Aug. 25, 2005
Aug. 27-28, 2005, weekend

Aug. 26, 2005

Just a quick note today to alert you to an almost-done visit to China by representatives of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

UscirfThe Aug. 14-28 visit may produce some recommendations to the Bush administration about how to proceed when advocating human rights and religious freedom (both in shamefully short supply) in China. It's not yet clear when such a report would be issued, but China should be high up on the list of countries where America should be insisting that the government enforce internationally adopted and recognized human and religious rights.

The commission was created in 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of religion abroad. It is supposed to give policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of State and the Congress. On the whole, it's done good work in this area, though too often the Clinton and Bush administrations have ignored its advice.

I think you'll learn some interesting things by poking around in the commission's Web site. Pay special attention to its annual reports.

See my About page to find out how to read online what I've written for The Kansas City Star.

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)