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US to ditch religious rights body

Critics claim commission duplicates State Department watchdog
US to ditch religious rights body
Published: December 12, 2011 03:53 AM GMT
Updated: December 12, 2011 04:06 AM GMT

Rights activists are concerned at the likely loss of a key monitor of religious freedom worldwide.

Staff at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) have been told to start winding down operations.

The bipartisan commission will have to close on December 16, says its chairman, Leonard Leo, unless Congress approves its $4 million annual funding.

To avoid closure, Congress must also re-authorize USCIRF’s mission to monitor religious persecution and advise the US government on religious freedom policy.

For instance, it urged President Obama before his visit to Indonesia last month to address ongoing problems of religious freedom there.

Critics contend that USCIRF duplicates the mission of the State Department International Religious Freedom office and at times makes its work more difficult

Leo says Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin has put a hold on funding for the commission until Congress sets aside money for a local project.

He told Fox News the uncertainty is frustrating and that his commission “is a sort of a hostage in this political fight.”

USCIRF has made excellent policy recommendations and provided oversight of US “failure to pursue an aggressive [religious freedom] policy,” said Thomas Farr, director of the religious freedom project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

“It is reasonably clear to the persecutors … that advancing religious freedom is not a priority for the United States,” Farr told Christianity Today.

“If Congress allows the commission to die, this will be one more piece of evidence.”

In London, Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: “USCIRF has for more than a decade played an important role as a leading watchdog on religious freedom worldwide.”

Its closure would be a significant loss to the work of promoting religious freedom, he said, and an indication that the US “is less willing to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves.”

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