification
It won't be easy to verify many of these allegations which has no
specific information. However, it is much easier to verify some
allegations.
1. Verify the allegation about banning import of religious literature
since 1960s by allowing the visiting USCIRF staff members to see in
their own eyes the religious literature imported after 1960s in the
Muslim and Christian bookstores of Yangon and elsewhere
2. Verify the allegation about issuing three marriage licenses per year
per village in Muslim Rakhine regions by allowing allowing the visiting
USCIRF staff members to see, in person, the marriage licenses issued
per year per village and to meet the married Muslim couples
3. Verify the allegation about forbidding Eid al-Adha ceremonies by
allowing the visiting USCIRF staff members to personally witness Eid
al-Adha ceremonies
4. Verify the allegation about denying building permits for
constructing churches in Chin, Karen and Kachin states to personally
witness the churches, newly and recently built
About the killings of Muslims, destroying the Cross, Mosques, closures
of Muslim school and house churches, the USCIRF staff members have to
bring the specific information on where (town), when (at least, month)
and how to verify or disprove their own allegations.
The best way to deal with the accusations of Severe Violations of
Religious Freedom in Burma is for the staff members of USCIRF to visit
Burma and make their own assessments.
Sincerely,
Jean-Marc de la Birmanie
The following commissioners or staff members of USCIRF are concerned
with the research/analysis of religious freedom in Asia and thus it
would be appropriate to invite one of them to visit Burma and make
their own assessments.
Commissioner Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver
Commissioner Preeta D. Bansal
Commissioner Dr. Khaled M. Abou El Fadl
Scott Flipse, Senior Policy Analyst
Mindy Larmore, Policy Assistant
Stephen R. Snow, Senior Policy Analyst
Contact information of USCIRF
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
800 N. Capitol Street, N.W., Suite 790
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: (202) 523-3240
Fax: (202) 523-5020
Biographies and Backgrounds
Commissioner Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver
President George W. Bush appointed The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput,
Archbishop of Denver, to the Commission. The Archbishop was born
September 26, 1944, in Concordia, Kansas, the son of Joseph and Marian
DeMarias Chaput. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Grade School in
Concordia and St. Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas. He
joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, St. Augustine Province, in
1965.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from St. Fidelis College
Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania, in 1967, Archbishop Chaput completed
Studies in Psychology at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in
1969. He earned a Master of Arts in Religious Education from Capuchin
College in Washington, D.C., in 1970 and was ordained to the priesthood
on August 29, 1970.
Archbishop Chaput received a Master of Arts in Theology from the
University of San Francisco in 1971. He served as an instructor in
theology and spiritual director at St. Fidelis from 1971-1974 and as
executive secretary and director of communications for the Capuchin
Province of St. Augustine in Pittsburgh from 1974-1977.
In 1977, Archbishop Chaput became pastor of Holy Cross Parish in
Thornton, Colorado, and vicar provincial for the Capuchin Province of
Mid-America. He was named secretary and treasurer for the province in
1980, and he became chief executive officer and provincial minister
three years later.
Archbishop Chaput was ordained Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, on
July 26, 1988. Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Denver on
February 18, 1997.
Commissioner Preeta D. Bansal
Preeta D. Bansal is a past Chair of the Commission, and was appointed
to the USCIRF by Senate Minority leader Thomas Daschle. She is a
constitutional lawyer whose career has spanned government service,
private law practice, and academia. She is currently a partner at the
firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Ms. Bansal recently was a
Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's
John F. Kennedy School of Government. She served as the Solicitor
General of the State of New York from 1999 through 2001, during the
first three years of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's
administration. As Solicitor General, Ms. Bansal helped supervise a
staff of six hundred lawyers in the New York Department of Law and
directly oversaw forty-five lawyers in the Solicitor General's Office
who handle appeals for the State of New York and its agencies in state
and federal courts, write Attorney General opinions to state and
municipal agencies on issues of state law, and provide advice and
counsel to State agencies on constitutional and statutory matters. Ms.
Bansal argued cases in the United States Supreme Court, the en banc
Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the New York Court of Appeals on
behalf of New York State; implemented managerial and administrative
reforms to enhance the credibility and quality of written and oral
advocacy performed by the office; and helped to formulate and
articulate a vision for a proactive enforcement role for state
attorneys general nationwide in the wake of the Supreme Court's "new
federalism" jurisprudence.
Ms. Bansal is a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of
Harvard-Radcliffe College, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard
Law School, where she was Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review.
She served as a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the United
States Supreme Court (1990-1991) and to Chief Judge James L. Oakes of
the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1989-1990).
Prior to her appointment as New York Solicitor General, Ms. Bansal
practiced appellate, constitutional, and media law with Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher in New York City (1996-1999), and previously with Arnold &
Porter in Washington, D.C. (1991-1993). She also served in the Clinton
Administration (1993-1996) as Counselor in the U.S. Justice Department
and as Special Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel.
