The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges President George W. Bush not to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer unless there is substantial improvement in respecting Tibetans' religious freedom, including by opening direct and concrete talks with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhists' spiritual leader.

If the president does attend the opening or any of the Olympic games in Beijing, the Commission proposes that he first visit the Tibetan regional capital, Lhasa, or another Tibetan area, in an affirmation of the U.S. commitment to religious freedom for Tibetans, as well as for China's other growing religious communities, including Christians. Bush should request to meet with prisoners and persons detained by the state because of their exercise or advocacy of freedom of religion and related human rights. President Bush should also attend an "unregistered" church to underline the Chinese government's violations of religious freedom through its efforts to control faith.

The Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan, independent federal body, is mandated since 1998 by Congress to monitor abuse of freedom of religion or belief and related human rights around the world and to make recommendations to the President, State Department and Congress on ways to address religious freedom concerns. Even before the current unrest, the State Department's 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices indicated that religious repression has increased in Tibetan areas over the past year.