Senate Hearing - 09.07.2000

 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened a hearing on the on the State Department's 2000 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The report was released on September 5^th and contains factual evidence on religious persecution worldwide as well as recommendations on the U.S. response to such persecution.  Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) presided.  

The two panels giving testimony included Ambassador Robert Seiple, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and Michael Young, Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh and John Bolton of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Ambassador Seiple’s testimony included a report on countries of particular concern (CPC) which included Burma, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, China, Serbia, and Afghanistan.  

Although Russia was not named a CPC in this year’s report, a concern was cited about the religious changes taking place.  When asked of what he thought about the political and economic turmoil surrounding anti-Semitism in Russia, Amb. Seiple responded that “anti-Semitism has not been prevalent during the point of this report, but it is taking place.”  He also noted that conditions in Russia remain uncertain.

– Reported by Jennifer Klein, NCSJ Intern

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A similar hearing was held the same day by the International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House Committee on International Relations.

Read 1999 Religious Freedom Report
Read 2000 Religious Freedom Report