BURMA: USCIRF Strongly Condemns Race and Religion Bills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2015 | USCIRF
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2/27/15 | Press Releases
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2/24/15 | Op-Eds
2/19/15 | Press Releases
2/6/15 | Press Releases
Defending Freedoms Project
In December 2012, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, in conjunction with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Amnesty International USA, launched the Defending Freedoms Project with the aim of supporting human rights and religious freedom throughout the world with a particular focus on prisoners of conscience.
Specifically, Members of Congress “adopt” prisoners of conscience, standing in solidarity with these brave men and women, while committing to advocate publicly for their release.
Click the interactive map below to view the status of prisoners of conscience highlighted in the Defending Freedoms Project
USCIRF's 2014 Annual Report
USCIRF Issues its 2014 Annual Report: 15th Anniversary Retrospective: Renewing the Commitment
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal advisory body the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) created to monitor religious freedom abuses abroad, released its 2014 Annual Report, and recommended that the State Department add eight more nations to its list of “countries of particular concern,” defined under law as countries where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
USCIRF also recommended that the following eight countries be re-designated as “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.
Spotlight
Nigeria will hold presidential, federal parliamentary, and state parliamentary elections on March 28, 2015. The election previously was scheduled for February 14, 2015, but was pushed back due to security concerns in the north-east region of the country. Reports of pre-election violence, combined with rising societal and political tensions, increase the likelihood of religiously-motivated violence around the elections.
In February 2015, USCIRF issued a press release, USCIRF Warns of Potential Religiously-Motivated Violence Around Nigeria’s Upcoming Elections. From the press release:
“Every effort needs to be undertaken to ensure... Read More
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The Religious Violence Project
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has launched the Religious Violence Project to highlight violations of religious freedom abroad. Learn more here.
August 2014 Factsheet: Violence Towards Religious Communities in Pakistan
USCIRF Staff Perspectives
- Pakistan Leads the World in Blasphemy Prisoners, by Knox Thames and Elizabeth Cassidy for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs - March 27, 2014
For more persectives, click here.
USCIRF Calls for Release of Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2015 | USCIRF
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This January marks the eighth anniversary of the illegal removal of Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios from his position as head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the country’s largest religious community.
January 2015 Factsheet: Religious Freedom and Nigeria's 2015 Elections
...on blasphemy laws
Many countries around the world have laws that punish expression deemed blasphemous, defamatory of religion, or contemptuous or insulting to religion or religious symbols, figures, or feelings. The application of these laws has resulted in individuals being jailed for merely expressing a different religious belief or being falsely accused.
USCIRF Statement on flogging of Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2015 | USCIRF
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply disturbed by the news that a Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, was publicly flogged 50 times today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as part of a punishment for a blasphemy conviction. USCIRF has long followed Mr. Badawi’s case, expressed its grave concern, and called for his release.
North Korea Must be Held Accountable for its Abysmal Human Rights Record
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2014 | USCIRF
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the UN General Assembly’s passage on December 18 of a resolution that condemns North Korea’s “ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights” and transmits a UN report on these violations to the Security Council. The UN’s annual resolution on human rights in North Korea passed by a 116-20 vote, with 53 abstentions.
Deseret News -- Human rights declarations by Cyrus
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
December 11, 2014 | By Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Daniel I. Mark
The following op-ed appeared in Deseret News on December 11, 2014.
Remembering Prisoners of Conscience on Human Rights Day
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2014 I USCIRF
Washington, D.C. – To commemorate International Human Rights Day tomorrow, December 10, the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlights the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world, particularly those imprisoned due to their faith or belief.
NIGERIA: USCIRF Condemns Horrific Attack on Worshippers in Mosque
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2014 I USCIRF
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the horrific November 28 attack on worshippers at Kano’s Central Mosque that killed and injured more than 100 persons.
The Moscow Times -- Russia's Extremism Law Violates Human Rights
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
December 1, 2014 | By Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Dr. Robert P. George
The following op-ed appeared in The Moscow Times on November 26, 2014.
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About the Commission
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…
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