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This past week the House International Relations Committee held hearings on “ Religious Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights in Asia: Status of Implementation of the Tibetan Policy Act, Block Burmese JADE Act, and North Korean Human Rights Act.” Witnesses on the first panel were the Honorable Robert King, Ambassador, Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues; The Honorable Daniel B. Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and the The Honorable Joseph Y. Yun, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The second panel featured Mr. Richard Gere, Chairman of the Board of Directors, International Campaign for Tibet; Mr. Chuck Downs, Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; Mr. Aung Din, Executive Director & Co-Founder, U.S. Campaign for Burma; and Ms. Sophie Richardson, Asia Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch. Aid issues, including the advisability of providing aid, the current status of US government deliberations, the stance of the South Korean government, were prominent in the discussion. Richard Gere declined to sing but Representative Frederica Wilson (D-FL) did wear an extraordinary red cowboy hat. The webcast of the hearings can be accessed here.
