[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   STATE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, the State Department's Annual Report on 
International Religious Freedom was released yesterday.
  Among the countries that continue to stand out because of their 
horrible record on religious freedom are China and Sudan.
  The report says of China: ``Government respect for religious freedom 
in China deteriorated, as the persecution of several religious 
minorities increased.''
  Such groups as Tibetan Buddhists, Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, 
and unofficial Protestants and Roman Catholics were subject to 
harassment, extortion, prolonged detention, physical abuse, and 
incarceration in prison or reeducation camps through labor, while the 
State Department says that there are credible reports that the Chinese 
Government beat and tortured these people of faith.
  Also, in Sudan, it says the Muslim-dominated regime continued to 
persecute members of different religious minorities, Christian and 
Muslim.
  The report says that much of the world's population lives in 
countries in which the right to religious freedom is restricted or 
prohibited.
  The Congress, the Clinton administration, and the next administration 
must do more to stand up for those who are persecuted or suffer because 
of their religious faith.

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