Appendix E.

OVERVIEW OF U.S. REFUGEE POLICY

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates the world's refugee population to be approximately 9.2 million persons. Millions more are displaced within their own countries by war, famine, and civil unrest. The United States works with other governments and international and nongovernmental organizations to protect refugees, internally displaced persons, and conflict victims, and strives to ensure that survival needs for food, health care, and shelter are met. The United States has been instrumental in mobilizing a community of nations to work through these organizations to alleviate the misery and suffering of refugees worldwide, regularly supporting major relief and repatriation programs. In seeking durable long-term solutions for most refugees, the United States generally gives priority to the safe, voluntary return of refugees to their homelands. This policy, recognized in the Refugee Act of 1980, is also the preference of the UNHCR and the international community of nations that supports refugees. If safe, voluntary repatriation is not feasible, other durable solutions are sought, including resettlement in countries of asylum within the region and in other regions. Resettlement in third countries, including the United States, is appropriate for refugees in urgent need of protection and for refugees for whom other durable solutions are inappropriate or unavailable. The United States considers for admission as refugees persons of special humanitarian concern who can establish that they experienced past persecution or have a well-founded fear of future persecution in their home country on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The legal basis of the refugee admissions program is the Refugee Act of 1980, which embodies the American tradition of granting refuge to diverse groups suffering or fearing persecution. The act adopted the definition of "refugee" contained in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Over the past decade, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has been adjusting its focus away from the large refugee admissions programs that had developed during the Cold War for nationals of Communist countries and toward more diverse refugee groups that require protection for a variety of reasons, including religious belief. The following describes the program's efforts, by region, in meeting the needs of refugees worldwide who have faced religious persecution.

The U.S. admissions program processes refugee cases referred by UNHCR and U.S. embassies whose claims are based on persecution due to religious beliefs (in addition to race, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion). They have worked closely with UNHCR to strengthen this referral process.

Africa

For the majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, religious freedom and peaceful coexistence are the rule, even where other conflicts hold sway. The primary exception to the rule has been Sudan. During the long civil war between "north" and "south," the Government conducted or tolerated attacks on civilians, indiscriminate bombing raids, and slave raids in the south, all with a religious as well as an ethnic dimension. The conflict in Darfur has featured most of the same human rights abuses, but is based on ethnic differences, without the religious dimensions of the north-south conflict. Islam has been the state religion and Muslims have dominated the Khartoum Government. In areas controlled by the Government, access to education as well as other social services is far easier for Muslims than for Christians and non-Muslims. The Government has restricted the activities of Christians, practitioners of traditional indigenous religions and other non-Muslims. However, under the January 9, 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the north-south conflict, a new constitution was drafted that included specific religious freedom guarantees based on a series of negotiated protocols. The installation of an interim government took place on July 9. It remains to be seen, particularly given southern leader John Garang's untimely death in a helicopter crash, how things will change in Sudan. The U.S. admissions program has in recent years increased its focus in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya on these Sudanese victims of religious discrimination and repression. During FY 2004, 3,500 Sudanese refugees were resettled in the United States. With the end of the north-south conflict and the current peace prospects in south Sudan, efforts are now focused on repatriation for approximately 550,000 Sudanese refugees, rather than refugee admission to the U.S.

East Asia 

While many governments in East Asia permit freedom of worship, religious believers face serious persecution in some countries. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) severely restricts religious freedom, including organized religious activity, except that which is supervised tightly by officially recognized groups linked to the Government. While the DPRK Constitution provides for "freedom of religious belief," genuine religious freedom does not exist.

The situation in other countries such as China, Vietnam and Laos is mixed. The Chinese and Vietnamese constitutions provide for freedom of worship; however, both governments restrict activities of religious organizations. In China, most independent religious activities are either prohibited or severely restricted. Despite dramatic increases in religious observance in China, the government continues to suppress, intimidate, harass, detain and imprison followers of those religions it cannot directly control, most notably the (underground) Catholic Church loyal to the Vatican, Protestant "house churches," some Muslim groups, Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama, and the Falun Gong spiritual movement. In Vietnam, there were a number of recent improvements in law and practice; however, official oversight of recognized religions and harassment or repression of followers of some non-recognized religions continued. Some religious practitioners, especially ethnic minorities in the Central and Northwest Highlands, continue to suffer arrest, arbitrary detention, efforts to force renunciations of their faith, and physical intimidation, though reports of such incidents have declined. Vietnam has released a number of religious prisoners but others remain incarcerated or face administrative and civil restrictions. In Laos, Protestants in particular suffer periodic arrest and imprisonment. Local officials have threatened to expel families from their village unless they renounce their faiths and, in isolated cases, these threats have been acted on. In Burma, the Government maintains a pervasive internal security apparatus that generally infiltrates or monitors meetings and activities of all organizations, including religious groups. The Government actively promotes Buddhism over other religions as a means of boosting its own legitimacy, and continues harsh discrimination against members of minority religions. At the same time, Buddhist monks who exercise their rights to free speech and association by calling for democracy and political dialogue with pro-democracy forces face severe repression, including imprisonment.

