Roundtable on Religious Freedom in Europe and Eurasia

On September 16, representatives of the Department of State and of Congress co-hosted a Roundtable on Religious Freedom in Europe and Eurasia. Attending were faith-based and human rights groups, academics, congressional staff, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and others. The roundtable was chaired by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasia Beth Jones; John V. Hanford III, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom; and Congressman Ben Cardin, member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The session was held at the Dirksen Senate Office building through arrangement with the office of Senator Gordon Smith.

The participants in the roundtable emphasized the partnership between government and non-governmental entities. The government consults with NGOs on conditions in various countries. The Congress seeks input from NGOs for legislation. The Department of State in Washington, and overseas, urges governments to ease restrictions and live up to their commitments. Successful international OSCE meetings on religious freedom and anti-Semitism were noted at the session.

While no countries in the Europe-Eurasia region are currently listed as “countries of particular concern” in the Department’s International Religious Freedom Report, panelists and religious group representatives discussed troubling repression in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. Also discussed was ongoing unpunished violence against some religious groups in Georgia.

Several speakers asked that the Department of State continue to press Russia to live up to its commitments on religious freedom, especially since Russia continues to set the tone for respect for human rights and development of democracy and civil society in much of the rest of Eurasia.

Though conditions in Western and Central Europe are generally better for religious freedom, participants pointed to registration laws, employment filters, cult lists, and other measures and instances of intolerance that still deprive some groups of full freedom of religious expression.