USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. testified on May 24, 2017 before a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing titled "Freedom of Belief: Countering Religious Violence." Click here to read Chair Reese's testimony. Click here to watch the hearing.
On April 26, 2017, USCIRF released its 2017 Annual Report. The 2017 Annual Report documents religious freedom violations in 37 countries, makes country-specific recommendations, and assesses the U.S. government’s implementation of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Click here to view the report.
USCIRF hosted an event on May 17, 2017 titled "The State of International Religious Freedom." Commissioners discussed findings and recommendations from its 2017 Annual Report, in addition to the newly launched Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. Click here to watch the event.
Click here to learn more about the Commissioners of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, April 2017
USCIRF Chair Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. "What is religious freedom and why is it so pivotal? It is the right of people everywhere to heed the call of conscience in matters of religion and belief, living out its dictates openly, peacefully, and without fear." Welcome to USCIRF.
USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. and Vice Chairman Daniel Mark meet with Pakistan Federal Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael, May 2017
USCIRF Commissioner Sandra Jolley meets with representatives from Boat People SOS to discuss religious freedom in Vietnam, May 15, 2017
USCIRF Commissioner Kristina Arriaga speaks at a U.S. Baha'i event commemorating nine years of imprisonment of the Baha'i Seven in Iran, May 11, 2017.
USCIRF staff meet with religious leaders and scholars from North Africa and the Middle East as part of the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program, May 5, 2017.
Elizabeth Cassidy, Director of International Law and Policy, speaks at a U.S. Senate briefing titled "Crossing the Line - Denying Access to Asylum Protections," May 4, 2017.
Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt
USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. testifies before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
USCIRF Commissioner John Ruskay makes a statement in support of Bagir Kazikhanov
USCIRF Religious Prisoners of Conscience
Click here for USCIRF's Prisoner of Conscience List which is mandated by Public Law 114-281, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2017 Annual Report on April 25, 2017.
In the report, USCIRF recommends that the State Department add these ten countries to its list of “countries of particular concern,” defined under law as countries where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
USCIRF also finds that six other countries meet the CPC standard and should be so designated: Central African Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
USCIRF on August 2, 2016 released a new report, Barriers to Protection: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, which highlights serious problems with the U.S. government's treatment of asylum seekers in Expedited Removal. View the report here. USCIRF presented findings from the report at an August 3, 2016 event with Human Rights First. Watch the event here.
“For more than four years, Maryam Naghash Zargaran has suffered in an Iranian prison, falsely charged with ‘propagating against the Islamic regime and collusion intended to harm national security’,” - Commissioner Clifford D. May.
USCIRF Vice Chairman Daniel Mark stated that he “welcomed this long-overdue step by Burma’s government. Pwint Phyu Latt and Zaw Zaw Latt, both Muslim, were wrongfully imprisoned for their interfaith activities."
USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. testified on May 24, 2017 before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at a hearing titled "Freedom of Belief: Countering Religious Violence."
Click here to read Chair Reese's written testimony.
"Dear Pastor Chinh and Mrs. Hong: I write to you as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a person of faith who is deeply concerned about your well-being."
USCIRF calls for the release of those accused of or convicted of blasphemy stating that blasphemy "laws are used to intimidate and harass individuals, including religious dissenters and minorities and violate their freedom of religion and belief.”
"What will Iran’s May 19 presidential election mean for the Baha’i, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious group? Given that every candidate was handpicked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s Guardian Council, the answer is simple: Nothing good."
CUBA: USCIRF Condemns the Expulsion of Félix Yuniel Llerena López from the University of Cuba. “I call on the Cuban government to immediately cease its harassment of Félix Llerena and his fellow religious freedom advocates,” stated USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
Who We Are
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world, that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
What We're About
Inherent in religious freedom is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience leads, and live out our beliefs openly, peacefully, and without fear.
We are about freedom…
Thomas Bill Search