Europe

The breakup of the Soviet Union initially led to a resurgence of religious practice throughout the region, but in recent years the fear of newer religious groups, many of them with ties to coreligionists in other countries, has led to a backlash in a number of the newly independent states. Most post-Soviet states regulate religious groups and activities, specifying a set of "traditional" religions with certain privileges denied to other groups. In Russia and Belarus, some minority religious groups suffer harassment and difficulties finding places to meet; groups with international ties are sometimes accused of being security threats. In some countries, one's faith may be associated with ethnicity, patriotism, nationalism, or even with terrorism; and authorities may be suspicious of religious groups perceived as having political agendas and organizations. This is especially true in some of the Central Asian republics where, support for political Islam and terrorism may be found in small segments of the population. In the case of Uzbekistan, Islamic groups not approved by the State are seen as potential terrorists and suffer harassment or imprisonment; in the case of Turkmenistan, all religious groups are seen as potential threats to security and therefore are closely controlled and monitored by the State. The U.S. refugee admission program provides resettlement opportunities to religious minority members (as identified in the Lautenberg Amendment) with close family ties to the United States. In addition, UNHCR has recently increased the number of referrals to the program. Refugee admissions based on grounds of religious persecution have been significant in both the Bosnia and Kosovo resettlement efforts. The U.S. refugee admissions program has provided protection to Muslims, Jews, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians as well as individuals of other religious minorities. The Department of State will continue to work with the UNHCR, nongovernmental organizations (both faith-based and non-sectarian), human rights groups, and U.S. missions to identify persons who qualify under the 1980 act on religious grounds for whom resettlement is appropriate.

Latin America/Caribbean

In general, religious freedom is widely recognized and enjoyed in Latin America. The key exception is Cuba, where the Government engages in active efforts to monitor and control religious institutions, including surveillance, infiltration, and harassment of clergy and members; evictions from and confiscation of places of worship; and preventive detention of religious activists. It also uses registration as a mechanism of control; by refusing to register new denominations it makes them vulnerable to charges of illegal association. However, despite these obstacles to religious expression, church attendance has grown in recent years. The U.S. refugee admissions program specifically includes religious minorities and other human rights activists among the list of eligible groups.

Near East and South Asia

Repression of religious minorities is common in some countries in the Middle East and South Asia. In Pakistan, the Government fails to protect the rights of religious minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the Government's failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different faith fostered religious intolerance and acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities, including Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, and Zikris. In India, the Government sometimes did not act swiftly enough to counter societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by some leaders of state and local governments to limit religious freedom. In Saudi Arabia public non-Muslim worship is prohibited, as is conversion of a Muslim to another religion. In Iran, members of minority religions continue to face arrest, harassment, and discrimination. Iranian refugees who belong to religious minorities (Baha'is, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Christians) are able to apply directly for U.S. resettlement. In addition, the UNHCR and U.S. embassies in the region facilitate access to the admissions program for individuals of other nationalities who may qualify on religious grounds. Congress passed the Specter Amendment which adds "members of a religious minority in Iran" to the list of categories of aliens who may benefit from the reduced evidentiary standards for demonstrating a well-founded fear of persecution in refugee processing, established pursuant to the "Lautenberg Amendment" contained in Section 213 of the foreign Operations, Export Financing, and related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 (P.L. 101-167). The Department of State will continue efforts to improve access to refugee processing through dialogue with nongovernmental organizations and human rights groups who may identify victims with valid claims based on grounds of religious persecution. The UNHCR also has addressed religious persecution issues in several regional workshops to increase the sensitivity of protection and resettlement officers to victims of religious persecution.