On April 21, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof authored a piece that closed with the following: “If President Obama is ever going to find his voice on Sudan, it had better be soon.”

Kristof’s assessment can be applied elsewhere.  This administration has struggled to find its voice when it comes to the promotion and protection of basic human rights and religious freedom globally.

"These most cherished ideals, which are at the very heart of the American experiment, have time and again been sidelined in this administration’s foreign policy.  This is a grievous mistake which has dire implications for the world’s dissidents and democrats who yearn for freedom and look to America to be their advocate. "

These most cherished ideals, which are at the very heart of the American experiment, have time and again been sidelined in this administration’s foreign policy.  This is a grievous mistake which has dire implications for the world’s dissidents and democrats who yearn for freedom and look to America to be their advocate.

On August 25 the Sudan Now campaign ran an ad in the New York Times seeking to influence the president’s upcoming decisions on U.S.-Sudan policy.  The ads, “released in response to reports that a recent debate within the administration ended with a proposal to shift U.S. policy toward incentives,” call on the president to take an approach that includes both incentives and pressures.  They are the latest attempt by the leaders in the advocacy community and many in Congress to bring about renewed, principled leadership at the highest levels on Sudan—leadership which is clear-eyed about the history and record of the internationally indicted war criminal at the helm in Khartoum.  

A July 14 Associated Press article titled, “Promises, Promises: US Fails to Punish Sudan,” described the administration’s track record on Sudan this way: “The words of the Obama administration were unequivocal: Sudan must do more to fight terror and improve human rights.  If it did, it would be rewarded.  If not, it would be punished.  Nine months later, problems with Sudan have grown worse.  Yet the administration has not clamped down.  If anything, it has made small conciliatory gestures.”

Sudan is not an anomaly.  Consider China…a country where human rights and religious freedom continue to be under fierce attack by the country’s ruling communist party. From the outset, this administration chose to marginalize these issues.  On her first trip to Asia, Secretary of State Clinton was downright dismissive of human rights concerns saying that "those issues can't interfere" with economic, security or environmental concerns.  Human rights organizations were rightly dismayed.  How had impassioned advocacy for the dignity of every person been relegated to a position of mere interference?

Not long ago I had the honor of meeting with two courageous Chinese human rights lawyers visiting the U.S. for legal training and to brief policymakers.  These lawyers often choose to represent, at their own peril, those human rights activists, house church leaders, bloggers etc. who face persecution in the form of trumped up charges and the absence of due process.  The lawyers said quite pointedly that their lives improve, and those of their cohorts in prison or facing other pressures by the Chinese government, when the West speaks out for their plight and raises their cases by name.

"...these giants in the cause of freedom time and again recounted how their lives in the gulags improved when the West and President Reagan championed their cause and challenged the lies that were at the foundation of the Soviet system."

This sentiment is nothing new.  I remarked that they are China's Sakarovs and Solzhenitsyns.  Similarly these giants in the cause of freedom time and again recounted how their lives in the gulags improved when the West and President Reagan championed their cause and challenged the lies that were at the foundation of the Soviet system.

It seems this administration has forgotten the lessons of history to the detriment of China’s young democrats.

Or consider North Korea--one of the darkest places on the globe.  It is estimated that between 400,000 and one million people have died in prison camps, having been worked to death or starved to death.

Last summer, an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal featured a quote from a North Korean refugee woman who said, “If I had a chance to meet with President Obama, I would first like to tell him how North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China and, second, to know that North Korean labor camps are hell on earth."

"Even in the face of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions it is inexcusable that its abhorrent human rights record is relegated to the back burner and that the North Korea Freedom Act has not been fully implemented.  Why has the administration had so little to say about those trapped in “hell on earth”?"

Even in the face of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions it is inexcusable that its abhorrent human rights record is relegated to the back burner and that the North Korea Freedom Act has not been fully implemented.  Why has the administration had so little to say about those trapped in “hell on earth”?

Looking to the Middle East we again see an administration whose advocacy on behalf of persecuted and oppressed peoples has been sorely lacking.

A February 6 ABC News story opened with the following observation: “Across the Middle East, where Christianity was born and its followers once made up a sizable portion of the population, Christians are now tiny minorities.”

This is perhaps no more true than in Iraq.  With the exception of Israel, the Bible contains more references to the cities, regions and nations of ancient Iraq than any other country.

Tragically Iraq’s ancient Christian community is facing extinction.  The U.N. High Commission for Refugees estimates that some 250,000 to 500,000 Christians have left the country since 2003, or about half the Christian population.

I see a continued unwillingness at the highest levels of the State Department to properly acknowledge the distinct challenges facing these ancient faith communities and to develop a comprehensive policy to address their unique needs.

"...if the U.S. can’t be relied upon to speak out on behalf of those whose voices have been silenced, then it is a dark day for millions around the world yearning to breathe the sweet air of freedom... To often we underestimate the power of our word, or worse yet, the power of silence."

These countries are but a snapshot.  The issue is systemic. In recent testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Lorne Craner, president of the International Republican Institute, said, “A lack of strong, consistent leadership from the top of the administration…has become apparent to the bureaucracy; one result is the cutting or slowing of funding for democracy programming in countries such as Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Another consequence is that our embassies abroad are providing less diplomatic support on human rights and democracy…”

These problems are further compounded by prolonged vacancies of key positions—most notably the State Department's International Religious Freedom (IRF) Office has been without ambassadorial leadership for more than 18 months.  After increasing pressure from Congress and religious freedom advocacy groups, Obama named Suzan Johnson Cook to this post in June. She has not yet been confirmed.

This void in leadership does not bode well for the Baha’i leader imprisoned in Iran’s notorious prisons, or for the Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan subject to officially sanctioned discrimination and persecution.  Who will be their advocate? 

I am well aware that there are multiple dimensions to our bilateral relations with countries around the globe.  But if the U.S. can’t be relied upon to speak out on behalf of those whose voices have been silenced, then it is a dark day for millions around the world yearning to breathe the sweet air of freedom.

Too often, we underestimate the power of our words, or worse yet, the power of our silence.

At a Constitution Day speech marking the 200th anniversary of the signing of that historic document, President Reagan spoke of the constitution as a covenant not only with ourselves, but with all of mankind.  Will this administration honor that covenant?

The hour is late and the stakes are high.  Can this president find his voice?

Congressman Frank Wolf has represented the 10th District of Virginia since 1981. He is co-chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. You can find out more about his work on human rights and religious freedom issues globally by visiting his website.