United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank the chairman for his leadership and for his commitment to human rights, particularly religious freedom, and I want to thank Senator Corker for helping to shepherd this legislation through the Senate when there were some contentious issues.

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created as part of the landmark International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, originally authored by my good friend and former colleague Frank Wolf, who provided exemplary service and leadership in this House.

The creation of USCIRF made the promotion and protection of religious freedom a priority of U.S. foreign policy; and believe me, before the passage of this law, it was not. Since its inception, USCIRF has been a valuable, independent, and bipartisan source of information and policy recommendations for the Congress, U.S. Government, and the American people.

Mr. Speaker, USCIRF gives voice to persecuted religious groups and raises prisoner cases, individual cases, at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. USCIRF's annual report--and I encourage Members to read it--often provides a fuller view of violations of religious freedom than the State Department's International Religious Freedom Report. As an independent body, USCIRF has the political freedom to report the facts and provide critical insight and recommendations on countries like Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Cuba, or China, countries where the U.S. Government may be hesitant to draw attention to religious rights violations because it is concerned about upsetting foreign governments.

It needs to be noted that in the beginning, the Clinton administration actively opposed passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. I know because I chaired the hearings. We heard from people like Assistant Secretary John Shattuck, who said it would create a hierarchy of human rights, which it did not. It put religious freedom in its rightful place. Of course, years later, people from the administration pointed out that none of that happened and it was a very important addition to our work. I also want to note that a very broad coalition supported and continued to support IRFA in general and USCIRF in particular. In the end, President Clinton did sign the legislation into law.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops endorses USCIRF's reauthorization, as do over 80 different

nongovernmental organizations and religious groups, part of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable. These groups sent a letter to every Member of Congress and said, in pertinent part, ``while there is very little we agree on theologically, or politically, we all agree on the importance of religious freedom.''

Mr. Speaker, bipartisan cooperation is critically important at a time when religious freedom is under siege through the world. Anti-Semitism, pervasive in most of the Middle East, has spread like a cancer to parts of Europe. The increase in violence perpetrated against Christians, Muslims, and other religious minorities has reached staggering proportions, including disturbing reports of torture, rape, imprisonment, forced exile, and murder.

Mr. Speaker, the world faces a deepening crisis of religious freedom restrictions and abuses by governments. The Pew Foundation estimates that over 75 percent of the world's population lives in countries where severe religious freedom abuses are commonplace. Ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria are on the verge of extinction, and other religious minorities in the Middle East face a constant assault from ISIS. ISIS, as we all know, has committed and is committing genocide, mass atrocities, and war crimes.

China continues to suppress religious practice broadly and with impunity. It has been another punishing year for the Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Christians, as well as Falun Gong practitioners who face restrictions, imprisonment, and torture.

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Burma is a problem; Rohingya Muslims face problems. In Pakistan, as we all know, there are problems; in Iran, not just with the Baha'i who are persecuted again and have been facing that with unrelenting pressure, but also other Christians who live there and other Muslims.

Mr. Speaker, the need for USCIRF is clear, and I hope all Members will support this important human rights legislation.

I thank the Chair, and I thank my friend for yielding.

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