default header
18 September 2006
Weekly Review of Developments in Human Rights and Democracy
State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report; opening of United Nations General Assembly; death of Turkmen RFE/RL correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova; intimidation of exiled Turkmen human rights and democracy activists; honors for couple for actions during Holocaust; attacks on journalists in Ukraine
Following are some of the most significant recent U.S. government policy pronouncements, hearings and reports on human rights and democracy concerning Eurasia, as well as some noteworthy materials released by international organizations and nongovernmental organizations.
For additional coverage of the topics listed below and related issues, see Europe and Eurasia.
STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASES 2006 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT
"The United States seeks to promote religious freedom and tolerance and build a more peaceful world for the peoples of all faiths," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the release of the State Department’s eighth annual International Religious Freedom Report September 15. (See related article.)
The 2006 report examines countries’ commitment to advancing religious freedom from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006. (See related article.)
The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 requires an annual review of the status of religious freedom worldwide. The report to Congress documents governments’ actions that could be a barrier to religious freedom, including repressing religious expression, persecuting people for their beliefs or tolerating violence against religious minorities. The report also lists governments that respect, protect and promote religious freedom.
In addition, the act requires designating countries that have “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as a “country of particular concern (CPC).”
The full texts of the 2006 report and previous reports are available on the State Department Web site.
For more information, see International Religious Freedom and Democracy Dialogues’ Freedom of Religion.
UNITED STATES HOPES TO RAISE U.N. REFORM, HUMAN RIGHTS AT U.N. MEETING
The Bush administration is placing management reform and human rights at the top of its agenda for the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly and hopes to gain assurances from the organization as to its use of member resources, as well as direct its attention to critical human rights situations around the world.
In an interview with the Washington File, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kristen Silverberg discusses some of the key issues at the General Assembly sessions. (See related article.)
For more information, see The United States and the United Nations.
DEATH OF TURKMEN JOURNALIST SPARKS INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
The death in a Turkmen prison of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova has sparked concern and questions around the world.
“We are very concerned about the death of a prisoner in the government of Turkmenistan's custody and are working to gather the facts,” the State Department spokesman said in a statement issued September 14. (See related article.)
Muradova was arrested June 18, the third RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent to be arrested in 2006. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central and Southwestern Asia funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
“The exact circumstances of Ms. Muradova's death remain unclear, and we call upon the Government of Turkmenistan to provide the results of the autopsy they conducted,” the State Department spokesman said. “We will remain closely engaged through our Mission regarding this situation.”
In a statement issued September 15, U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas, and Co-Chairman Representative Christopher H. Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, expressed sadness at Muradova’s death and called on the government of Turkmenistan to conduct a “thorough and transparent” investigation of her death. (See statement on Helsinki Commission Web site.)
The chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, also expressed deep concern September 15 about Muradova’s death and called for “a full and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death." (See statement on OSCE Web site.)
RIGHTS GROUPS REACT TO NEW ATTEMPTS TO INTIMIDATE EXILED TURKMEN
The government of Turkmenistan is continuing its attempts to intimidate exiled Turkmen human rights activists and opposition members by harassing or arresting their relatives still in the Central Asian country, according to a September 15 joint statement by the independent human rights advocacy groups the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR).
IHF and the TIHR say they are concerned this latest intimidation represents new attempts to force exiled human rights activists and critics of the regime of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov “to give up their efforts to shed light on the human rights situation in Turkmenistan and to promote democratic change in the country.”
“In its clampdown on all forms of dissent, the Turkmen authorities have in recent years increasingly targeted family members of human rights activists and opposition leaders living abroad, including through the use of threats, interrogation, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment and imprisonment after unfair trials,” the statement says.
The full text of the IHF/TIHR statement is available on the IHF Web site.
HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HONORS COUPLE WHO HELPED SAVE THOUSANDS FROM NAZIS
The United States Holocaust Museum honored the Reverend Waitstill Sharp (1905–1999) and his wife Martha Sharp (1902–1984) at a September 14 ceremony for their role in helping approximately 2,000 Jews and political dissidents escape from near-certain death in Nazi-occupied Europe. (See related article.)
In June, the Sharps were named "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem memorial to the 6 million victims of the Nazi Holocaust or Shoah and to the heroes who often risked their lives to save them.Only one other American has been so honored.
Working out of Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Sharps overcame bureaucratic obstacles to emigration, crisscrossing Europe to secure necessary travel papers, job offers or scholarships often required for entry visas. Later, they arranged transit and frequently accompanied their charges on their dangerous journeys to freedom.
Working with such champions of justice as the writer Varian Fry (the first American named “Righteous Among the Nations”) and the American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV, the Sharps established a Unitarian Service Committee office in Lisbon, Portugal, a key departure point for refugees. At Fry's request, Waitstill Sharp also served as Emergency Rescue Committee representative in Marseilles, France. (See related article on Hiram Bingham.)
Additional information about the United States Holocaust Museum is available on its Web site.
PRESS GROUP ALARMED BY RISE IN ATTACKS ON UKRAINE JOURNALISTS
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is alarmed at a sudden increase in attacks on press freedom and on individual journalists throughout Ukraine, according to a September 14 statement by the international nongovernmental organization.
IFJ cites as cause for alarm a series of incidents in August in which journalists were kidnapped, beaten and denied access to press conferences, while the authorities issued new restrictions on the work of journalists.
The federation also is concerned that, six years after the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, those responsible for ordering his murder have yet to be prosecuted.
The lack of resolution in the Gongadze case is related to the upsurge in attacks on press freedom and journalists, IFJ argues. (See statement on IFJ Web site for further details.)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
