[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 245 (Thursday, December 19, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 67090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32219]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 2489]


Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad Established

    The Secretary of State is establishing the Advisory Committee on 
Religious Freedom Abroad, as part of this Administration's work to 
promote human rights issues. The Under Secretary for Management has 
determined that the committee is necessary and in the public interest.
    Religious and ethnic conflict have often been at the forefront of 
human rights dilemmas in recent years. The creation of an Advisory 
Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad represents this Administration's 
commitment to address these issues with new and creative means.
    The Advisory Committee will seek to achieve tangible results. Its 
primary goals include: fostering greater dialogue between religious 
communities and the U.S. Government; increasing the flow of information 
to the U.S. Government concerning the conditions of religious 
minorities facing persecution around the world; and informing 
interested groups and individuals about the U.S. Government's efforts 
to address issues of religious persection and religious freedom. The 
Advisory Committee will provide a formal channel for regular dialogue 
between the USG and religious groups on issues of religious freedom, as 
well as for Committee members to offer recommendations to international 
efforts for enhancing religious freedom, eliminating religious 
persecution, and promoting religious reconciliation.
    The Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad's twenty members 
represent a wide spectrum of beliefs and knowledge on human rights. The 
Committee's creation demonstrates the State Department's expanding 
outreach to the nongovernmental community and its recognition of the 
positive role religious communities can play in promoting human rights.
    Members of the Committee have been appointed by Secretary of State 
Warren Christopher. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human 
Rights, and Labor, John Shattuck, will chair the Advisory Committee. 
The Committee members are: Dr. Don Argue, National Association of 
Evangelicals; Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, National Council of the 
Churches of Christ; Dr. Diana L. Eck, Harvard University; Dr. Wilma M. 
Ellis, Continental Board of Counsellors, Baha'is of the Americas; Rabbi 
Irving Greenberg, National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; 
Dr. James B. Henry, Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Orlando, 
Florida; Bishop Frederick Calhoun James, African Methodist Episcopal 
Church; The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, Orthodox Church of America; 
Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, Memorial Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee; 
Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Emory University; Dr. David Little, U.S. 
Institute of Peace; Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, Muslim Women's League; The 
Most Rev. Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop of Newark; Imam Wallace 
Deen Mohammed, Society of Muslim Americans; Dr. Russell Marion Nelson, 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; The Most Rev. Ricardo 
Ramirez, Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico; Dr. Barnett Richard Rubin, 
Council on Foreign Relations; Ms. Nina Shea, Puebla Project of Freedom 
House; Dr. Elliot Sperling, Indiana University; His Eminence Archbishop 
Spyridon of America, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
    The right of religious freedom is affirmed internationally by the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a right that the United 
States would look to see exercised in every corner of the globe. The 
creation of the Advisory Committee is a step in that direction.
    The Committee intends to hold its first meeting at the beginning of 
1997, and will advertise this and all other meeting dates, times, and 
locations in the Federal Register at least 15 days prior to the meeting 
date. The Committee will follow the procedures prescribed by the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Meetings will be open to the 
public unless a determination is made in accordance with the FACA 
Section 10(d), 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) (1) and (4) that a meeting or a portion 
of the meeting should be closed to the public.
    For further information, contact Ms. Alexandra Arriaga, Executive 
Secretary, at (202) 647-1696 or 647-1422.

    Dated: December 2, 1996.
John Shattuck,
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 
Department of State.
[FR Doc. 96-32219 Filed 12-18-96; 8:45 am]
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