The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency advising the Bush Administration and Congress, has elected Felice Gaer to serve as chairman beginning July 12. Gaer succeeds Michael K. Young, who was elected to the position of vice chair. The election follows the Commission’s practice of alternating the post yearly between Democratic and Republican appointees.
“Mike Young has been an inspiring and effective chair,” Gaer said. “His sophisticated leadership style has led the commission into a new type of reporting, with innovative proposals and country analysis, increasing our outreach to Congress and elsewhere. I’m honored to follow in his footsteps, and that he has agreed to continue as vice chair.”
Gaer is director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. She has 20 years of experience in the human rights field.
“Felice Gaer’s extraordinary contributions to the field of human rights are well known by everyone who works in this area,” Young said. “It’s the Commission’s great food fortune that she has agreed to accept the chairmanship.”
Young is dean of the George Washington University Law School. (EP)
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