Ms. Bansal has been a regular speaker and lecturer on constitutional
law, First Amendment, and intellectual property issues in the United
States and abroad, and has authored and co-authored pieces published in
the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, the Fordham Intellectual
Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, and the Villanova Law
Review, among other publications. She has been profiled in many
national news and legal publications, including The New York Times and
the New York Law Journal, in which she has been referred to as a
"legal superstar" and "one of the most gifted lawyers of her
generation, who combines a brilliant analytical mind with solid, mature
judgment."
Commissioner Dr. Khaled M. Abou El Fadl
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl has been described as the most important and
influential Islamic thinker in the modern age. He is currently a Full
Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. He was also a Visiting
Professor at Yale Law School, where he taught National Security law,
Islamic law and Immigration law. Dr. Abou El Fadl holds degrees from
Yale University, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Princeton
University. An Islamic jurist and scholar, Sheikh Abou El Fadl received
formal training in Islamic jurisprudence in Egypt and Kuwait.
A world-renowned expert in Islamic law and an American lawyer, Dr. Abou
El Fadl is a strong proponent of human rights and is on the Board of
Directors of Human Rights Watch. He regularly serves as an expert in a
wide variety of cases ranging from human rights and political asylum to
international and commercial law.
Dr. Abou El Fadl is a prolific author and prominent public intellectual
on Islamic law and Islam and is most noted for his scholarly approach
to Islam from a moral point of view. He writes extensively on universal
themes of morality and humanity, and the notion of beauty as a moral
value. Dr. Abou El Fadl is a staunch advocate and defender of women's
rights, and focuses much of his written attention on issues related to
women. As the most critical and powerful voice against puritan and
Wahhabi Islam today, he regularly appears on national and international
television and radio, and is published and cited extensively in all
media venues. His most recent works focus on issues of authority,
terrorism, tolerance, Islam, and Islamic law. His newest book entitled,
The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, is due out in
Fall 2005 from HarperSanFrancisco.
Other books by Dr. Abou El Fadl include: Conference of the Books: The
Search for Beauty in Islam (University Press of America/Rowman and
Littlefield, 2001); And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and
Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses (UPA/Rowman and Littlefield, 2001);
Speaking in God's Name: Islamic law, Authority and Women (Oneworld
Press, Oxford, 2001); Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Cambridge
University Press, 2001); The Place of Tolerance in Islam (Beacon Press,
2002); and Islam and the Challenge of Democracy (Princeton University
Press, 2004). Other forthcoming books include: Reasoning with God:
Rationality and Thought in Islam (Oneworld Press, Oxford) and Jihad in
Islam (Cambridge University Press).
Commissioner Abou El Fadl was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Scott Flipse, Senior Policy Analyst
Scott Flipse joined the Commission in April of 2003. Before coming to
the Commission he was Associate Director and Adjunct Professor of
History for the University of Notre Dame's Washington Semester. Mr.
Flipse is a specialist in American foreign policy, particularly toward
Southeast and East Asia. He brings to the Commission a wealth of unique
professional and educational experience. He served as a legislative
assistant and committee staffer for Congressman Frank R. Wolf,
specializing in human rights, religious freedom, and foreign
operation's appropriations. After working on the Hill, he helped start
an inner-city jobs and mentoring program in Los Angeles and later
worked in Hollywood as a writer. Mr. Flipse has a B.A. in government
from Calvin College, an M.A. in Social Ethics and Religion from the
University of Southern California and Fuller Theological Seminary, and
a Ph.D. in History from the University of Notre Dame.
Mindy Larmore, Policy Assistant
Mindy Larmore is a policy assistant at the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom, where her work focuses on China and
North Korea. She has been with the Commission since November, 2003.
Mindy came to the Commission from the Jamestown Foundation where she
worked on editing and production of the journal China Brief and
conducted research for the foundation's China programs. She has also
done research and translation work for Radio Free Asia and spent two
years working with a Chinese human rights organization focusing on
labor camps and political imprisonment. Mindy has received a Master's
Degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University
and Bachelors degrees in government and in East Asian Studies from the
College of William and Mary. She also completed an intensive
certificate program in Chinese language and culture at Beijing Normal
University.
Stephen R. Snow, Senior Policy Analyst
Steve Snow joined the Commission in April of 2001, after twenty-seven
years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State.
His overseas experience as an American diplomat, usually as a political
officer, was mainly in the Islamic world, with postings in Turkey,
Kuwait, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Other overseas assignments were to New
Zealand and Barbados. His domestic assignments (in State's Bureaus of
Intelligence and Research, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, and
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) dealt with a
number of countries in the Near East, Africa, and Asia. Mr. Snow has a
B.A. in International Studies from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee
and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He
studied Turkish on National Defense Foreign Language Fellowships at
Columbia University and at Michigan and Arabic at the Foreign Service
Institute in Tunis, Tunisia. His current responsibilities include
Bangladesh, Eritrea, and Sudan. He also provides back-up support as
needed on countries throughout South Asia, the Near East, and North
Africa.