| WCL panel explores issues surrounding
religious freedom and refugees BY MIKE UNGER Some may assume that people fleeing religious persecution around the globe easily can find refuge in America. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, a panel of experts said Wednesday during a symposium at the Washington College of Law. Several problems in the U.S. refugee system persist, according to Patricia Carley, associate director for policy for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; Sarnata Reynolds, director of the refugee program at Amnesty International USA; and Alexandra Wisotsky, a staff attorney in the refugee protection program at Human Rights First. The three women were the featured speakers during the event, entitled “Fleeing Persecution: Religion and Immigration.” Wisotsky, a WCL graduate, discussed problems with the methods adjudicators use to interrogate people applying for refugee status. They often are asked specific questions about their religious practices, despite the fact that usually they are coming from countries in which they can receive no formal religious training and are barred from openly practicing their religion. She gave examples involving a case in which a person was asked to name the 12 imams of Islam, and another in which a person was instructed to list all of Jesus’s apostles. “A lot of times adjudicators accuse asylum seekers of not living up to their faith,” she said. “There need to be guidelines for adjudicators, [so they don’t] just rely on personal knowledge.” The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan agency created in 1998 to monitor the status of religious freedom throughout the world. “It is not a stretch to say religious freedom is a matter of national security,” Carley said. “Religious freedom is observed generally in more stable democracies.” The commission has cited three categories of religious freedom violations. Countries such as North Korea and Saudi Arabia are places where persecution is carried out by government officials. In Indonesia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Georgia, governments have failed to take action in the face of persecution, and even in a democratic country like India, the government has overlooked the increasing level of violence against religious minorities, Carley said. “The commission remains convinced that many who are fleeing religious persecution still don’t have access to the U.S. refugee system,” she said. Reynolds pointed out that many escaping persecution in their home country don’t have the time or ability to bring a lot of documents verifying their beliefs with them. It is her contention that the system is adversarial in nature, meaning that the government is inherently looking for reasons to deny requests for refuge. Many are detained at the border and deported before their case is even decided, she said. “For every case that gets to the federal courts, there are hundreds that don’t get there,” she said. |
